The Real Mandarin Is Out There
If you’ve listened to any of the episodes of Movies That Make Us that I’ve joined in on, you may have heard me express my dislike for Iron Man 3. It’s not because of the story or the action, it’s because of the Mandarin. Specifically, it’s how the character was revealed to be an actor named Trevor Slattery and not Iron Man’s actual archenemy that fans were all expecting. (I was actually so angry by the bait-and-switch, and ultimate buffoonery of the character, that I nearly walked out of the movie.)
Sure, Marvel Studios tried to rectify this egregious wrong with the short film All Hail the King. This was released as a Marvel One-Shot with the Thor: The Dark World Blu-ray. In the short, we see Slattery in jail where he receives a threatening message from the real Mandarin who isn’t very happy with the actor’s attempted identity theft. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the end of things. Until now.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige held a Reddit AMA on Wednesday. He took time to answer everything from his plans for the future of the Marvel films to his favorite MCU moment. One question asked specifically if “there any plans to incorporate the Ten Rings from the first Iron Man, or the ‘real’ Mandarin teased in All Hail the King in the future?” His response? “Yes.”
Someone else then posted a rumor that the Mandarin will be the main villain in the upcoming Shang-Chi. While it would be great to see this, it’s also somewhat bittersweet because we’ll never get to see him go toe to toe with Iron Man. I just really want to see the character done right though. What are your thoughts?
