Sci-Fi Wire spoke to Faran Tahir — the man who played Raza in the first Iron Man movie — exclusively about his possible inclusion in future chapters of the franchise. The information that he offered was pretty interesting and suggested that maybe…just maybe, his character from the first movie was set up to take on the role of legendary Iron Man villain — Mandarin.
Tahir’s Raza character was the main man when it came to Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) captivity. The group that he was leading is part of the infamous Ten Rings organization, which is run by Mandarin. Also worth note from the movie is how Raza references Ghenghis Kahn — an ancestor of Mandarin’s — as well as plays around with a gold ring which held a red stone, as rings are where Mandarin’s powers came from.
Here’s what Mr. Tahir thinks about the whole thing:
We’re still talking about it. It hasn’t been finalized yet, so we’ll see. The character didn’t die in the first one, and it is part of a larger story. Iron Man’s biggest nemesis is Mandarin, and my character is the only reference to Mandarin. So we’re still trying to figure out how it’s going to fit. The things to consider, I think, are that if it is a bigger story, how much of it is exposed [and] when.
Is he the conduit to Mandarin? Does he become Mandarin? Is it just another leader of the Ten Rings, you know, thing? All the allusions [in] my first speech was all about Genghis Khan and all that, which is Mandarin’s thing, you know? So I think they have created the character and the storyline very wisely. To leave it as open as possible so whatever they need to, you know, pull from, they will.
One interesting bit that could be considered argument against all of this is something mentioned on Mandarin’s Wiki page, where it claims that the novelization of the movie includes a line from Raza saying “…the man whose ring I wear.” I’ve personally not read the novelization, so I can’t confirm this, but it’s worthy of mention none-the-less.
I’m sure you kids have a much stronger knowledge of the Iron Man mythology than myself, so what do you think? Could Raza become super-baddie Mandarin in Iron Man 3?
[Source: via io9]
