Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to the big screen this week in The Expendables 2, and we’re only a few months away from seeing his first big leading role since his return to acting with The Last Stand.

We caught our first official look at him as Sherriff Owens earlier this month, following a great teaser poster for the film at Comic-Con, and now IGN have debuted the first official poster, seeing our action hero front and centre.

“Sheriff Owens is a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of the U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history.”

Schwarnegger will be joined by the likes of Genesis Rodriguez, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Luis Guzmán, Harry Dean Stanton, Peter Stormare, and Jaimie Alexander, making for quite the promising cast.

Acclaimed director Jee-woon Kim (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) is behind the camera, directing from a script by newcomer Andrew Knauer, with supervision from Grieg Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau, The Bourne Ultimatum).

The Last Stand will be released in US theatres on 18th January, 2013, followed by a UK release a week later on 25th January. It should be a pretty explosive start to the new year’s box office, and whilst we wait for the action to kick off, enjoy this first official poster, which you can click to enlarge.