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And Your 'Iron Man 3' Villain is Set to Be Played By Sir Ben Kingsley

by Ethan Anderton
April 9, 2012
Source: Variety

The Iron Man franchise really likes to pick some elderly villains. First Jeff Bridges stepped into the Iron Monger suit and then Mickey Rourke got electrified as Whiplash and now Variety has word that Sir Ben Kingsley, fresh off his magnificent turn in Hugo, is now in final negotiations to play the villain in Iron Man 3, already slated to hit theaters in the summer of 2013. But despite his facial features, especially when looking at Kingsley in Prince of Persia, sources say that Kingsley is not going to be playing Iron Man's signature comic book villain Mandarin, a wealthy Chinese scientist and martial arts expert. More below!

Of course, it's not clear exactly what villain Kingsley will be playing, and the Iron Man franchise kind of likes to keep the fans guessing until the last possible minute anyway. It's been said that the script, written by Drew Pearce and the film's director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), is loosely based on the six-issue Extremis comic story by Warren Ellis which deals with a new origin story of sorts and the incorporation of nanotechnology. It's not clear how that will be applied in the overall arc of the character, especially following The Avengers, but I already love the idea of Kingsley being a bad guy.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web:

Ryderup

Should play Spider-Mans villain Vulture in a Spider-Man sequal.
- prantsdagger
  
  I've been saying this for years. He's perfect
  - JBrotsis
    
    I definitely agree that a new villain for spiderman should be the Vulture! And....just saying....wouldn't mind seeing the Rhinoman somewhere in there too.
Jtheyellow

The Mandarin, duh.
HealthyPoison

After IM2 and the (in my opinion) oh too similar fight at the end, I really do hope that they have a good plan for this one. Shane Black is good, and of course RDJ can do the work, but I am skeptical of another older villain.
Bcopes11

Mandarin...like a sir
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000066066117 David Carlin

It's definitely Mandarin, the sources are lying! - They could use him for Avengers 2 as well...
Xerxexx

Cool.
http://twitter.com/Nielsen700 M.K. Nielsen

I don't know about this. I have faith in Shane Black though.
Faceman721

He has Mandarin written all over him!!!!!! He defently should play him but who knows, I really hope Shane Black brings him in. I think he should tie this (Ben kinsgley playing the Mandarin) in with the guy that kidnapped Tony in the first one, because he had a ring. And I don't know if you guys noticed, but Obidiah Stane was wearing a ring too.
- ur_babys_daddy
  
  They should tie up that loose end, but why not get an Asian to play an Asian. They cant be too expensive. Im Blasian, so I can say that.
  - Lerryjee
    
    I think he's half Indian.
    - Guest
      
      Yeah he is Indian. His actual name is Krishna Bhanji (Kingsley is a stage name)
Ironmancan

I hope they take out the lameo stuff like Drunk and dancing Iron man from part 2.
- Stavi82
  
  It was their way if touching on the binge-drinking Tony Stark too incompetent to keep wearing the Iron Man armor and having Rhodey step is as the War Machine. I like that they got it out of the way so Iron Man 3 can focus on the conflict between Iron Man and what is obviously going to be Mandarin, regardless of these "sources"...
Singular

If it's the Mandarin, they're going repackage him not to be Chinese. Within the next 5-10 years China will be the biggest box office market in the world. That means Hollywood is not going bite the hand that feeds them. Movie star contracts then will reflect the Chinese market. You thought 25 million a movie for an actor is outrageous? Don't be surprised to see $50 or possibly a $100 million being paid to an actor for one movie in the future. And that's not even including points in however it's packaged. Today a significant portion of a movie's budget goes to getting A-list actors. That's not going to change. So what happens when you have a movie or an activist actor bad mouth China or the Chinese? That studio could go bankrupt simply from how high the stakes are from their movie(s) getting banned in China. Look at how George Clooney use to be critical of American foreign policy. Fox News attacked him for it and now you don't see George Clooney get behind anything that blames America now.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000066066117 David Carlin
  
  cool story bro..
Davodiehsan

If vilian act evil everything is ok, I believe script is more important than actor,ironman 1 had a good script and hit but 2 had medium script and fail,but I love Ben kingsly
Singular

Also look at how quick Paramount denied it was the Mandarin. What started this was the Red Dawn remake right when Avatar made $200 million USD in China breaking the box office record over there. Right before that Transformers and 2012 broke the record just months apart. No Chinese government official made any comment about the Red Dawn remake where China was the villain. But the studios quickly got scared from some blog postings in China mentioning the remake which also supposedly played a role on why MGM studios sale was hung up. No one was going to buy MGM afraid that not only MGM movies would get banned in China but another studio's movies would also get banned if they were the ones to buy MGM right when they were releasing Red Dawn. Where's Red Dawn now? They spent more money changing the Chinese into North Koreans and it still hasn't been released.
Jericho

im not a comic fan but i would like to think the Extremis stuff is like a way to half-ass a super soldier serum.....
Manuel

I'm wondering... why they call him "Ravi"?
Tir na nog

I'm glad its him,one of the best acrors around,see sexy beast
Chip_Tha_Ripper

Dr Squires from the whackness!!
JBrotsis

I wonder if they'll incorporate War Machine in this movie also? But outside of that, I'm very curious how they plan on making IR3 and all the other individual avengers members' movies, where the individuals fight their villains solo. Because in The Avengers they'll be fighting as a team, so one would think they'd fight all their battles together. So I'm hoping at the end of The Avengers they'll explain why everyone fights solo for IR3, Capt 2, Thor 2, and so on.
- Manuel
  
  Iron Man, 3 movies. Thor and Captain, 2 movies. Hulk will be back on Avengers 2...
http://profile.yahoo.com/2EUATOKNUN77GJPQ65ZFFMTTCE Allan

You lured me in with your lie/title. I know not to come back to this site.
- Cj
  
  What was misleading about the title.
Chjapa

Kingsley as a villian. Ever see "Sexy Beast"? Don Logan is one of the most intense, most frightening characters EVER on film. I also am excited that Shane Black is directing as "Kiss,Kiss,Bang,Bang" was an underated classic. This may just be the best Iron Man yet!