Iron Man Bridges is The Mandarin & Favreau is Happy Hogan.

[DarthDaveBanner]

Why is this so hard to figure out....???

Jeff Bridges is NOT the Mandarin. (Why do you guys assume he's in this film, anyway? From what I understand, Favreau is NOT making Mandarin the villain in this movie.)

Favreau has confirmed Mandarin is the villain.

 

[Cherokee777]

Favreau has confirmed Mandarin is the villain.

Okey, fine, Favreau confirmed Mandarin at Comic-Con.
But, unless he's planning to make Mandarin a) white, b) an employee at Stark Enterprises, and c) a close friend of Tony Stark, Jeff Bridges is *still* CLEARLY not playing Mandarin.

And the O'Brien angle still works, even with Mandarin as the bad guy. In fact, Favreau could even blame Mandarin's machinations (mental, magical or otherwise) for O'Brien's "descent into the dark side," so to speak. Hell, maybe Guardsman winds up joining forces with Mandarin in the final showdown against IM and WM...

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ The fact is all we know is what's been said by Feige and Favreau. Favreau did say we won't be seeing the Mandarin we know from the comic books. He won't be the same. Feige insinuated the ensemble was rounded off which by definition means...complete. So if the Mandarin is being played by an Asian actor then Marvel either has already filled the role and isn't planning on telling us for some reason...or they've already filled the role and the actor has been announced but not attached to a name yet. If what you're saying is true (even though you're 1st post was 100% wrong) then Mandarin has been cast and they're keeping the info from us for some reason. At the same time ask yourself why are they not telling us the name of the character Bridges is playing? We're all on the same side here trying to figure out what's going on. If you think you know who Bridges is playing please explain why they're not revealing his name like they did with the rest of the cast????

 

[Chris B]

I'm holding out hope that we'll hear something at the Q&A session involving Favreau this Saturday.

 

[Cherokee777]

Feige clearly stated: "Bridges will play a confidant and close business associate of Stark, a longtime employee at defense contractor Stark Industries who plays a major role in shaping Stark's life."

Neither Mandarin nor Obadiah Stane work at Stark; nor would it make any sense for them to be written into the script as Stark employees and longtime confidants.

O'Brien, however, clearly fits the description.

Favreau said that there won't be *much* more casting, as the ensemble is *nearly* complete. There's still casting to be done.

And if I'm right, it would make sense for Favreau to still keep Bridges' identity under wraps. O'Brien/Guardsman would be a real surprise to Iron Man fanboys, and it would be a major plot twist. He wouldn't expect anyone to even *suspect* the O'Brien connnection -- unless they were long, LONG-time Iron Man fans who actually remember what Stark was doing in the early 70s. (>raises hand<)

 

[Chris B]

NOT Howard Stark. (Not old enough to be RDJ's pappy.

Not neccessarily. If the character was shown only in flashbacks, the 16-year age difference between Bridges and Downey wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Of all the possible characters he could be playing list them all and explain why there might be a reason to hide the name of the character.

Stark Senior
Stane
Jarvis
Mandarin

I don't see any reason to not reveal that Bridges is playing one of the 1st 3 from the fans or public.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Feige clearly stated: "Bridges will play a confidant and close business associate of Stark, a longtime employee at defense contractor Stark Industries who plays a major role in shaping Stark's life."

Neither Mandarin nor Obadiah Stane work at Stark; nor would it make any sense for them to be written into the script as Stark employees and longtime confidants.

O'Brien, however, clearly fits the description.

Favreau said that there won't be *much* more casting, as the ensemble is *nearly* complete. There's still casting to be done.

And if I'm right, it would make sense for Favreau to still keep Bridges' identity under wraps. O'Brien/Guardsman would be a real surprise to Iron Man fanboys, and it would be a major plot twist. He wouldn't expect anyone to even *suspect* the O'Brien connnection -- unless they were long, LONG-time Iron Man fans who actually remember what Stark was doing in the early 70s. (>raises hand<)

Show me the quote from Favreau where HE said "nearly".

 

[Chris B]

Of all the possible characters he could be playing list them all and explain why there might be a reason to hide the name of the character.

Stark Senior
Stane
Jarvis
Mandarin

I don't see any reason to not reveal that Bridges is playing one of the 1st 3 from the fans or public.

Maybe they feel that revealing his character's name isn't as much as a priority as attaching a name to the other roles? If, for example, Jeff Bridges is playing Howard Stark and will appear only in flashbacks, maybe they don't feel the need to rush that piece of info out into the open because he will only be in the film for a few minutes total?

 

[Advanced Dark]

They dont' need to explain anything but say he's Stark's father if that were the case. I doubt his role is just flashbacks considering they said when making casting decisions it was always about 3 films...but would the Mandarin be in all 3 films? Can you see Tony dealing with War Machine & the Mandarin??? Or will War Machine start off as a ally of Stark and then turn on him in Part 3?

This thread is all about speculation and nothing more for now. I'm sure something will

 

[Chris B]

Did we even get confirmation that Bridges was signed on for three films? My reasoning about Stark Sr. appearing only in flashbacks is that I can see them exploring Tony's relationship with his father in order to provide some more background on Tony Stark. It would coincide with what they said of Bridges' character in playing a major role in shaping Stark's life.

I'm holding out that this the case because it wouldn't be that hard to update the Mandarin. I don't even really like the idea of Obadiah Stane starting off as an employee as Stark because it also wouldn't be that hard to show him as the arbitrary business rival.

Like I said earlier, I am holding out that we will hear something at this Q&A session.

