Faran Tahir, who played the terrorist leader Raza in the first Iron Man movie, told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't have a role in the upcoming sequel, but that his character may appear in a later installment.
"We're still talking about it," Tahir said in an exclusive phone interview on Thursday. "It hasn't been finalized yet, so we'll see. The character didn't die in the first one, and it is part of a larger story. Iron Man's biggest nemesis is Mandarin, and my character is the only reference to Mandarin. So we're still trying to figure out how it's going to fit. The things to consider, I think, are that if it is a bigger story, how much of it is exposed [and] when."
Raza was the leader of a group that is part of the larger Ten Rings organization, which in the Marvel Comics is run by the Mandarin. Or is Raza more than he appears?
"Is he the conduit to Mandarin?" Tahir said. "Does he become Mandarin? Is it just another leader of the Ten Rings, you know, thing? All the allusions [in] my first speech was all about Genghis Khan and all that, which is Mandarin's thing, you know? So I think they have created the character and the storyline very wisely. To leave it as open as possible so whatever they need to, you know, pull from, they will."
For his part, Tahir would love it if he turns out to be the ultimate bad guy in the Iron Man universe. "Of course I would," he said. "Yeah, yeah, we'll see. We'll see." Iron Man 2 is currently shooting in Los Angeles.
