Everyone, including myself, was excited at the reveal of Sir Ben Kingsley as Iron Man’s infamous foe, The Mandarin. The Mandarin is a character who is the same as Tony Stark, but at the same time the complete opposite. Whereas Tony Stark used his intellect and technology, Mandarin uses his intellect along with the use of technology and his magical [alien] rings. In the comics, the ten rings have a near-limitless power and no one on Earth can explain the power that resides in the rings (although recently in Fraction’s comics we learn that each ring is actually a vessel for the souls of ten alien beings).

Technology and magic; two total contradictions of each other, and this is why The Mandarin and Iron Man are perfect foes. Just don’t expect The Mandarin’s rings to have any sort of power in Iron Man 3.

Entertainment Weekly has a quote from Kevin Feige where he says:

We won’t get ice rays and fire beams from these rings, like in the comics, but what will we get? Smart money says they’re not just because the Mandarin has won a lot of Super Bowls. But this version of The Mandarin will not follow that same backstory. Don’t expect aliens.

Many people believed that with the inclusion of magic in Thor, and aliens appearing in The Avengers, that having Mandarin’s ten rings have magical power given to him from aliens won’t be THAT far fetched to the general audience. But alas, it won’t be the case here.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Shane Black. The movie comes out May 3rd, 2013.

Mark Pacis

Self-proclaimed “Human IMDb” and comic book geek. Biggest Iron Man fan you’ll probably ever meet.