SPECULATION: Could The Real Mandarin Be Coming To AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.?

SPECULATION: Could The Real Mandarin Be Coming To AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Yeah, I know what you're thinking--"Another Mandarin article? Really?" If you know me, you know this is something I've been very passionate about, but further research has got my gears turning once again. Hit the jump to check it out!

Editorial Opinion
By GliderMan - Oct 29, 2015 02:10 PM EST
Filed Under: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

(SPOILERS THROUGHOUT)
 

If you're an MCU fan, you're no doubt familiar with the hilarious Marvel One-Shot All Hail The King, which centers around Trevor Slattery and the Ten Rings. If you want to refresh your memory, you can (illegally) check it out by clicking here.

In the short, Trevor is kidnapped by a Ten Rings member to be taken to the real Mandarin, who is super pissed about having his identity mocked through the media in Iron Man 3. Since then, fans have been polarized by articles from PredatorRising about the possibilities of the Mandarin reappearing in Iron Man 4. Well, as I've ranted about before, I would instead like him to show up in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as I believe he'd be the perfect main villain for the show's current season.

Jackson Norriss tells us that the Mandarin is not only the leader of the Ten Rings but "was a warrior king, [he] inspired generations of men through the Middle Ages, perhaps even further back in time." We don't know if there are plans for him in the movies again, but this one-shot definitely left the door wide open with specific details about what we could see in a future iteration of the Mandarin.

Fast forward a year and a half later, and we get word that a certain Gideon Malick will appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season three, potrayed by Powers Boothe. While it was reported on this site that Boothe would not be playing the same character as he did in The Avengers, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that he would. In The Avengers, he was a member of the World Security Council, him specifically the one wanting to nuke Manhattan during the Chitauri invasion.

We know from Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. across the seven decades that Steve Rogers was in the ice, and even had a member in the World Secruity Council in the form of Alexander Pierce. We also know from Ant-Man that there is an association between Hydra and the Ten Rings, as one Hydra member has a tattoo saying "Ten Rings of the Mandarin" on his neck.

In the film, Hydra is trying to get their hands on shrinking technology from Darren Cross, and agent Mitchell Carson is able to escape with one vial of Cross Particles. What's confusing about this is that we know from the S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2 finale that Grant Ward is running Hydra, and from what we've seen so far, he has not the financial resources to pull off such a heist, nor does he have any shrinking tech. We've all heard about the rumored dispute between the studio and television divisions of Marvel, but this would seem like a pretty big error, wouldn't it?

This is where the dots connect. The name Gideon Malick came across as very specific to me, so I did some research. Gideon is a male name meaning "great destroyer," while the name Malick is a derivative of the Arabic word Malik which means "king," or leader.  Sound familiar? Right! The Ten Rings member described the real Mandarin as an ancient "warrior king."

What does this have to do with Director Ward? Well, the Whedon's love their parallels. And I mean LOVE, as any master of television should. The parallels between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra have been a common theme throughout the show, with the episode "Making Friends And Influencing People" centering around that entirely. I believe just as season two saw S.H.I.E.L.D. 2.0 attacking Coulson over his leadership decisions, so will season three see Hydra 2.0 (along with the Ten Rings, who we know to be working with Hydra) attack Ward over his leadership decisions. As Ward himself said that he wasn't a "true believer" in Hydra's cause, they will definitely take issue with him, as he is only using Hydra to take down S.H.I.E.L.D! 

This would make perfect sense for this season. Not only is the Mandarin a long-held plot thread left dangling, but season 3 needs a new antagonist to keep things fresh. Season 2 dealt with Hydra and the Inhumans as the main themes, and while Simmons' alien planet arc is a nice start, so far season 3 has dealt with more of the same. The Mandarin's grand addition would shake up everything, as he is above every threat perceived so far. 

So what do you think, CBM? Let me hear your praises, doubts, and other opinions in the comment section below!

