Breaking Development: The first image from Iron Man 2

[Jumbo]

<edit> but now that it is going to be filmed in China, they feel they are going to cast a Chinese actor for the mandarin role.

I'd support that, of course. It's too bad David Carradine passed away.

Too insensitive? :pfft:

[Destino]

It's good to see that Iron Man's casting of very good actors as the villains continues. Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, and now Ben Kingsley.

Spiderman started strong with Willem Dafoe, down graded to Alfred Molina in the sequel, and then drove off a cliff with the fail trio of Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and James Franco (now as the new Goblin). Plus they totally wasted Bruce "The Chin" Campbell.

"Super" Villains can't just be your standard bad guy.

[shakinaiken]

I hope our chinese friends can help make a better movie than part two 2 ... wish I had more hands so I could that flick 4 thumbs down like Rick James

Not sure about this though? wtf?

what's a chinese story?

perhaps a Chinatown remake with Robert Downey as J.J?

[Destino]

I'd support that, of course. It's too bad David Carradine passed away.

Too insensitive? :pfft:

You minded me that David Carradine recently appeared in the Cracked article 9 Supposed Action Stars Who Clearly Couldn't Fight

Enjoy:

In 1972, David Carradine was hired as the star of the show Kung Fu, supposedly because Bruce Lee looked too Chinese. There was hardly any kung fu in the show, which was lucky, since Carradine fought like a gentle current pushing a corpse against a rock. His character used combat as a way to spread peaceful enlightenment, probably because by the time one of his punches landed, no one could remember why anyone was fighting.

Despite attacking with the fury of a beginner tango class, Carradine was typecast as a martial artist and went on to film hundreds of clumsy slow motion kung fu battles. He fought Chuck Norris, James Remar, Rick Springfield, Al Leong ... he even had his own cardio karate workout video where you could stand and breathe your way to Shaolin fitness.

He eventually learned how to perform martial arts, but never managed to make it look like they'd hurt. The only thing slower than a David Carradine karate chop was the editing process for one of his fight scenes. If you didn't use eight camera cuts and a perfectly wigged stuntman for every attack, his battles looked like Tom Petty politely trading business cards with someone. It took David Carradine longer than a minute to throw a kick and, in what would be his undoing, longer than one masturbation session to get his neck out of a belt. It got to the point where the editors of Kung Fu seemed to be using the slow motion effect just to make fun of him. Take a look at the absurdly unnecessary use of slow motion in this scene and tell me I'm wrong:

"Carradine fought like a gentle current pushing a corpse against a rock" is one of the best lines I've read on cracked.

[88Comrade2000]

Good one Bang. I remember watching that TV show, afternoons after school on TBS or whatever it was before it become TBS.

[aszumilo]

Probably means "The Mandarin" is going to be the villain in the third movie. From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iron_Man_enemies

They could also go with the Yellow Claw or Fin Fang Foom. The Yellow Claw could be a viable option as a supporting type villain, if they choose not to go with the Mandarin. Fin Fang Foom tearing up the Chinese countryside would be cool, though.

[Skin'emAlive]

"Carradine fought like a gentle current pushing a corpse against a rock" is one of the best lines I've read on cracked.

Seanbaby is the best. I love his stuff. He had two of his greatest one-liners in that article alone:

"If he wanted, Fred Williamson could kick your ass so hard that nine months after you die, your wife would give birth to his foot. Full-powered Fred Williamson attacks are the second ingredient in Taco Bell ground beef."

"Eric Roberts fights like an interpretive dance about coming out to your father."

Just awesome.

[Bliz]

Great stuff, Bang.

And Des, I thought I'd wait and see if anybody remembered the Mandarin (great character). Well done so quickly.

Mandarin also has solid story-line ties to the Avengers as a group, and several members individually, in the comics, as well as to other marvel figures who have been rumored to possibly appear in their own projects at some point (The Inhumans and the Black Panther).

I'm going to go with the ****eyed optimist position, Henry, and think that maybe the Chinese involvement will be a positive enhancement of the series though that first one is hard to top in straight-up movie (as opposed to super-hero movie) quality.

The problem with Mandarin as a villain in this scenario is, don't forget the Chinese can be VERY sensitive about China or a Chinese person as enemy/villain in American media. Part of that whole communist state-approved media only deal.

Some entertainment companies seeking a share of the lucrative Chinese market have been going to great lengths to avoid offending Beijing. For an as yet unreleased remake of the 1984 Cold War drama "Red Dawn," MGM initially cast China as the villainous invader, since there was no longer a Soviet Union. But after negative editorials were published in China, the filmmakers switched the enemy, making it North Korea. Scenes already shot were digitally altered to remove Chinese flags and symbols.

Tripp Vinson, one of the movie's producers, told The Times last year, "We were initially very reluctant to make any changes. But after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous 'Red Dawn' that we believe improves the movie."

China allows only 20 foreign films to be screened in its theaters each year, so it is easy to pass over those with content deemed objectionable, including excess nudity and profanity, references to the Dalai Lama or the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, or actors who have criticized China.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/16/world/la-fg-china-culture-20120217/2

If it is the Mandarin, I would expect significant changes to the backstory to divorce him from Chinese society. So maybe instead of Chinese nobleman, he's the son of a Chinese nobleman who defects, and is intent on destroying something in China (and enter Iron Man to help the Chinese defend their ____ against the villain).