Kingsley Goes To "Extremis" In Iron Man 3?

Ben Kingsley is in final talks to play the big bad in writer/director Shane Black's "Iron Man 3" says Variety.

There were rumours he would play Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.)  original archenemy The Mandarin, but that's not the case.

Instead, Kingsley's character is involved in the spread of a virus through nanobots, a big element in the story for the third film which is loosely based on the popular six-issue mini series "Extremis" by Warren Ellis--the film's events take place after The Avengers

The studio suits declined to comment on the deal.

Production kicks off in North Carolina in May.