"Iron Man 3": Rings Of 'The Mandarin' ?

From Marvel Studios "Iron Man 3", Sneak Peek an official poster of the super-villain 'The Mandarin', as portrayed by actor Sir  Ben Kingsley ("Sexy Beast"), as well as details about the character's Marvel Comics' origins and powerful 'alien rings'.

"...in 'Iron Man 3", brash-but-brilliant industrialist 'Tony Stark'/'Iron Man' comes up against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds.



"When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible."

' 'The Mandarin' debuted in Marvel Comics' "Tales of Suspense" #50 (February 1964), written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Don Heck.

"...the Mandarin's father was one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China, as a descendant of 'Genghis Khan', while his mother was an English noblewoman. Their son was born in an unnamed village in mainland China before the Communist revolution.

"Both of 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. The family fortune was spent obsessively training him in science and combat, until he was completely broke upon reaching adulthood. Unable to pay the taxes on his ancestral home, he was evicted.


"Hoping to find a means of avenging himself upon a society that had taxed him into becoming homeless,  the Mandarin explored the forbidden 'Valley of Spirits', where no one had dared to set foot for centuries.

"There he found the remains, in a crashed starship, of 'Axonn-Karr', a techno-advanced reptilian alien from the planet 'Maklu IV', who had come to Earth centuries ago. salvaging what he could from Axonn-Karr and the craft, he studied and mastered 'Makluan' science.

"He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship which were apparently its propulsion source. He discovered that each ring had a special purpose, that would reveal more of itself over the years including a 'black light', a 'disintegrator' beam,'vortex' power, 'sonic' blast, poison gas, 'white' light, flame burst, electro-blast, mass hypnotizer and ice blast.  

"He subjugated all the villages around the Valley, and, through his advanced science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge, embarking on a series of attempts to achieve world domination, with his acquired  alien technology the surest means to achieve his goals."

"Iron Man 3" also stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale and Jon Favreau.

Director is Shane Black from a screenplay by Black and Drew Pearce.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Iron Man 3"...