There’s a lot of speculation as to what the plot for Iron Man 3 could be. It is believed that the film could be based on the Extremis storyline, which centers on a technologically based virus that could turn any normal human being into tech-based super soldiers.

No doubt there will be some sort of confirmation when Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige takes the Hall H center stage at the San Diego Comic-Con later this month. But before we hear from Feige or get a confirmation of a synopsis, we have a piece of concept art from the movie that may confirm the Extremis storyline. Check it out below.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is another one of those long-gestating projects that refuses to go by the wayside. The premise of a lone survivor of a ship named the Demeter that was suppose to transport a mysterious – but also dangerous – cargo from Transylvania to England has a lot of promise. David Slade was originally attached to direct the film with Prometheus star Noomi Rapace and Ben Kingsley talking the lead roles.

However, that never came into fruition. Now Neil Marshall (The Descent, Doomsday) is sitting in the director’s chair, and it looks like Viggo Mortensen could possibly take the lead role of Henry Clemens.

After weeks of non-stop casting announcements and analysis of its possible plot, the Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios film Iron Man 3 has commenced principal photography in Wilmington, NC. We have the first behind-the-scenes image from the production. You can check it out here below.

The film’s plot is reportedly based on “Extremis,” a six-issue story arc from Marvel Comics’ The Invincible Iron Man written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Adi Granov, which would introduce nanotechnology into the character’s ongoing adventures. Shane Black is directing Iron Man 3 from a screenplay he co-wrote with Drew Pearce. Returning to the cast are Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau (a good indication that not much bad blood exists between Favreau, who directed the first two Iron Man films and had originally planned to direct the third and complete his trilogy, and Marvel Studios). New to the cast are Rebecca Hall (Frost/Nixon) and Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs), and playing the heavies of Iron Man 3 are Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, and Ashley Hamilton.

It’s not like we didn’t see this coming, but its still nice to get a confirmation at least. When it was announced that Ben Kingsley was cast as a villain in the Shane Black-directed Iron Man 3, many had speculated that he would be playing the villainous Mandarin. Of course Disney and Marvel denied these rumors and said that the villain would be behind a nefarious plot of releasing a nanobot technology-based virus.

Latino Review has confirmed that Kingsley will actually be the Mandarin, and that there is a power structure that will make the Iron Man 3 story the most complex in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Again Disney and Marvel continue to deny these rumors, but as cameras start to roll today, the site said that can confirm that the Mandarin is indeed in the movie.

Iron Man 3 is scheduled to begin production within a few weeks, but the casting process isn’t quite yet complete. The third installment of the Iron Man franchise as already added Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, and Rebecca Hall to the cast, and now comes word that The Pacific star James Badge Dale will be joining them as Eric Savin.

According to Variety, Savin is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army who accidentally steps on a landmine while on a mission. In order to save his life, cybernetic surgery is performed and he becomes Coldblood. Think of it as Marvel’s version of RoboCop. This could mean that Iron Man 3 could be cluttered with three villains instead of two. Pearce would be playing as Aldrich Killain, a man who sells a dangerous technology to villains, and Kingsley would play as the main villain (rumored to be The Mandarin).