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sKeemAn
sKeemAn - 10/29/2015, 4:01 PM
Nice write up. Dude that would be crazy if the Mandarin is introduced on AOS. But it would be a great way to satisfy that Mandarin curiosity as well. Of course I would rather have the Mandarin as IM's primary villain, but it looks like we're a long way off from another IM movie.
sKeemAn
sKeemAn - 10/29/2015, 4:03 PM
What would be even crazier is if his actual rings came from this mystery planet we are still trying to find out about.
Kyos
Kyos - 10/29/2015, 4:12 PM
This is somewhat insane, and I like it! Don't think it's true, though. What would be a huge point against it is the fact that everyone would lose their minds if after all the teasing and Trevor Slattery they didn't use the real Mandarin in an Iron Man story.
sKeemAn
sKeemAn - 10/29/2015, 4:18 PM
@kyos

Peeps would bitch just to bitch even more.
FishyZombie
FishyZombie - 10/29/2015, 4:43 PM
Honestly the whole Killain isn't the mandarin thing was a huge cop-out. Marvel should have stucked to their guns, it was a great twist. The fact that they pussied out really takes away from what little dignity IM3 had.
Kyos
Kyos - 10/29/2015, 4:48 PM
Well, now that people are speculating about wether we might have seen this guy I'm not sure anything's too far out anymore...

dragonator29
dragonator29 - 10/29/2015, 4:57 PM
@Kyos: That's actually a possibility. Will said that the canyon was 30 meters wide and when they went there, it was 100 meters wide? Will also said that the planets have moods. All points towards Ego.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 10/29/2015, 6:25 PM
Very good article. Thumbs up from me. Idk, it'd be cool to see Mandarin on AOS but part of me wants him to be in the films; be an Iron Man adversary
MileHighRonin
MileHighRonin - 10/29/2015, 7:13 PM
I would like to at least see some more Ten Rings. We also know Hammer had some ties with them, the Ten Rings broke Whiplash out of prison in Iron Man 2.

I don't think Boothe is playing Mandarin. I also don't think the planet Simmons was on is Ego.
sikwon
sikwon - 10/30/2015, 4:54 AM
All I know is that when you are watching a comic book show and can legitimately speculate if one of the stars is stranded on a giant living planet and if one of the titular villains from the comics is really pulling the strings then that show is doing many things right. I love AoS. Just wish Deathlock would be a recurring character. Even if they had an episode like Jemma's just showing Mike doing shadow op's for Colson.
dragonator29
dragonator29 - 10/30/2015, 5:01 AM
www.superherohype.com/news/357263-among-us-hide-new-marvels-agents-of-shield-photos#/slide/12

Surprised that no one has made an article about it yet.
SimplyAz
SimplyAz - 10/30/2015, 6:41 AM
Donnie Yen for the Mandarin.



osideous
osideous - 10/30/2015, 11:23 AM
i thought Ego immeidately after he said the planet has mood swings
SimplyAz
SimplyAz - 10/30/2015, 12:42 PM
@Dandy

I agree Donnie Yen is awesome and glad that he will be soon be in the Star Wars universe.

To be fair I wouldn't mind Andy Lau as the Mandarin either, he was almost in Iron Man 3.
McGee
McGee - 10/30/2015, 4:00 PM
TChalla needs to write a rebuttal to this article, followed by Nova's response to the rebuttal.
Pasto
Pasto - 10/31/2015, 11:45 AM
Stop it.
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 11/1/2015, 8:12 AM
Umm......let me think.......no. Just no. We don't need anymore Mandarin. Leave it to PredatorRising to write articles wanting Mandarin (because he's gonna keep writing them anyway, no matter how many tell him to stop.)
Donovan
Donovan - 11/6/2015, 2:30 PM
...quite interesting article. And with the "Most Wanted" show & Agent Carter, possibilities are huge... #ItsAllConnected
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/7/2015, 3:18 PM
I am more convinced that Gideon Malick is related to Albert Malick, aka the Red Skull II (much like how Werner von Strucker is Baron Strucker's son).

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