Ben Kingsley in line for 'Iron Man 3'
Published Apr 10 2012, 08:03 BST | By Hugh Armitage
Sir Ben Kingsley is in line to star in Iron Man 3.The Hugo actor is in final negotiations for the role of the villain in Marvel Studios' sequel, reports Variety.
© Digital Spy
It has been confirmed that Kingsley will not play Tony Stark's controversial foe The Mandarin.
His character will instead be based on Mallen, a villain enhanced with a nanotech virus.
The character appeared in Warren Ellis's 'Extremis' storyline, on which the film will be loosely based.
Written by Drew Pearce and director Shane Black, Iron Man 3 will see Robert Downey Jr reprise his role as the titular hero.
Kingsley is currently filming Ender's Game, in which he will star alongside Asa Butterfield, Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.
Downey will next appear as Stark in The Avengers.
> Sir Ben Kingsley: 'I have a passion for storytelling'
Watch the trailer for The Avengers below:
Nathim Warmington yeah probably so , im just a bit old school and love the older original Marvel stories and like seeing them brought to life but im sure it will still be a great movie.
April 10th 2012 at 8:20pm
I think they went against Manadrin because his rings have no techno origin, even if he is just as if not smarter than Stark & Stane combined.
April 10th 2012 at 8:04pm
Mandarin was a no brainer and Ben Kingsly would have nailed it, it would have been a great sequel , but no lets go with someone hardly anyone has heard of and can't get excited about.
April 10th 2012 at 7:21pm
Mallen was a lot younger in the comic (hense the based on tag) could see him pulling it off.
April 10th 2012 at 2:47pm
Huh. If I had to guess the next Iron Man villain I never would have guessed Mallen, but there you go.
April 10th 2012 at 2:28pm