‘Iron Man 3’ To Feature The Mandarin, Won’t Happen Until After Big Marvel Event

Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man 2” may have taken this year’s best three day total with $133.6 million giving the sequel the fifth highest opening weekend of all-time, but he’s already planning a third installment which won’t happen until after Marvel’s big event that’ll bring “Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avengers” and “The Avengers” to the big screen.

In a recently sit down with MTV, Favreau says that he would like to see Iron Man’s arch-nemesis The Mandarin in “Iron Man 3.” He even admits to having been quietly building him up in the last two film. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that the terrorist organization in the first Iron Man was part of the “Ten Rings” and in the sequel, it was a 10 Ring Gangster that provided Vanko (Whiplash) forged identification materials.

For those unfamiliar with The Mandarin, he is a Fu-Manchu like villain with evil Asian caricatures from a much less politically correct era who possesses ten magical rings. Farvreau understands that when the time is right for him to appear, he will be updated with a more “modern” design.