The publicity for Iron Man 3 has begun in full force, as last weekend's teaser for the upcoming teaser showed. We don't generally support that practice, since it has more to do with artificially stretching the promotional campaign than actually giving the fans something special (all that footage is coming in a day anyhow), but we do support this new poster for the film, which shows up Tony Stark's increasingly vast armory. We've seen that image before, but it's still a classy way to show off the upcoming sequel. (Click through for a larger version.)
Perhaps more importantly, we finally have a clear image of Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, despite early reports that he was not playing that particular Marvel Comics villain. It turns out he's just not playing the version we already know. For starters, Ben Kingsley isn't Chinese, but we all knew that, didn't we? Kevin Feige, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly about their exclusive image of the character, says, “It’s less about his specific ethnicity than the symbolism of various cultures and iconography that he perverts for his own end.” The magazine goes on to point out that, "From his samurai hair, to his royal robe, to his bin Laden-esque beard, and the AK-47 he keeps at his side, Kingsley’s interpretation is a hodgepodge of various warrior motifs."
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal
The Mandarin hasn't made an official appearance yet in the Iron Man films, despite being one of the most prominent members of the hero's rogues gallery, but he has been lurking in the shadows. Astute fans noticed that the terrorist organization behind Tony Stark's kidnapping in the first film referred to their organization as "The Ten Rings," an overt reference to the villain's schtick in the comics: the original version of the character wore ten alien rings, each giving him a different superpower: ice blasts, "black light," psionic control, vortex beams, electricity blasts, flame blasts, impact beams, white light and matter rearrangement. It seems unlikely that most or any of these powers will make an appearance in Iron Man 3, but time will tell.
CraveOnline will be back with more Iron Man 3 news after we do whatever an iron can.
