Jon Favreau, the guy that made Tony Stark every techie guys’ idol, is already looking into Iron Man 3, though he still wasn’t clear what it will be like after Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and The Avengers (2012). Still, he insisted on The Mandarin being the bad guy in the next show. The Mandarin is supposed to be a Fu-Manchu Asian, who possesses ten magical rings, God knows what he can do with those.

Not only that, Director Jon had already dropped some “Easter eggs” in the last two films. In the first Iron Man, the terrorist organization who bought a lot of Stark Industry toys, were parts of the “Ten Rings”, well whatever that means. Also, if you would even notice, Ali Khan (*the guy who hands over Vanko the forged ID and travel documents in Moscow) was credited as “10 Rings Gangster” in Iron Man 2.

Director Jon is currently filming Cowboys and Aliens, which will hit screens next summer, and this will allow the Marvel Universe mood to descend down awhile before swallowing a third installment of Iron Man. However, expect some alterations from the original comic, as Director Jon has admitted that it is required, when being interviewed by MTV.

Below is a brief introduction of The Mandarin, extracted from Marvel.

“Born circa 1920, the future Mandarin was raised by his embittered aunt following his parents’ deaths, and as an adult he used his brilliance and family wealth to attain prominence in the Kuomintang Party’s reign over China. The Communist Revolution of 1949 cost him his position and power, although the population he had once commanded still regarded him with nigh-mystic awe. After years of seeking some means of regaining greatness, he ventured into the mysterious Valley of Spirits, where he discovered the millennia-old wreckage of a starship of the reptilian Kakaranatharian, or Makluan, extraterrestrial race, and the ten mighty rings which had powered the vessel. Unaware that the Makluans themselves remained at large, posing as humans, the Mandarin spent decades mastering Makluan technology, then several years more conquering the valley’s adjacent villages and establishing a network both of citadels and of loyal followers such as Po, Yu, and Li Fong. His long-range goal was to conquer China, and then the world, which he claimed he would rule with the “wisdom and harmony” of his nobleman ancestors. During these years he fathered a son, Temujin, whom he sequestered in a remote monastery, and took the girl later known as Madam Macabre as a student; another girl, Mei-Ling, became betrothed to marry him in adulthood. He also discovered the dormant alien robot Ultimo within a volcano, and worked for years to revive him using a combination of science and magic. – Marvel”

[via Collider]