The subtle presence of the Ten Rings terrorist group and the leader Raza wearing a decorative symbol of his position made me think that Mandarin might make an appearance in the sequel but we know that isn’t happening just yet.
The actor who played Raza has a little insight into the potential of Mandarin in the Iron Man films.
Latino Review quotes Faran Tahir:
“At some point, they want to introduce Mandarin into the storyline and my character, like Mandarin, was the leader of the Ten Rings. We’re leaving it open because, partly, it makes good business sense for us to leave a little bit of uncertainty for people to speculate on.”
“He [Favreau] has known for a long time where he wants to take it and I don’t want to speak for him, but my feeling is that the second movie didn’t want to just follow a singular storyline. They wanted to expand the characters to show that it’s not a linear saga like Lord of the Rings. There’s a linkage somewhere in there, but the big idea is to do at least one more Iron Man movie and then go into The Avengers.”
Now sometimes when we hear about a cast member promoting his character we just assume its just talk, but the talk here pretty much sets up the potential that Faran himself may not be the man who becomes the Mandarin.
The Mandarin’s true name has never been revealed, though it has been suggested that he has been called a few variations of Khan among other completely different names.
Perhaps it was the ring itself that becomes the cameo of the first film. Even Tahir admits that his character may not step into the shoes and just shares a little of the inside track he knows about Favreau’s plans.
I’d like to see Mandarin as the villain. He brings something a little different from the current trend of the “Turn Stark Technology against Iron Man” stories. Fav seems to be pacing out the storylines.
I also wonder when we might see the Bottle.
