You'll Get No Apologies From Shane Black For His IRON MAN 3 Twist

You'll Get No Apologies From Shane Black For His IRON MAN 3 Twist

Shane Black's take on the Mandarin was far more liberal than many fans would have wanted, and the Iron Man 3 director has absolutely no issue with that. Read on for more!

By MattBellissimo - Jun 06, 2016 03:06 AM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man 3
Source: IGN
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.”

What do you think of Black's comments? Sound off below!
IRON MAN 3 Director Shane Black Reflects On The Movie's Christmas Setting...And Admits It Wasn't His Idea!
Related:

IRON MAN 3 Director Shane Black Reflects On The Movie's Christmas Setting...And Admits It Wasn't His Idea!

IRON MAN 3 Star Guy Pearce Talks Possible Aldrich Killian Return In IRONHEART Or ARMOR WARS (Exclusive)
Recommended For You:

IRON MAN 3 Star Guy Pearce Talks Possible Aldrich Killian Return In IRONHEART Or ARMOR WARS (Exclusive)

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 6/6/2016, 4:07 AM
That Mandarin twist was dumb and the use of Ben Kingsley as Mandarin was wasted.
Toecutter
Toecutter - 6/6/2016, 4:12 AM
This was my reaction to the Mandarin twist:

sixthsense
sixthsense - 6/6/2016, 4:17 AM
@MattBellissimo

Why is no one reporting about "The Boys"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/preacher-producers-seth-rogen-evan-898050
MattBellissimo
MattBellissimo - 6/6/2016, 4:19 AM
@sixthsense - I will not even pretend I know what that is, lol
sixthsense
sixthsense - 6/6/2016, 4:20 AM
@MattBellissimo - its about a group of agents beating the shit out of superheroes
MattBellissimo
MattBellissimo - 6/6/2016, 4:22 AM
@sixthsense - Lmao, that's an amazing concept. Though the cover looks a little like this:

sixthsense
sixthsense - 6/6/2016, 4:28 AM
@MattBellissimo - looks like but its not,Boys are full of violence and sex
SimplyAz
SimplyAz - 6/6/2016, 4:32 AM
@sixthsense -

I read it and it was good but dark as Fcuk......!!!
Remember Gerard Butler being linked to it.
SimplyAz
SimplyAz - 6/6/2016, 4:18 AM
I understand what they went for but they should have had the real Mandarin show up and kill Trevor.



Loved his accent and it was nice to hear someone be from England in a movie and not speak like they were raised at Buckingham Palace.

Scarilian
Scarilian - 6/6/2016, 4:26 AM
What they did could have worked, however Aldrich was simply less intimidating than the 'idea' of the Mandarin that they had been building up since the first movie, coupled with the legacy of the character in the comics.

You dont hire an amazing actor and spend a movie building up a character and then just throw all that development away and have a different less interesting, less developed, less cool character be the main villain.
Luminus
Luminus - 6/6/2016, 4:34 AM
"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.”

News flash: making movies IS about pleasing people. Otherwise, you can just go back to making private movies in your mama's basement.

"You'll Get No Apologies From Shane Black For His IRON MAN 3 Twist"

That's okay. He'll get no apologies from me for tearing it apart.
BobbyDrake
BobbyDrake - 6/6/2016, 4:38 AM
I kind of still want trevor to end up being the real mandarin the whole time and it's revealed the trevor thing was just an act and killian was really working for him the whole time
ekrolo2
ekrolo2 - 6/6/2016, 4:39 AM
Good, the twist works in the context of the movie. The fictional Mandarin does his job great, he's basically archetype of what American's think terrorists all are but with a good enough script of pseudo-intellectual bullshit and untraceable bombs, it immediately makes the fantasy Killian is going for seem all the more real.

I'd even go so far as to say the twist works in even a meta way as the real world and fictional audiences of the MCU are so easily convinced that this fictional person is real that they want to believe it. But when it turns out he's just an actor who doesn't give a [frick] and is just doing this for a paycheck (kind of like comic book movie actors :P) it shows you just how effective marketing and filming can make some random British guy look like the world's next Sadam Husein.

So yeah, as a former hater of this movie, after re-watching it recently I think it largely really works. Hell, I'd go so far as it say it does everything Winter Soldier does but 10 times better and with more balls.
HappyHater
HappyHater - 6/6/2016, 4:40 AM
Then he just made himself an averagely powerful enemy !
Armpitwebs
Armpitwebs - 6/6/2016, 4:59 AM
I really liked the twist. I bought into the idea of him being a modern day terrorist and when the "reveal" came, I laughed out loud and found it funny as hell. I've liked it even more on re-watches. Maybe it's because I was only a casual Iron Man comics fan and had no real love or expectations for the character.
I can see how strident fans could feel like the twist squandered the character. Oh well.
LEOSTRATOR
LEOSTRATOR - 6/6/2016, 5:07 AM
LOL! I liked the twist.
Kyos
Kyos - 6/6/2016, 6:18 AM
I liked it, overall. My problems with the movie have nothing to do with the twist itself. I gotta say thought that I might've liked it better to see a Shane Black superhero movie that wasn't part of an existing franchise, to give him even more freedom.

Finally watched 'The Nice Guys' this weekend, and I enjoyed it a whole damn lot! <3
marvelstudios
marvelstudios - 6/6/2016, 6:47 AM
Not a fan of the twist. But its been retconned since. Here's hoping we see the real Mandarin soon.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 6/6/2016, 7:40 AM
@marvelstudios - I don't think it's been retconned, really. If you go back to the first Iron Man, I think it's clear that the Ten Rings terrorist group doesn't just exist to serve AIM's purposes, which were largely to cover up a series of recent bombings.

Maybe they could have played it either way, but I always interpreted Iron Man 3's Mandarin (Slattery and Killian) as pretenders, and that the real Mandarin was still out there somewhere.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 6/6/2016, 7:37 AM
Black is 100% right about all of that. And I loved the twist. It's really really rare for a movie to fool me, and this movie did in a very smart and biting way. Killian knew that all it took to cover up a series of accidental explosions was to blame it on (basically) Bin Laden, because people were predisposed to believe it. And demonstrated how eager people were for that enemy by making us, the audience, want to see it, too.

Here's the thing: Ben Kingsley's Mandarin wasn't really the comic Mandarin either. You've got all these people who loved the idea of making a Chinese wizard with techno rings into a Nolanized Bin Laden clone now coming out complaining about the source fidelity. They didn't care before, so they don't really care now.

There are plenty of problems with Iron Man 3 as a film and a superhero film. The action is weightless, the plot (twist aside) is fairly contrived, and there are a dozen other legitimate concerns that people could and should complain about. But the twist was solid.
1 2
View Recorder