EDITORIAL: Why the Mandarin in IRON MAN 3 is a Missed Opportunity

EDITORIAL: Why the Mandarin in IRON MAN 3 is a Missed Opportunity

We all know how Mandarin was handled in Iron Man 3. Despite departing from the source material, which is fine, I talk about why it was a missed opportunity.

Editorial Opinion
By TheDarman - Mar 28, 2014 08:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man 3
Source: Screen Rant

Look, I actually liked Iron Man 3. I really did but the more I watch it, the more disappointed I am in the film. I still like it but I realize the potential it had and wish it had reached that potential. And despite the Mandarin retcon that happened in “All Hail the King”, I still think this a missed opportunity from a narrative standpoint.
 



We know that trilogies are the norm for stories in Hollywood. That trilogies tie up all previous stories into one final package, wrapped up all neat and tidy. For superhero movies, it seems like the origin is what gets them in the first film and then they go on to do their superheroic things in the second film, separate, almost entirely, from the first film, and then the third film revisits the origin.


 
So when Iron Man 3 seemed to revisit Iron Man with the Ten Rings organization and Mandarin as the leader of the Ten Rings, it was exciting. Iron Man was my favorite movie of the first phase prior to The Avengers. To flesh out the terrorist organization that Iron Man had been so successfully founded on would’ve been a perfect modernization of the Mandarin that would’ve narratively tied up his origin. Iron Man’s story would’ve reached its logical conclusion.


 
Instead, though, the Mandarin was turned into a punchline, not once, but TWICE (with Killian revealing he was the Mandarin and then getting hit the face by Pepper). Not only did this not bring closure to the Iron Man trilogy but it had ten of the most confusing minutes in the entire MCU. How did Tony suddenly remove all the shrapnel? Did he inject himself with Extremis? Why hadn’t he done it before if it wasn’t because of Extremis?


 
Obviously, we can appreciate that Marvel has gone back and revealed that the Ten Rings and the real Mandarin are still out there but it was revealed in One-Shots. These One-Shots often spawn television shows not plots that come to fruition in movies. Despite Marvel revealing this, we aren’t going to get another Iron Man solo film until Phase 4 (or so we can guess).


 
It’s just a shame for me. The trailers and advertising for the film were so good. I was alright with the corny jokes in the film, even at times that it didn’t seem entirely appropriate or seemed out of place. But after the first hour of the movie expired, it became a social commentary that is best used for Oscar winners. I know that Marvel has always used the strategy to tie their movies to real-world issues and that is clearly present with Captain America’s “Big Brother” issues in the next film (that I still haven’t seen, lucky Europeans). However, the first film did such a good job tying in Iron Man’s modern origin with something that was hugely threatening to us: terrorists. Not only did the third film entirely ignore it, it also went to make fun of the notion that terrorists are something to be feared in the first place.


 
And that is the biggest issue: it doesn’t even stay true to what had been established by the Iron Man trilogy already.
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ThedamnBatman
ThedamnBatman - 3/28/2014, 8:32 AM
Some user here made an article about how Iron Man 3 was a reflection of RDJ's carreer. I ended up liking it more now, though BEST PHASE 2 movie so far CAP 2, no denyin that!!
cipher
cipher - 3/28/2014, 8:51 AM
Yeah, I liked Iron Man 3. Maybe that makes me an idiot or whatever (it all depends on the thread, really), but yeah..

I can take the verbal abuse that comes along with admitting it. It gets me hot. Is it weird that being treated like garbage is a turn-on for me? Probably explains most of my relationships.
PAF
PAF - 3/28/2014, 8:52 AM
Oh boy this thread is going to be a mess. I'm out.
themidnightking
themidnightking - 3/28/2014, 9:45 AM
We're still talking about this? Iron Man 3 was a good movie IMO. While some of the people who didn't like it have valid reasons, the majority are just butthurt because they were thrown for a loop.
themidnightking
themidnightking - 3/28/2014, 9:47 AM
And in regards to All Hail The King, Marvel is obviously going to use the events of it in a future MCU Film.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/28/2014, 9:53 AM
I actually completely agree with you about the last 10 minutes of the movie. It was ridiculous to remove Pepper's Extremis virus and Tony's shrapnel in a montage sequence so obviously tacked on at the end. It's lazy. Tony had been dealing with that shrapnel injury for almost 4 entire movies at that point...and it turns out removing the shrapnel wasn't exactly all that hard anyway? I totally get what they were going for (the whole, "does the suit make the man or does the man make the suit" thing) but the way they went about doing so left a lot to be desired.

As for the rest of the movie, I've gotten over the twist. Once the shock of that wears off, the movie is actually much stronger than people give it credit for. Not as good as the 1st Iron Man, but miles better than the mess of Iron Man 2.

The movie DID bring closure to Iron Man 1 and the trilogy as a whole, though. Even more than that, it successfully brought Tony's personal journey full-circle.

But I think you're misunderstanding the reason for the plot twist. It was a form of social commentary, sure. But it wasn't trying to "make fun of the notion that terrorists are something to be feared in the first place." Not at all.

