Iron Man 3 pits our hero against one of his classic enemies from the original comics, the Mandarin — a Fu Manchu knock-off who has mastered alien technology and harnessed it in a number of rings he wears.
Naturally the studio cast Ben Kingsley in this role — to avoid problems.
If you go back and read the original novel, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, the villain is a worthy opponent — foreign, certainly, and sinister, but not a silly caricature. The movie versions and derivative characters though…