Things are coming together for Iron Man 3 as the film makes way for a May production start with Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) directing for a May 3, 2013 release.
With Robert Downey Jr. back in the lead role as Tony Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson all set to reprise their respective roles, now the attention turns to the film’s villain, whom Variety reports will be none other than Ben Kingsley.
The site also confirms earlier reports dealing with the film’s plot, which will not see Kingsley playing the Mandarin, a character comic fans have long thought would be the villain in one of the Iron Man features, but instead as a villain at the center of a spread of a virus through nanobots.
This storyline was originally reported by Latino Review back in March where they specifically said nanobots would be involved in that they “make villains,” “can also make Tony Stark more than a man in a suit” and is “an idea planted in Tony Stark’s head by Captain America in The Avengers.”
Variety adds that “Iron Man 3 is loosely based on Warren Ellis’ six-issue ‘Extremis’ series that introduced a new origin story for Iron Man and focused heavily on nanotechnology. Elements of ‘Extremis’ already had been borrowed for the first Iron Man, making the character less of an arms dealer and more of a test pilot, with his suit being a jet fighter, of sorts.”
UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter notes Kingsley won’t be the film’s main villain and “there is a chance [he] will play the Mandarin, but because the script is still being written, the character might be reconfigured for silver-screen presentation. The Mandarin’s classic traits might be merged with a nanotechnological virus seen in a storyline titled ‘Extremis.'”
Additionally, if you missed it, over the weekend, I wrote about how Captain America 2 was recently slated for an April 14, 2014 release and will pick-up where The Avengers leaves off, as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) continues his affiliation with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D and struggles to embrace his role in the modern world.
Word has it Iron Man 3 will also be picking up where Avengers leaves off, but I’m not entirely sure how that will work or if the plots for upcoming Avengers-based films will all play off one another.
As for Kingsley, he’ll next be seen alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in The Dictator and next November in Ender’s Game. He was last seen in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.
