Ben Kingsley up for villain role in Iron Man 3

Jon Favreau’s Iron Man was one of the best superhero movies many had seen in quite some time.



Both Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges made terrific heroes and villains, and although the film was pretty predictable, Favreau delivered a very respectable comic movie that definitely had its heart in the right place. 

It’s too bad the sequel didn’t deliver, but Iron Man is currently poised for a comeback with The Avengers next month, and with Iron Man 3, which is set to shoot in May.

Iron Man 3 is slated to be directed by Shane Black, who first broke through in his twenties writing Lethal Weapon, and he broke price records for his scripts The Last Boy Scout, which he got paid nearly two million for, and The Long Kiss Goodbye, which he reportedly got paid four million for.

And for the next Iron Man, he’s picking a great actor for the villain, Ben Kingsley.

 

Kingsley is of course the acclaimed actor of Ghandi and Schindler’s List, he played a great villain in Sexy Beast, and there’s no doubt he’d make a great superhero nemesis as well. 

As Variety and Collider tell us, Kingsley’s “in talks,” as they say in the biz, to be in Iron Man 3, and he’s apparently been getting his geek on lately, because Kingsley’s also in the long awaited big screen adaptation of Ender’s Game.

 

There have been initial reports that the villain in Iron Man 3 would be the Chinese baddie the Mandarin, who the fans are dying to see in a movie, like Venom in Spider-Man, but it’s very doubtful Kingsley’s going to play that role. 



Who Kingsley’s going to play is still a secret, but speculation has it the threat against Iron Man in this film has to do with nanobot technology, and whoever the bad guy is will be trying to spread a nanobot virus. This plot is reportedly based on the comic Extremis, written by Warren Ellis, which also influenced the first Iron Man film.

Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3, 2013.