While many fans were up in arms over Shane Black's Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3, it's safe to say that the moment was shocking. Sir Ben Kingsley had teased such a menacing performance in the trailers for the film, so when it was revealed that he was merely a washed-up actor named Trevor Slattery (with the 'real' Mandarin being Guy Pierce's Alrich Killian), there were numerous negative reactions. In an interview with IGN, director Shane Black elaborated on why he made the decision to alter Iron Man's foe. “We may have done our job a bit too well in a way because we succeeded in actually having a surprise in the middle of a big summer movie where you normally know virtually everything about it before you go in” he explained. “And when I say we did our job too well it meant some of the fans felt fooled. They felt I think that they'd been led down one path and then sold a bill of goods. It's hard. Because I want to please the fans... but in this case I thought and we all thought that it was just a very interesting and very layered decision to take the Mandarin [in]."
Iron Man 2 had also made the decision to alter one of Iron Man's classic foes, merging Whiplash with elements of the Crimson Dynamo. Black looked to this creative decision when altering the Mandarin, wishing to push the boundaries a little further when reimagining the villain for a modern era. “We had this think tank – A.I.M. – from the comics and ‘OK, what if this was a cobbled together sort of boogeyman?' That they'd researched - they actually had data spit out about the various things that people would find frightening and they would concoct from this. This sort of straw man terrorist. This paper tiger. And then push him on the internet. I thought that felt modern, it felt interesting, it felt textured. I thought to myself, ‘Hey Whiplash in Iron Man 2 – he doesn't look like Whiplash in the comics, people like it when you trade up and kind of shake it up a little.’ And the truth is people did – I mean we made a lot of money with the movie, but there is a hardcore niche of fandom that was genuinely disappointed; they wanted to see their version. And for that I feel bad. I still like the choice we made.”
Of course, due to the overwhemingly poor reception to the twist, Marvel 'apologized' to fans by creating All Hail The King, a short film featuring Kingsley's character in which it was revealed there was a "real Mandarin" out there somewhere. When Black was asked if he would adapt the character more faithfully if given another opportunity, he firmly stood by his original choice. “Of course not,” came the response. “The minute you start to govern your creative impulses based on anticipation of someone else's response or their expectations then you're going to fail. You're going to fail them too. Because you're not going to surprise anybody – you’re going to be busy second-guessing what other people want and indulging that people-pleasing side of yourself.”
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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.