Though most of the recent Marvel hoopla has been about the impending arrival of Avengers Assemble, no one should forget that we have a third Iron Man outing scheduled to start shooting in May. But while the film already has a co-writer / director in Shane Black and a built-in hero in Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, nothing has been revealed about any possible villains. But now we know that Ben Kingsley is in final talks to play a bad guy.
Which one? Fans of the comic shouldn’t immediately leap to the conclusion that he's the Mandarin, since Marvel and Disney are naturally staying quiet over the details.
Quick pre-spoiler warning for the next chunk, since no one knows for sure if the plot points mentioned will crop up, but just in case…
Rumours have spread since March and Latino Review's report that Tony will get involved with nanobot technology, as seen in Warren Ellis’ 2005 six-issue Extremis comic book run. The high-tech solution turns Stark into the walking embodiment of the suit, giving him lots of new powers, but also leads to the creation of dangerous new threats. It remains to be seen whether that turns up onscreen or if it turns out to be fans dreaming.
With Drew Pierce on co-writing duties and hints that seeds of the new Iron Man plot will be laid in the Avengers film, we’ll have to wait until May 3, 2013 to see what is real and what is rumour. Or, you know, until someone spills the beans…
Kingsley is currently at work on the adaptation of classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game, which will find him starring alongside Hugo’s Asa Butterfield, Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford. News broke today that the film’s release date has been pushed back from March 2013 to November of that year.