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Tom Morello fires off metallic riffs in Iron Man 2 (© Gene Ambo/Retna Ltd./Corbis)

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Iron Man 2, the sequel to 2008's superhero blockbuster and the second in a planned trilogy, is ready for global domination. With Robert Downey Jr reprising his role of Tony Stark and returning director Jon Favreau steering the thrill-ride actioner, expect boffo box office (that's industry talk) in the weeks and months to come.

Befitting its title, heavy metal drives Iron Man 2's score and soundtrack album. Not only are 15 - count 'em, 15 - AC/DC hits featured throughout, but Tom Morello, superstar guitarist for Rage Against The Machine who also doubles as The Nightwatchman and leads Street Sweeper Social Club, piles on generous helpings of molten rock goodness.

This is the second time Morello has lent his shred services to the Iron Man franchise: He worked with the first film's composer Rami Djawadi and, in the guitarist words, "brought some heaviness where it was appropriate." (Morello also had a brief cameo in that picture.) And now the Rage man is back, laying down "big fat rock" in and around composer John Debney's impressive score.

MusicRadar sat down with Morello to talk about what he calls his "side job that feels like playtime." The affable, thoughtful axe man admitted that the prospect of cranking it to 11 in future movies is appealing (he already has another project in the can), but he emphasized that he would probably focus "more on the music side of things than acting. As a thespian, my skills are probably best appreciated in small, don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-him doses."

Seems like you've established a neat second career for yourself in working with Jon Favreau.

"Yes, well, we've been friends for some time. As you may know, I was an actor in the first Iron Man - I played a terrorist and had the rare distinction of being the first person killed in that film. It was fun. I had a cool outfit and a nice hairdo. Jon's great. I love being involved in his projects. He's super-talented in so many different ways."

Speaking of acting in Jon's movies, who can forget your brilliant star-turn in his film Made? One of my faves, I must say.

"Ahh, yes! Quite a tour de force, wasn't it? [laughs] You could call Made my don't-quit-your-day-job-film role and not be entirely wrong."

Tom Morello in the first Iron Man. (Psst! He's cameo #3)

OK, Iron Man 2. Now, you worked on the score for the the first Iron Man...

"That's right. And when Iron Man 2 was percolating, I was asked to be involved in the new score. Of course, I said I'd be glad to. I had a great time working with John Debney. He's a brilliant, terrific fellow, and an incredible composer. My responsibilities here were pretty straightforward: make it rock! So that's what I set out to do."

Aside from "make it rock," were you given any other kind of direction?

"It was pretty collaborative, actually. John and I talked about what was needed in the picture, in individual parts and the movie as a whole, and then I basically spent a whole day in the studio just rocking out, which was a blast. Grooves, riffs, themes, crazy sounds - I just went for the whole bag.

"Then we took what I did, along with the emerging orchestral score that John was working on, and tried to figure out how to bring the ultimate rock power to the proceedings. It's very interesting, the process. Even though you're working with snippets of film and time codes and all that, it's a lot of fun. It's like figuring out a puzzle: How can you make five seconds rock out massively?"