According to reports, actor Sir Ben Kingsley, will play Marvel Comics' Chinese/British villain 'The Mandarin' in director Shane Black's "Iron Man 3" currently shooting in North Carolina.
"Iron Patriot' armor, featured in Marvel Comics, can also be seen on the set of the film.
"Iron Man 3" also stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, Ashley Hamilton, and Guy Pearce.
Kingsley will reportedly play the Mandarin as a 'silent partner' behind the finance of scientist 'Aldrich Killian (Pearce). Killian is the inventor of 'Extremis' that is used to create an 'Extremis Army' of super-powered killers.
The Walt Disney Company China, Marvel Studios and DMG Entertainment will also co-produce "Iron Man 3" in China. Under the arrangement, DMG Entertainment will make an investment in the production of "Iron Man 3" and manage the Chinese co-production process.
'The Mandarin' debuted in Marvel Comics' "Tales of Suspense" #50 (February 1964), written by Stan Lee, who created the character and illustrated by Don Heck, who initially designed the character : 
"...the Mandarin's late father was one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China (and a descendant of Genghis Khan), while his late mother was an English noblewoman. 
"Their son was born in an unnamed village in mainland China before the Communist revolution. 
"The boy's parents died soon after his birth, and he was raised by his (paternal) aunt, who was embittered against the world and raised him with much the same attitude. Every last bit of the family fortune was spent obsessively training the Mandarin in science and combat, with the result that he was completely broke upon reaching adulthood. Unable to pay the taxes on his ancestral home, the Mandarin was evicted by the government.
"Hoping to find a means of avenging himself upon the civilization that had taxed him and rendered him homeless, the Mandarin explored the forbidden 'Valley of Spirits', where no one had dared to set foot for centuries.
"Hoping to find a means of avenging himself upon the civilization that had taxed him and rendered him homeless, the Mandarin explored the forbidden 'Valley of Spirits', where no one had dared to set foot for centuries. 
"There he found the skeleton and starship of 'Axonn-Karr', an intelligent reptilian alien from the planet 'Maklu IV', who had come to Earth centuries ago. Over the following years, the Mandarin studied 'Makluan' science until he mastered it. He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship which were apparently its propulsion source.
"The Mandarin then became a conqueror and subjugated the villages around the Valley, and, through his advanced science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge. He then embarked on a long series of attempts to achieve world domination, seeing technology as the surest means to achieve his goals."
The principal personal weapons of the Mandarin are the ten rings which he wears on the fingers of each hand. The rings' operations cannot be explained by contemporary Earth science, but it is known that they served as a near-limitless power sources for the warp-drive engines of the Makluan starship of Axonn-Karr. 
"Iron Man 3" is produced by Kevin Feige and executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard and Dan Mintz.
The film opens in North America May 3, 2013, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in all territories worldwide, other than China and Germany/Austria (Tele München Group).
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