Iron Man 3 gets three new cast members

With production scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks with new director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) at the helm, the casting for Iron Man 3 is heating up, with three new cast members being added along side the returning Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle, and fellow new addition Ben Kingsley, as the so far unknown villain. These new cast announcements also go some way to confirming rumours that the plot of the movie will be an adaption of the Iron Man story Extremis, which had the armoured hero facing off against a virus comprised of nano bots (essentially a modern day version of Captain America's super soldier serum), from writer Warren Ellis and artist Adi Granov. Elements of the Extremis storyline, mainly the revised origin the story gave to Iron Man, were used already in the first Iron Man, and Granov created the final designs for the movie's suit based on his work in the comic.

First of the new guys up for the movie, revealed by Variety, is Guy Pearce, continuing his current trend of starring in sci-fi tinged properties. He will play Aldrich Killian, co-creator of the Extremis virus. Killian has a very minor role in the comic, only present on two pages, so expect his role to be bulked up in the film.

Bleeding Cool reports that Jessica Chastain (The Help, Tree Of Life) will be playing a "sexy scientist", their words not mine, who is "every bit as smart as Tony Stark". It is assumed her character will be a version of Maya Hansen, who created Extremis with Killian. The comic storyline reveals that Hansen and Stark had a relationship in the past, so this could put Chastain's character and Gwenyth Paltrow's Pepper Potts on course to hating each other.

Finally, Twitch reveals that Chinese actor Andy Lau (House Of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs) is in  final negotiations to star in the film. Since the movie is being co-produced in China, Chinese backers Walt Disney China and DMG Entertainment want a big Chinese name attached. If Lau accepts, he will play a Chinese scientist and friend of Starks, who provides the billionaire with new technology to fight the Extremis virus. And yes, when I heard of Lau's involvement I immediately thought this would be the long awaited appearance of Iron Man's nemesis, The Mandarin.

Iron Man 3 is expected to have a world wide release on the 3rd of May 2013.