Ben Kingsley is The Mandarin!

[IronGirl299]

As an Iron Fan, I should probably be more concerned with our hero's villian, but since Loki, no other villian is worth my attention.
Kidding. Of course I care. This is Tony we're talking about.
I'm good with the Mandarin for the trilogy's last villian and I think the above speculation could work. But make him Ghost instead of the real deal? I think the Mandarin is too important to be fused with another character who's not so well known as other Marvel villains we could name.

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Having read up on the Ghost he doesnt seem like that interesting of a character to me. I have read IM comics but never one with him in, Mandarin is a much more interesting villain on the page, but we'll see how The Ghost translates to the big screen.

[Hypestyle]

I don't see him in part 3.. People "demanded" Venom in spider-man 3 and, well, look what happened..

So whenever it happens, let it be organic..

storywise, tensions with china can be used as topical subject manner.. perhaps a rogue scientist, stifled by the state, a fetishist for the ancient, pre-communist dynasties, decides to act on his own..

as far as the rings.. who knows.. maybe they don't have to be literal finger rings, but circular batteries that power his armor for different effects, different types of blasts and ray beams that can be very offensive and effective against iron man's armor.. depending on whether they want to go with an "alien" angle, they can include the comics history of them being alien power batteries, or they can be human created..

[DrCosmic]

Hypestyle, that doesn't sound organic at all. That sounds pretty convoluted.
AVEITWITHJAMON, Whiplash isn't a very interesting character on the page, but because his power and motivation is simple, he translates to the screen well.
IronGirl299, I think Mandarin's too important to make a good movie with, he's got a lot going on that would distract from a story, from his alien tech, to his chinese idology to his archaeology obsession... there's not a good way to tie that all together in a story other than: chinese people suck - which is what he was originally design to show...

[terry78]

If Black doesn't do it like I said, he should be a part of an Avengers sequel. Basically every character's arch nemesis should play a role in the franchise. If we don't get a new separate Hulk flick, put Samuel Sterns in there.

[IronGirl299]

Originally Posted by DrCosmic

.
IronGirl299, I think Mandarin's too important to make a good movie with, he's got a lot going on that would distract from a story, from his alien tech, to his chinese idology to his archaeology obsession... there's not a good way to tie that all together in a story other than: chinese people suck - which is what he was originally design to show...

I thought they could tone down the Mandarin a little (impossible, I know.) But I guess them having a Chinese villain is a little...iffy...plus we all know what Mandy is capable of....
Still I think that if his character was done well and not so over the top with alien stuff, then he could work for the screen.

[The Infernal]

I think regardless of Black's views on the Manderin or even if there was another director doing IM3, Mandarin would still have to be adapted in some fashion to fit the story. Like a lot of Marvel properties he has decades worth of backstory, so it would have to be tailored to today's standards of story telling. Any version of Mandarin we would see on the big screen would (or should) be a version that stands up to those standards.

Though saying that I think any hope for seeing Mandarin in IM3 is pretty low at this point.

[IronGirl299]

They said they planned it even before the first came out and apparently 'everything has been leading up to this.' plus the dude who gives Vanko his fake passport in IM2 is called a 'Ten Rings Gangster' and I think we all noticed the Ten Rings banner behind Tony in the first one, at some point.
So yeah, he's coming.
The question is...how? O_O

[Sebastos]

Maybe if not the third then the fourth?

[IronGirl299]

...the fourth. Yeah I don't think so. Because that would be overkill and I know Tony loooooves taking things to extremes but a fourth movie would personally NOT work for me.

[The Infernal]

Originally Posted by IronGirl299

They said they planned it even before the first came out and apparently 'everything has been leading up to this.' plus the dude who gives Vanko his fake passport in IM2 is called a 'Ten Rings Gangster' and I think we all noticed the Ten Rings banner behind Tony in the first one, at some point.
So yeah, he's coming.
The question is...how? O_O

There was never any guarantee. Those were cameos that a lot of people wouldn't get and didn't really build up anything in terms of setting up Mandarin for the audience. He certainly wasn't a guarantee for a sequel, even before Favreau left and Black came on board.

