Sir Ben Kingsley might soon be seen back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Previously, the prolific actor made his debut in the MCU as the Mandarin in 2013's Iron Man 3, a role that earned him a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. After Kingsley recently appeared at the red carpet premiere of Shang-Chi, the actor officially confirmed his involvement in a chat with ET.

"As you just saw, I was talking to Kevin Feige," Kingsley said at the event. "And thanks to Kevin and Robert Downey Jr. and Drew Pearce and Shane Black, I am in this movie and I'm a member of the Marvel family, because their welcome on Iron Man 3 was so astonishing and generous that I'm still with Marvel again. And I'm delighted to be here!"

Ben Kingsley first appeared in the MCU in 2013 when Iron Man 3 was released. In the sequel, Kingsley played the leader of the Ten Rings organization, known as the Mandarin, though it is revealed that he's actually an imposter named Trevor Slattery. In 2014, Kingsley briefly reprised the role for a short film produced by Marvel Studios. The short follows Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) interviewing Slattery from behind bars.

In the years since, Kingsley has not been seen in the MCU. Given the significance of the Ten Rings organization in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, many fans were hoping that Kingsley would be making an appearance. Exactly how big of a role he'll play into the story this time around remains to be seen, but the news that Kingsley is in the movie has nevertheless left many Marvel fans feeling pretty excited.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Written by Cretton and Dave Callaham, it is based on Marvel's Shang-Chi comic created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz produced the feature. Along with Kingsley back as Trevor Slattery, the movie stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Tony Leung.

As revealed in promotional material, the movie also brings back Tim Roth's Abomination from The Incredible Hulk. The character can be seen battling Benedict Wong's Wong, marking another return to the MCU. Though Wong is a part of the movie, even he didn't know what all else was in store for Shang-Chi, as he revealed at the red carpet premiere to ET.

"The thing is, I don't even know the script! They're kind of a bit secretive here," Wong said. "It's a bit like in the 16th century, in Shakespeare times, you would just get your scenes and that would be it, so I'm looking forward to seeing it myself."

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is scheduled to be released on Sept. 3, 2021. It will be interesting to see how the movie performs when it is released, as many Marvel fans are saying they're going to skip seeing it in theaters due to rising COVID cases. This news comes to us from Entertainment Tonight.