Ben Kingsley is the ‘Iron Man 3’ Villain

As Tony Stark prepares to go solo again after playing with the other superfriends in this summer's The Avengers, Marvel Studios has been looking for his next nemesis. Turns out that Ben Kingsley will play this villainous role in Iron Man 3.

Although message boards have been running rampant with the idea that Iron Man would next face the Mandarin ever since Iron Man 2 came out, Variety reports that according to Marvel insiders, Kingsley will play someone else. This despite the veteran actor's renowned ability to play any and every ethnicity that's not African in origin (though it would surprise no one if he pulled that off too).


The trade publication goes on to suggest Kingsley will play a character involved in "the spread of a virus through nanobots," as the script by Shane Black (who also directs) and Drew Pearce will be loosely based on Warren Ellis' "Extremis" series, the six-issue reinvention of Iron Man first released in 2005 that also inspired the first film in the franchise. The story deals extensively with nanotechnology.

Kingsley has been all over the map in recent years. He's been brilliant in films such as The Wackness and last year's Hugo. He also played the villain in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. He will next appear in the May comedy The Dictator.

Iron Man 3, which returns stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson, begins filming over the summer and releases on May 3, 2013.