 

[Cherokee777]

Show me the quote from Favreau where HE said "nearly".

Okay, it wasn't Favreau....it was Feige and IGN.

Feige adds that the addition of Bridges rounds out the ensemble, so we probably won't be hearing too many more major casting decisions for this project.

So, here's the major Iron Man characters who have yet to be cast:
Jarvis
Mandarin
Happy Hogan
Howard Stark
Obadiah Stane

And, I humbly submit to the list:
Kevin O'Brien

So. Coupla possibilities here:
a) Not all of the characters listed above will actually make an appearance in the 1st Iron Man movie.
b) The characters listed above *may* be in the movie, but the rest of them will not be played by "major" actors. That may be the point that Feige and IGN were trying to make.

So Jeff Bridges is *most likely*fulfilling one of the above roles. We know that Bridges plays a Stark friend and employee: that pretty much narrows it down to Jarvis, Happy, Howard or O'Brien -- Stane and Mandarin are NOT Stark employees, and even if Favreau screws up the script royally, he'd have a hard time justifying either of those two working at Stark & Co.

So:
Jarvis? Hell no. Jarvis is an old British guy -- not likely that Bridges would be cast as Jarvis.
Daddy? The only way I see it is as described above -- flashbacks, and maybe an old Howard, with Jeff in makeup.
Happy? The description sounds a lot like Happy, but Favreau swears it's not him. Either he's lying, or Jeff is categorically *not* playing Happy Hogan.

So that would leave....whom?
>>>>back to Square One: Bridges is playing Kevin O'Brien.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ We have no confirmation specifically on Bridges but in the AICN report it was said in there that when casting the film they were casting it with full consideration of a trilogy. So he may or may not be in all 3 films though I'm sure he's signed on for 3 just in case.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Okay, it wasn't Favreau....it was Feige and IGN.

Feige adds that the addition of Bridges rounds out the ensemble, so we probably won't be hearing too many more major casting decisions for this project.

So where does it say "NEARLY". It says "...the addition of Bridges *ROUNDS OUT* then ensemble. By definition it means COMPLETES.

The part that says "...so we probably won't be hearing too many more casting decisions on the project" was a quote from the site that wrote up the story.

 

[Chris B]

^ We have no confirmation specifically on Bridges but in the AICN report it was said in there that when casting the film they were casting it with full consideration of a trilogy. So he may or may not be in all 3 films though I'm sure he's signed on for 3 just in case.

Anything is possible. It probably depends on whether his character will be a factor in the sequels.

 

[SilentType]

I find it much more likely that Feige was not including villains in the term &#8220;ensemble&#8221; than a character called the Mandarin being played by The Dude. The changes we&#8217;ve seen so far have been understandable, but this would be bizarre and out of left field.

 

[Advanced Dark]

I find it much more likely that Feige was not including villains in the term “ensemble” than a character called the Mandarin being played by The Dude. The changes we’ve seen so far have been understandable, but this would be bizarre and out of left field.

You have got to be kidding. 100% of the time when they talk about ensemble casts it includes ALL characters including villains in comic book movies such as X3 which I quoted near the beginning of this thread. I'm not saying it's a good or bad choice if I'm right...just trying to figure out what the case is but ensemble means what it means.

 

[SilentType]

You have got to be kidding. 100% of the time when they talk about ensemble casts it includes ALL characters including villains in comic book movies such as X3 which I quoted near the beginning of this thread. I'm not saying it's a good or bad choice if I'm right...just trying to figure out what the case is but ensemble means what it means.

You sure do push this thing.
Yes, it could happen, but I find it more likely that it was a semantic misstep on Feige&#8217;s part.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ I having a discussion about it. Yes I'm pushing my point as others are pushing theres. No heat involved. I also DID say several times I could be wrong if Feige slipped up or misspoke.

 

[SilentType]

^ I having a discussion about it. Yes I'm pushing my point as others are pushing theres. No heat involved. I also DID say several times I could be wrong if Feige slipped up or misspoke.

No insult intended, it was an amused observation.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Nice avvy though it reminds me of the Hasselhoff one that haunts me to this day.

 

[Cherokee777]

So where does it say "NEARLY". It says "...the addition of Bridges *ROUNDS OUT* then ensemble. By definition it means COMPLETES.

The part that says "...so we probably won't be hearing too many more casting decisions on the project" was a quote from the site that wrote up the story.

And yet, with only four parts known to be cast, *clearly* there's still a lot of major roles left to be cast -- or else sadly dropped from the story.

Plus, if my O'Brien theory is right, Feige's statement that "the addition of Bridges rounds out the ensemble" is *still* accurate: i.e., the four major players are Stark; Rhodey, as his friend/sidekick; Pepper, as his love interest/ aide-de-camp; and O'Brien, as his best friend turned spiteful enemy.

That's pretty much an ensemble, right there.

 

[Closerframe]

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chow Yun-Fat,or Ken Watanabe

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ The Mandarin I would imagine is one of the most important roles in the film.

 

[Cherokee777]

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chow Yun-Fat,or Ken Watanabe

I was thinking Chow. I imagine Favreau will rewrite Mandarin to be some sort of Hong Kong triad ganglord -- which, while cool 'n' hip and all that, is just as much an Asian stereotype as the Fu Manchu "Yellow Peril" cariacature Mandarin has always been in the comics.

Still, I'd much rather see a "modernized" Mandarin than a lame fortune-cookie wizard. And I strongly doubt that Downey, Bridges, Paltrow and Howard would have signed on to the film if Mandarin is portrayed "traditionally."