Plus Black dismissively called the character a racist characterture when specifically asked about Mandarin being in the film. Whilst it's not an out and out no, it's still reasonable to assume he's probably not going to use him if he doesn't have to.

[demitri_vampiro]

Originally Posted by Hypestyle

I don't see him in part 3.. People "demanded" Venom in spider-man 3 and, well, look what happened..

So whenever it happens, let it be organic..

storywise, tensions with china can be used as topical subject manner.. perhaps a rogue scientist, stifled by the state, a fetishist for the ancient, pre-communist dynasties, decides to act on his own..

as far as the rings.. who knows.. maybe they don't have to be literal finger rings, but circular batteries that power his armor for different effects, different types of blasts and ray beams that can be very offensive and effective against iron man's armor.. depending on whether they want to go with an "alien" angle, they can include the comics history of them being alien power batteries, or they can be human created..

i dont see a reason why they wouldnt go with alien angle on the rings. with avengers they established aliens and with cosmic cube they introduced alien tech. so they could to the same with the rings.

[Keyser Soze]

It sucks that The Mandarin probably won't be in Iron Man 3. But if history has taught us anything, it's that it's better not to have a comic book villain show up in a film than to have him show up in a film when the director is clearly disinterested in using the character.

[Incredible Hans]

I just wrote that in the Avengers thread a few minutes ago...

"That would make Iron Man the first superhero in the world to have his own film trilogy and not fight his archfoe from the comics in it! "

And, responding to someone pointing out that "racist caricature" thing:

"In their early years, Wasp and Invisible Girl were sexist caricatures. Helpless females who always need powerful men to rescue them.
And what are they today? It's not that difficult to 'upgrade' a character a little bit by creating a new interpretation of him...
The Mandarin was good enough for the 2007 animated movie 'The Invincible Iron Man' (Lionsgate). So I don't see any reason why he shouldn't work for IM3. "

Honestly, an Iron Man trilogy without the Mandarin doesn't make much sense to me.

[Boom]

So I am to believe that a Chinese crime lord with ten alien rings cannot be made to work on screen without coming across as a "racist caricature?"

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by Boom

So I am to believe that a Chinese crime lord with ten alien rings cannot be made to work on screen without coming across as a "racist caricature?"

I don't get it either. They could easily make the character work without any real racist overtones attached to it.

[Boom]

Seriously. It's not exactly comforting when the creative minds behind this movie blow off Iron Man's arch enemy altogether because they refuse to rework him for a contemporary audience.

And by "rework him," I don't mean change his name, his race, and his weapon. If you're going to do that, you might as well make it an original character.

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by Boom

Seriously. It's not exactly comforting when the creative minds behind this movie blow off Iron Man's arch enemy altogether because they refuse to rework him for a contemporary audience.

Kind of makes you wonder what direction they are going in for this movie, since the Mandarin is near the top among Iron Man's biggest villains and would seem to make sense as the last one if this is indeed the last one with RDJ.

[terry78]

A Chinese businessman who was behind all that **** from the first couple movies would be offensive to who, exactly?

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by terry78

A Chinese businessman who was behind all that **** from the first couple movies would be offensive to who, exactly?

Really no one, but maybe they don't want to upset a possible audience in China, which they shouldn't be since he's a pretty established character with a healthy backstory.

[Boom]

So long as the character doesn't reinforce offensive racial stereotypes, I don't see what the problem is.

[terry78]

They have no problem putting asian people in stereotypical roles now, but this would be different? I guess because he has so much power and is viewed as evil it might strike a nerve with some of the more questionable guys in power over there.

[The Caped Knight]

Kingsley would be a prefect choice to play The Mandarin (He looked just like him in Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as the Main Villain Nizam.)

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by terry78

They have no problem putting asian people in stereotypical roles now, but this would be different? I guess because he has so much power and is viewed as evil it might strike a nerve with some of the more questionable guys in power over there.

But considering he was really never a government official in China, I don't see how they could get too upset. He was always more of someone who they had a truce with so he wouldn't destroy them in an instant.

[Spider-Fan]

I don't think Kingsley as Mandarin is out of the realm of possibility. They always deny or refuse to comment on who they may play with these movies. I will believe he wouldn't be Mandarin when he is confirmed for someone else officially. Until then, I still have to think Mandarin will be involved.