There is big news to report today in regards to the Shane Black-directed threequel for Marvel’s Iron Man saga. Ever since people heard of Ben Kingsley’s casting as a villain in the film, people have been speculating as to what role he might possibly fill in the studio’s next big feature, and today word is emerging from the movie’s North Carolina set as to who the Academy Award-winning actor could be playing.
Latino Review recently got wind from various crew members about what is going on behind the proverbial iron curtain. Apparently, Kingsley will be playing a secondary baddie by the name of Mandarin behind Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian who will take center stage. As for the castings of James Badge Dale and Ashley Hamilton as Cold Blood and Firepower respectively, those two are set to play Extremis soldiers who work for Killian.
So there you have it, the four villains conveniently laid out in a template that makes sense other than ‘oh my god, there are four bad guys in Iron Man III.’ There is still no word on the details surrounding Rebecca Hall’s “sexy scientist” character in the film, but having seen her in both The Town and Everything Must Go I must say that I cannot wait to find out the extent of her role.
Read More: Rebecca Hall To Snag ‘Iron Man 3′ Role Vacated By Jessica Chastain
Despite all these new faces emerging in the franchise, Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow’s respective characters will of course be returning as well as the lesser cared about Happy Hogan played by the series’ original director Jon Favreau.
Look for Iron Man III to land in theaters on May 3, 2013.
Update: Perhaps things are not quite as well packaged already as we have been lead to believe. James Badge Dale who will play Savin a.k.a. Cold Blood (a prospective baddie) was recently photographed in Iron Patriot armor. We will see what happens, but clearly the plot will change from the comic books as Norman Osbourne from Spider-Man actually is the original Iron Patriot and Sony holds those rights.
Stay tuned for clarification in the weeks ahead.
Update #2: The internet was wrong about Iron Patriot. The armor is really just Don Cheadle’s new War Machine armor. Class dismissed.