Iron Man 3's interpretation of the Mandarin was pretty divisive to say the least. After spending much of the marketing promoting Ben Kingsley as a menacing reinterpretation of the classic Iron Man villain, fans had the rug pulled from underneath them when it was revealed that Kingsley's character was a fake named Trevor Slattery. The "real" Mandarin turned out to be Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian, who was pulling the strings the whole time. The twist was met with some incredibly hostile reactions from fans, something that director Shane Black says he didn't anticipate. "It never occurred to us the Mandarin is as iconic to people as, say, the Joker in Batman," Black said. "[Fans] just wanted to see the magic rings shoot lasers."
Later on, Marvel released a one-shot short film titled All Hail The King, which centered on Kingsley's Trevor and the revelation that there was a "real Mandarin" still lurking in the shadows. According to Black, this was a move by Marvel to apologize to fans after the harsh response to the original film's twist. "Marvel saw so many negative things they made a whole other movie just to apologize called [sic] Hail to the King," Black told Uproxx. "In which they said, 'No, no, the Mandarin is still alive. That wasn't him. There's a real Mandarin."
Fans suspected for a while that the one-shot was made as an appeasement, but it was never confirmed until now. Do you think we'll ever see the "real Mandarin" one day? Sound off below!
About The Author:
Matt is a graduate of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, and has been a fan of superheroes since he picked up his first comic book issue as a child. While he works as a professional musician, Matt has a massive passion for comic books, films and heroes, along with participating in discussion and debate with the CBM community.