"Early - and very late - drafts of Iron Man 1 featured The Mandarin as a villain," states Feige. "The Mandarin is his most famous foe in the comics mainly because he's been around the longest. If you look, there's not necessarily a definitive Mandarin storyline in the comics. So it was really about having an idea. In terms of the Fu Manchu stereotyping that was involved, we never had any interest in that. He's relentless. Assuming that he's the one responsible for what happens to Tony's house, no other villain has been able to strike that fast and that hard at one of our heroes. He's very much about believing that the world needs to learn, and he wants to bend the world to his vision."
Feige also gave us an indication as to how the movie will pick up from this summer's epic ensemble: "[Iron Man 3] is all about how he was affected by the events of The Avengers, and how his world and mindset can be affected by that. By the end of Avengers, when a portal is opened up in Manhattan and he's met Thor [Chris Hemsworth] and The Hulk [Mark Ruffalo] and the Chitauri are coming down on him, he realises that he doesn't know everything; we think that has had an effect on his psyche, and then his world is blown out from underneath him."
While Iron Man 3 will naturally tie in to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, don't expect to see Tony receiving any help from Earth's Mightiest Heroes when he goes up against The Mandarin: "Iron Man 3 doesn't feature any of the other Avengers, or Nick Fury [Samuel L. Jackson] showing up, or any of those world-blending conceits that the Phase One films had. You have to keep in mind that Iron Man 3 had been in the works for almost a year, year and a half before The Avengers was released. We're sticking to the vision for these films, and showing once again that these characters are just as interesting alone as they are together."
Tony won't be entirely on his own however, with Don Cheadle reprising the role of James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, whose own War Machine armor will receive a shiny new Iron Patriot paint-scheme for the sequel: "The notion in the movie is that a red, white and blue suit is a bold statement, and it's meant to be. With Rhodey, he's very much the foil to Tony's eccentricities, and in this one you get to see this and be reminded of the trust and friendship between them in that great Shane Black buddy-cop fashion."
Be sure to pick up the latest issue of Empire to read the full interview with Kevin Feige.
Iron Man 3 also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Stephanie Szostak and Jon Favreau, and is set for release on April 26th in the UK and May 3rd in North America.
