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I'd read before that the story would likely be based on Warren Ellis' Extremis storyline, with people speculating that Mandarin would be the villain. However....
Ben Kingsley will be the Iron Man 3 baddie—but as who?
I love Ben Kingsley, and think he's a terrific actor, so this fills me with some hope. I think he does villain very well. I also think he plays smart, scientist type well. All in all, an interesting move.
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I think that using the Mandarin as a villain has more practical problems than racism. The Mandarin has ten power rings. In a comic series, there can be a panel in the first few pages explaining them all, and he can shot things like "So, Stark, your magnetically-reinforced armor shrugs off my Matter-rearranger Beam, but no matter! You have no such defense against my Disintegration Beam!" But in a movie, the rings' powers are going to be much more poorly defined.
A better way to put it would perhaps be each 'gem' in the ring is actually part of an ancient [insert obscure chinese mysticism] practice that the Mandarin mastered, and then corrupted.
[Obligatory Hot Chinese Woman] "How was he able to do that? One stone commands Wood, another Metal, another Fire, another Water, the fifth, Air."
[Stark] "But ... he has ten rings."
[Obligatory Hot Chinese Woman] "And that's where the corruption comes in. He forcibly created, then enslaved Five Spirits that should have Never Been. Disease, Decay, Famine, Blood and Destruction. For each Pure Element, he created a vile, twisted mockery."
Give Mandarin a new 'twist' on his power. Make him something that Stark fears within himself, a formerly noble man who became so twisted over the harm his creation could unleash he became the very monster he strove to stop others becoming.
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I'd read before that the story would likely be based on Warren Ellis' Extremis storyline, with people speculating that Mandarin would be the villain. However....
It's gotta be as the Mandarin, they already teased the Ten Rings terrorist group and I doubt Kingsley can play some thug like Unicorn or Boomerang (although I do hope Mandarin has employed another villain or two from Iron Man's rogues gallery).
As long as we don't get Nano-Tony garbage, I'm ok with Extremis. I didn't like it in the comic, and let's face it, one of the coolest aspects of the Iron Man movies is the assembly factor of him getting into costume. If they take that away, I think they begin to lose the core of the character. (Which, IMO, they did in the comics...)
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Ugh, I hope it's not Extremis. They've already taken elements of the story for the first two movies and I'm not a fan of the naano-tech.
I saw some of the online news and it seems the director thinks the Mandarin concept is racist. I wonder if Kingsley will play the Mandarin in all but name and he will give nano-tech to 1-2 guys to fight Iron Man. He'll be the villain in the backround like Sam Rockwell/Justin Hammer.