This was a discussion that was started on another forum; considering the recent tension amongst the forums in recent days I thought I would bring it over here too help ease that tension:

If the sequel to the recently released Iron Man has The Mandarin as the primary villain (which I honestly doubt it will be him but who knows) who would you cast to play Iron Mans arguably greatest villain?

I cast my vote for the great Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. There is something about him that makes a good villain…I remember seeing him in several movies playing villains but I have to say I remember him best from the Mortal Kombat movie where he played Shang Tsung.

What’s your say?

Pfft, if anything, Shang Tsung proves why he's wrong for Mandarin: dude doesn't grow facial hair.

Good point; who do you think would be a good movieverse version of the Mandarin?

So we're not going with the actor hinted at in the first movie?

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1290114816/tt0371746

First off Didn't they kill him off?
Secondly in the novelization he references the Mandarin by saying “The man who's ring I wear” implying that the Mandarin maybe the leader of the organization and he may just be a lacky himself.

Caste, that guy was never the Mandarin. What do you think “The Ten Rings” as a gang name means? It means there's TEN seperate sects, spread out in different countries (remember what Yinsen said about all the languages they spoke?) and that guy only led one.

Hence only wearing one ring. He was an underboss.

Gettin' kinda sick of how many people I've had to point that out to…

Anyway, I'd cast…I dunno, probably Chow Yun Fat.

Chow Yun Fat was indeed great in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End as Captain Sao Feng. I am ashamed to admit it but I never considered him really. Until that movie I always thought he had too ‘kind’ of a face to be the Mandarin.

Yeah, Pirates was what made me think of him too. There aren't too many Asian actors who have the gravitas to play the kind of “serious business” villain that The Mandarin is.

I remember hearing somewhere prior to the films release that the director wanted to portray the Mandarin as some sort of mystical force, similar to Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films. Have multiple references to him in two films and then manifest itself in the third.

Using this idea, someone suggested having Shaun Toub (the actor who played Yinsen in the first movie) come back to play the Mandarin. Essentially he would be Yinsen's deceased body possessed by the essence of the Mandarin

TheRazorsEdge
Caste, that guy was never the Mandarin. What do you think “The Ten Rings” as a gang name means? It means there's TEN seperate sects, spread out in different countries (remember what Yinsen said about all the languages they spoke?) and that guy only led one.

Or maybe a guy talking about Genghis Khan, fiddling with his frickin' massive ring (not exactly a typical terrorist fashion statement), and he's a major boss in a terrorist group called The Ten Rings, is one giant reference to the Mandarin. Yeah, they're made up from troops from all over, but he seemed pretty in charge of everyone at that camp, regardless of what they spoke. Could be a underboss, could be THE boss.

Seein as there's the fact that the actor said that those were placed there as a possibility for him to be the Mandarin, but not a for sure.

The Ten Rings can be both a reference to cell numbers AND a nod to the Mandarin, by the way - in fact, it is a nod. Even if that actor isn't the Mandarin, it's still a reference to the character. Foreshadowing and all that.

Sorry you had to explain things one more time to a complete comic idiot like me - you're so patient! Give me another 30 years, I'm sure I'll learn me somethin'! Meanwhile a quick point, snark-meister;

I never said he WAS the Mandarin, but asked if people were counting him out as a possibility for the Mandarin.

JamesCGamora
First off Didn't they kill him off?
Secondly in the novelization he references the Mandarin by saying “The man who's ring I wear” implying that the Mandarin maybe the leader of the organization and he may just be a lacky himself.

No, he's not dead - it was said that he was temporarily paralyzed, and then everything went to hell off screen - old movie/comic chestnut, no body, not dead for sure.

Now, the novelization, that's a different story - I couldn't take that into account because I didn't read it. But, novelizations are often written from materials generated well before final cut, and sequels don't care about what the book said. They only care about what the last movie said. Still, it's clear they deliberately set the stage for it to go either way - he could be a henchman, or the Mandarin could be more broadly “Asian”. So you may be right.

But whatever - I had one question (which apparently came out as “I think terror man would be teh awesomes, don't u?”) and it's pretty much a “no” answer, by the looks of things, so this is my stop. I'm fine either way - they'd have to go a long way to duplicate their character tweak cock-up of the Green Goblin.