Last night IESB ran a scoop that Gary Oldman would be in Iron Man 2, and that he was even spotted on set yesterday or Monday. That took me by surprise: I had just seen Oldman on the set of Book of Eli the week before, where they were on day 40 something of 60 something days. That film is shooting almost in sequence, and unless Oldman’s lead villain gets knocked off two thirds of the way through the film, it seems quite likely that he would still be needed in the deserts of New Mexico through most of April.

This morning someone claiming to be Oldman’s manager left a post on Cinematical saying the rumor just wasn’t true. Then JoBlo got in touch with the manager on the phone and had the info confirmed: Gary Oldman is not in Iron Man 2.

Now, I’ll give IESB one small out: they lied about the Samuel L Jackson cameo in the first Iron Man, and even cut it from press screening prints to keep it secret. But the reality of this situation is that even if Oldman’s manager is lying, the actor’s cameo would have to be microscopic to fit in with Book of Eli.

The rush to post rumors doesn’t help anybody. There’s a reason why the mainstream media does things like fact checking, double sourcing and calling for confirmation.