This news from WIRED today about the Iron Man sequel:

With the Incredible Hulk tracking surprisingly well and threatening to smash Iron Man’s box office records next weekend, director Jon Favreau is keeping Tony Stark and company in the news by hinting at the plot of the Iron Man sequel.

When the original film made mention of the terrorist organization The 10 Rings, it was a clear reference to Marvel history and the alien artifacts The Mandarin discovered before beginning his career of oppression and supervillainy. It seemed like a pretty obvious clue from Favreau and his writers that Iron Man’s arch-nemesis would appear in a sequel.

Now, with the director saying he needs “heavy duty, heavyweight bad guys” to confront Iron Man in the next film, Mandarin seems all but a lock. There’s no mention of casting yet for the Far Eastern troublemaker, but that will have to break soon, as Robert Downey Jr. will be ready to begin filming in the golden titanium suit again when he finishes the Hugh Hefner biography he’s working on now.

Image courtesy Marvel.com