Ben Kingsley is in final talks to play the villain in Iron Man 3 but he will NOT be playing the Mandarin according to Variety. The story will be based loosely on Extremis the 6 part series by Warren and Adi Granov involving the spread of nanobots.
Fans – me included – hoped Tony would face the Mandarin this time. Hints were placed in the first film. The terrorist holding Tony hostage worked for a group called the Ten Rings. The Mandarin is famed for his ten power rings.
Extremis features art by Adi Granov who did design work for Iron Man 1, 2 and The Avengers.
Iron Man 3 is blasts into theaters on May 3, 2013.
I was lucky to meet Adi Granov recently at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle and score one of his amazing sketchbooks.
Here’s the Amazon link to Extremis if you’d like to get an idea of Tony’s third film adventure.