It's never too early to start pimping for Iron Man 3. This is the one that is going to be filmed and partially financed with Chinese financiers so I thought it was appropriate.

Quote Originally Posted by Neon Punch
As we lead up to The Avengers premiere in Hong Kong this Thursday, pre-production reports have started for the next Marvel movie Iron Man 3.

We have an inside source close to the negotiations that says our very own Andy Lau 劉德華 is close to signing on to be in Iron Man 3 which is being co-financed and shot in China this Summer.

We know that Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce have already been cast as villains and that Scarlett Johansson and Don Cheadle will reprise their roles as the Black Widow and War Machine – so who will Andy Lau play in this ever-growing cast?

If you know the comics, one of Iron Man’s major foes is The Mandarin – an evil Chinese warlord with 10 magical rings (hey its a comic remember) that is posed to take over the world with Ancient magic from China. Here is the character from the Iron Man animated series:

So all signs are pointing that the leader of the Ten Rings which was hinted at in the first Iron Man might in fact be The Mandarin and who better to play him than one of the biggest stars in Asia?

We imagine Andy’s role to be more like Ken Watanabe‘s in Batman Begins though so don’t expect to see any witty back-and-forth with Robert Downey Jr. although you never know since China has a hand in paying the bills this time!

Of course this is still just rumor and speculation, but we have a feeling an announcement will be made soon. More as it develops!

UPDATE 1:
We want to follow up on this post after a bunch of emails from some of our readers and friends phone calls – most likely if this is true (or any other Chinese star is cast) the chances of them playing a VILLAIN with Chinese funding will probably not happen.
Fans of Infernal Affairs know how the ending was changed in China WITH Andy Lau’s character.

And even more recently Chow Yun Fat’s pirate character was completely edited out of the China version of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” due to Chinese being portrayed as “evil” in Western films and to the masses in China.

We’re going to have to pour over our Iron Man comics this week to try and figure out who he might play if he indeed gets cast.
We’re going to stick to the news that Kingsley and Pearce will be the major villains of the film and any Chinese actors will HELP Iron Man defeat them.

UPDATE 2:
Since we posted this story we’re getting more info:

Andy Lau has not signed on yet. “Final negotiations” are under way – we assume that to mean “money.”
Andy Lau’s character will NOT be The Mandarin – oops, there goes our headline.
Andy Lau’s character will be an OLD FRIEND OF TONY STARK’S that represents China’s technology sector – and will use China’s armored heroes to HELP Iron Man defeat “The Mandarin” who is seen as a terrorist against both the US and China.

Wow, the more we hear about this the movie starts to take shape if you add in the Extremis storyline where Guy Pearce plays Aldrich Killian the man who creates the Extremis virus that forces Tony Stark to bond with his armor and to become one with the suit! Ben Kingsley perhaps playing the head villain and leader of a group called The Mandarin or posing as a Chinese threat to start a war of Iron Men.

Let the guessing continue as we dig deeper!