Iron Man 3 Casting Call Hints The Mandarin Is The Villain

Even though director Shane Black dismissed the idea of the Mandarin being the villain in Iron Man 3 at the Long Beach Comic Con, it's starting to now look like the Mandarin will be the villain in Iron Man 3 after all. Earlier this week, news broke that Ben Kingsley was in negotiations to play a villain in Iron Man 3. While many noted that Kingsley would make an excellent Mandarin, Variety insisted that he would not be playing that character. On the other hand, The Hollywood Reporter thought that there was a chance that Kingsley might play the Mandarin. Now, a casting call has dropped a strong hint that the Mandarin will be the villain. As previously reported by Comicbook.com, Iron Man 3 is being referred to by the code name Caged Heat, and Tona B. Dahlquist Casting is in charge of casting extras for Caged Heat. On the Caged Heat Facebook page, a casting call for extras was recently announced for this Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The casting call notes, "There is a special need for those of Chinese as well as Middle Eastern descents. Production will also be in need of business types with luxury vehicles." So what would the odds be that Iron Man 3 is in special need of those of Chinese descent and the villain not be the Mandarin? It's almost for certain now that one of the villains in Iron Man 3 is the Mandarin, spoiled by the extra casting call.