Finally we have confirmation on who the villain in Ironman 3 is and it is who we thought I was all along. It is the Mandarin and he is played by Sir Ben Kingsley. Unfortunately Cinefools never received an invite to this year’s comic-con and we had to stay home.Actually I don’t think I have ever received a invite!! Either way we are not there so alot of today’s stories are courtesy of the legends over at Collider with my own personal opinion over the top.
According to Collider the marvel panel opened with RDJ (all hail) and he obviously led the show supposedly stirring the geek crowd (oh how I wish I was one of them ) into a frenzy!! The man is truly the figurehead for Marvel entertainment and it will be sad to lose him as Ironman 3 is his last on contract with big, big bucks to get him back. The Ironman3 panel has given us some really cool concept art which I assume shows the new Extremis suit which is based on a comic book plotline where Tony develops nanobot Armor that is controlled by his mind. Brilliant concept and I am sure it will have some brilliant visuals.
Speaking of visuals we are going directly to the scene with our Collider eye witness account of the footage show......
We open with Iron Man putting on his new suit that he can summon through force of will (I believe this is the Extremis armor, but I don’t want to officially call it that). He has some pieces that don’t want to behave, and they start zipping around the room, smashing into things (Tony included), and he gets slammed with some pieces in his nuts and in his back, with the mask the last piece ready to strike. “I’m not scared of you,” Stark says defiantly to the hovering mask. The mask charges, Tony dose a sweet flip, the mask clicks on, Iron Man sticks the landing, and strikes a bad ass pose. Then the Marvel logo comes up.
- The next scene has Tony bantering with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Hogan has quit since he was tired of people laughing at him when he told them he was Iron Man’s bodyguard. It’s a cute way of breaking the fourth wall regarding Faverau’s exit from the director’s chair.
- After this nice comedic banter, we get to the serious stuff. Over shots of new characters played by Guy Pearce and James Badge Dale as well as returning cast members Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle, we hear Ben Kingsley deliver some menacing voice over. “Some people consider me a terrorist,” the voice says. “I consider myself more of a teacher. Lesson 1: There’s no such things as heroes.”
- Then we see Tony’s Malibu home get absolutely destroyed by missiles being fired from helicopters. All of his suits are destroyed except for the one he’s wearing (I’m not 100% sure if this was his newest armor, but I think it was). Iron Man manages to escape the missiles, but he plummets into the ocean below ,and plunges deep underwater where he’s desperately trying to dodge the falling debris of his home.
- Then the title comes up. Of course, we’re not done yet…
- We see a hand putting on the last of ten rings, one on each finger. We then see a figure remove his hood and pull a gun at no one in particular. The screen goes to black, we fade in, and we see The Mandarin (Kingsley) sitting on a throne. His voice over closes out the trailer: “If you beg for mercy, you will be silenced.”
This sounds damn awesome and Shane Black is a director who knows how to funnel RDJ(all hail)’s personality as Kiss,Kiss Ban,Bang is brilliant. So check out the art below and take deep breathes as we have come to what Marvel calls PHASE TWO.