The release of The Avengers is now less than a month away, but Marvel is gearing up to start production on their first post-Avengers pic, Iron Man 3. Though little is known regarding the plot, Marvel and director Shane Black have apparently settled on their villain. Variety reports that Sir Ben Kingsley is now in final negotiations to take on the antagonist role in the third Iron Man pic. Though Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau had been setting up the Mandarin as the villain for Iron Man 3, insiders apparently denied that Kingsley would be playing the brilliant and wealthy Chinese scientist. So who exactly will he be playing? Hit the jump for more.

Fans of the comic series have been hoping to see the Mandarin portrayed on the big screen, as the character is a classic villain from the source material who used ten alien-forged rings of power as weapons against his foes. Alas, it appears fans will have to wait a bit longer for the Mandarin to get his day in the sun. We recently learned that the plot of Iron Man 3 would involve nanobot technology that Tony Stark incorporates into his suit, with the conflict coming in the form of a nanobot virus.

Per Variety, Kingsley would play a role that revolves around the spreading of said virus. The storyline is loosely based on Warren Ellis’ Extremis series that focused on nanotechnology. Kingsley’s a swell actor and is definitely in line with the caliber of talent that Favreau brought to the first Iron Man with Jeff Bridges, so I think he’s a nice addition to the cast. It’s hard to say whether he’s right for the role, as we don’t really know what the role is. Production on the film is set to get underway in May in North Carolina, with Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson all reprising their roles from the previous films. Kingsley is currently filming the adaptation of Ender’s Game.

Hopefully we’ll hear more about Kingsley’s character soon, but in the meantime I’ll leave it to those more versed in Iron Man lore than me to speculate away in the comments. Iron Man 3 opens on May 3rd, 2013.

日前《鋼鐵俠3》片方透露，他們正與本·金斯利進行最后洽談，邀請其在片中出演反派人物。令人意外的是，片方明確表示這一角色并不是傳說已久的“滿大人”。

有著英國、東印度和南非血統(tǒng)的本·金斯利在飾演亞洲人上有著得天獨厚的優(yōu)勢，1982年他第一次擔(dān)任電影主角便因《甘地傳》一舉拿下奧斯卡影帝桂冠，因此當(dāng)消息傳出他將加盟《鋼鐵俠3》時，影迷們第一時間想到的便會是成吉思汗的后裔——滿大人。

據(jù)介紹，漫畫里的滿大人的父親是解放前中國最富有的人，母親則是英國貴族（這似乎也與本·金斯利亞歐結(jié)合的雙親不謀而合），因父母去世被憤世嫉俗的姑媽帶大，而后利用遺產(chǎn)與個人才干在國民黨集團里謀得高位。新中國成立后，滿大人被放逐到一個神秘村莊，在那他發(fā)現(xiàn)了一艘外形宇宙飛船，隨即掌握了先進技術(shù)，開始全面復(fù)仇與稱霸。滿大人是鋼鐵俠最強勁的對手，前兩部《鋼鐵俠》的導(dǎo)演喬恩·費儒也早早透露他希望第三部的反派是滿大人。

盡管一切看起來順理成章，片方卻另有打算。據(jù)透露，《鋼鐵俠3》的反派也是一位掌握著頂尖技術(shù)的人物，他操縱納米機器人，企圖控制世界。但具體細(xì)節(jié)尚未明了，導(dǎo)演更換之后劇情走向顯得更加神秘了。

《鋼鐵俠3》由《致命武器》、《終極尖兵》的編劇沙恩·布萊克擔(dān)任導(dǎo)演，小羅伯特·唐尼繼續(xù)領(lǐng)銜。影片初步定于2013年5月3日在美國上映。