Hiroyuki Sanada – The Mandarin

Yes, Marvel will probably cast a white actor in the role of the (real) Mandarin, and no, they really shouldn’t. There are a massive amount of Asian actors who could play the part to perfection, none more than Hiroyuki Sanada.

After the veteran Japanese actor held his own against Logan in The Wolverine, there’s little question that he could be an appropriately menacing Mandarin. It’s still unclear whether Marvel will stick with Iron Man 3‘s lame story about Aldrich Killian being the “real Mandarin” (unlike One-Shot All Hail the King, which confirmed there is a real Mandarin out there somewhere, although he remained off-camera), but Sanada is definitely worth keeping in contention for any future version of the role.

It’s safe to say that most hardcore fans were not satisfied with Ben Kingsley’s pansy “Trevor” imitation of the character, and the Iron Man films’ biggest issue is that they still haven’t birthed a nemesis for Tony Stark. With The Ten Rings still kicking, it would terrific to meet its leader sooner rather than later.