FIRST LOOK: Set Images From 'IRON MAN 3', Features James Badge Dale As Iron Patriot

ComingSoon has got ahold of the first real set images from the Iron Man 3 production. Oddly, enough it's one of the villains likely before he turns as James Badge Dale (Coldblood) is donning the Iron Patriot armor which was originally built/worn by Norman Osborn in the Dark Avengers comics. It will be interesting to see how many of these suits that the government makes before Extremis comes into play. This one looks like a copy of the War Machine armor.

Guy Pearce The Main Villain Of 'IRON MAN 3' And Kingsley Confirmed As The Mandarin

LatinoReview is confirming that Ben Kingsley is indeed playing The Mandarin (Gene Khan?) in Iron Man 3. However, he won't be the main villain of the film which will be scientist Aldrich Killian played by Guy Pearce (Memento, Lockout, Hurt Locker, Lawless, Prometheus). Mandarin will be more of a silent partner to Killian who develops the Extremis virus and creates a group of his own Extremis soldiers. It's very possible that Eric Savin/Coldblood (James Badge Dale) and Jack Taggert/Firepower (Ashely Hamilton) will be apart of this army and they will be greatly changed from their original incarnations in the comics.

LatinoReview has a decent enough track record with the Marvel exclusives, as they previously reported that Loki was going to be the villain of Avengers before it was announced. Seemingly this confirms that Marvel is combining Extremis and Armor Wars. It's possible they are moving slowly with amount of The Mandarin to leave room to use him as a main villain in Iron Man 4 or even Avengers 2. Marvel might be hopeful to get a couple more Iron Man films out of Robert Downey Jr. so they're holding back on a few villains (popular ones like Ghost and Whitney Frost). I wouldn't be surprised to see Crimson Dynamo (another version), Kearson DeWitt, Titanium Man and Cobalt included in Killian's Extremis army.

Ashely Hamilton To Play Villain Firepower In 'IRON MAN 3', Jon Favreau Back As Happy Hogan

ShowBlitz reports Ashley Hamilton could play villain Firepower in Iron Man 3. Pilot Jack Taggart is given a government built armored suit from a secret program which ends up with clashes with Iron Man. Nothing is confirmed but it's possible that Firepower could end up a cyborg like Coldblood (James Badge Dale) or given the Extremis virus. Fans have tired of the man-in-suit villain so there is hope they'll be going in a different direction. The rest of the new cast includes James Badge Dale, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, Guy Pearce and Andy Lau.

Jon Favreau confirmed via a Twitter pic that he'll will be back as the ever loyal Happy Hogan. It's also the first image from the set as production is underway this week. Considering Robert, Shane and Jon have been good friends for years I'm sure there is no bad blood over the directorial shake-up. Like with Avengers, Favreau will earn a producing credit.