If you haven’t seen Iron Man 3 yet – and you’ve somehow managed to avoid any spoilers from the film – then you’ll probably want to stop reading now…
…Now, for everyone else, it’s pretty fair to say that if there was one twist in Iron Man 3 that we neverrrrr saw coming it was the ‘big reveal’ surrounding Ben Kingsley’s terrorist leader The Mandarin, or rather Ben Kingsley’s alcoholic, drug-addled English actor Trevor Slattery. While it was certainly a bold move on Marvel’s part, it’s certainly split opinion among fans, many of whom were looking forward to seeing Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark going up against his arch-nemesis (particularly when it seemed they’d found a way to do the character justice within the Marvel Cinematic Universe). So what was the thinking behind the twist? Well, ScreenRant caught up with director Shane Black, who offered the following explanation:
“I would say that we struggled to find a way to present a mythic terrorist that had something about him that registered after the movie’s over as having been a unique take, or a clever idea, or a way to say something of use. And what was of use about the Mandarin’s portrayal in this movie, to me, is that it offers up a way that you can sort of show how people are complicit in being frightened. They buy into things in the way that the audience for this movie buys into it. And hopefully, by the end you’re like, ‘Yeah, we were really frightened of the Mandarin, but in the end he really wasn’t that bad after all.’ In fact, the whole thing was just a product of this anonymous, behind-the-scenes guy. I think that’s a message that’s more interesting for the modern world because I think there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes, a lot of fear, that’s generated toward very available and obvious targets, which could perhaps be directed more intelligently at what’s behind them.”
How do you feel about the big twist in Iron Man 3? Let us know in the comments below…
Originally published May 16, 2013. Updated April 10, 2018.