On the contrary, the movie depicts EVERYONE being scared out of their minds about the idea of a Mandarin attacking the US. The whole 1st half of the movie is ABOUT terrorism, so I don't see how you can say something like "Not only did the third film entirely ignore it..." The movie is saying more about how threats and dangers can come from ANYWHERE and not just the cliche', typical evil, foreign, terrorist mastermind. Just my two cents.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/28/2014, 9:56 AM
I'll never understand people who say things like "We're STILL talking about this?"

Geez, God forbid we talk about comic book movies on a movie site, right? Seriously, who cares how long ago a movie came out? Movies are meant to be thought about, talked about, debated...I must have missed the memo saying that the arbitrary expiration date for talking about movies is something like 2 months after it's been released. Lighten up.
themidnightking
themidnightking - 3/28/2014, 10:09 AM
@Saurons
I meant as in people complaining about Iron Man 3. I'm all for debating a film's merits and faults but damn, some of these users are just so stubborn when it comes to this movie.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/28/2014, 10:22 AM
@themidnightkind, I get what you mean. It's annoying when some people bring it up and are unable to say anything more about it than "Iron Man 3 sucked because Mandarin!" But to me it seemed like this editorial at least tried to say a little more than that.

Still, my point stands. As AnnoDomini just said, plenty of users couldn't believe people still want to talk about The Dark Knight Trilogy in that recent editorial, and that's absolutely ridiculous. I guess according to them, we can only talk about the NEWEST releases, but even then only in a limited timeframe?

Whatever, like Charlie and other users, I constantly talk about movies that came out decades ago and a few ignorant users here and there aren't going to stop that for me.
themidnightking
themidnightking - 3/28/2014, 10:26 AM
@Saurons
I agree with your points and I am glad I could clear up what I said
Destined
Destined - 3/28/2014, 10:44 AM
Great article and I agree. I did expect something really of epic proportions from IM3, but that it was not. It was entertaining and a closure piece for Tony. You would think coming off Avengers and having RDJ completely own this role they would've went all out but to no avail.....sighs. Welp! Cap is serving the goods so I'm good.
Pedrito
Pedrito - 3/28/2014, 11:00 AM
The movie didn't downplay the threat if terrorists. It pointed out how fear of terrorists can be manipulated to gain money and power.
It was a missed opportunity to tell one story and repeat the theme of a previous movie. Instead they told a different story with new themes. Nothing to lament.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/28/2014, 11:17 AM
@Soto, Actually, I think having Killian specifically name Slattery's character as the Mandarin lends much more credence to what we find out in the One-Shot: That the Mandarin is an actual person out there, and he's pissed that Slattery had the gall to co-opt his name and use it for his own means.

I mean, obviously the 10 Rings is a real terrorist organization, as shown in the first Iron Man. So that leads one to believe that Killian and AIM researched that group, stole their name and symbology, probably found some obscure references to a "Mandarin" character, and simply used that in their big deception.

I'm not trying to be an Iron Man 3 apologist, but to me, all that makes more sense than possibly have Killian simply choose a foreign language as the name of his fake terrorist or just picking that name because it's in the comics and it appeases fanboys.
ezio619
ezio619 - 3/28/2014, 11:27 AM
SOTOJUICEMAN- tony says that Mandarin means advisor to the king which is a nice foreshadowing to the twist and that is played on more in all hail to king in whcih they say the mandarin is an ancient chinese war mantle
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/28/2014, 11:56 AM
@Charlie, Yep I fully agree. I didn't see the One-Shot as a retcon (and even if it was, fanboys act like their beloved comics have never done that kind of thing before. In fact, it's been done to death in the comics, and much more laughably) so much as clearing a few things up from Iron Man 3, while opening the door to even more possibilities in the future.

It definitely makes sense to me that Killian simply co-opted the 10 Rings name and symbols for his own purposes, but I sincerely wish that more attention had been paid to the fact that the 10 Rings was the same group that kidnapped Tony in the 1st film. That would've certainly given Tony more motivation to get the Mandarin (or at least, the person he thought was the Mandarin) and it would've been a nice callback to Iron Man 1. That's one gripe I still have with the movie.

Personally I'm not so sure if Marvel will ever dedicate an entire movie with Tony dealing with the real Mandarin, but at least the potential is there if they ever choose to. IMO, Iron Man 3 wrapped up Tony's personal story so well that an Iron Man 4 film would sort of take away from that. Who knows though, we'll just have to wait and see!
EdgyOutsider
EdgyOutsider - 3/28/2014, 12:59 PM
After doing some thinking, I agree but don't agree. I don't agree because the ten alien rings being used in a fight would come off very cartoony. But, I agree that it was a missed opportunity. I approve of the twist. But after some thinking, they could've kept Killian and the real Mandarin with extremis. Using the theory Tony had the movie where Killian sold extremis to The Mandarin. The Mandarin uses extremis on himself and the ten rings group and wages all out war on America.
TheDarman
TheDarman - 3/28/2014, 3:45 PM
@EdgyOutsider Oh, I totally agree. I don't need the ten alien rings. I would've loved for the plot to have gone the way Tony said it was going in when he said that Killian sold out the Extremis virus. That would've been super cool.
marvel72
marvel72 - 3/28/2014, 5:58 PM
i thought it was good but marvel definitely dropped the ball with this one.
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