Originally published August 4, 2019. Updated August 7, 2019.
Marvel Studios threw fans a major curveball back in 2013 when, after teasing his introduction in the promotional material, Iron Man 3 revealed that Ben Kingsley villain The Mandarin was actually a phony – a drunken British actor by the name of Trevor Slattery portraying a role created by AIM and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce).
It was a creative decision that split the audience and ultimately led to Marvel backtracking somewhat in the 2014 short All Hail the King, where it was revealed that The Mandarin is in fact real, and that he and his Ten Rings terrorist organisation aren’t best pleased by Slattery’s use of his persona.
Well, as revealed at Comic-Con last month, we’ll now soon be seeing the introduction of the real Mandarin, as played by Tony Leung in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Iron Man 3 screenwriter Drew Pearce has shared his thoughts on the news during an interview with Cinema Blend.
“You know, there are modern interpretations of The Mandarin that I think can work in the context of, particularly of a Marvel movie that has a much more grounded basis in Asian culture and has, frankly, Asian filmmakers and other Asian actors in its ensemble, and driving the story,” said Pearce. “In our Iron Man movie, as you and everyone else knows, it was my feeling that if we did The Mandarin in many of the forms that he is most commonly known as, we were playing into the racial stereotypes that generated the character in the beginning. Yellow peril, you know. … That idea was what inspired our take on the Mandarin.”
“I’ve also spoken to some of my friends at Marvel and of course I don’t know exactly what happens, but there’s a strong sense that everything will be revealed and nothing is being retconned,” he continued. “And that, at the end of the day, is all we can ask for. That, and the fact that, you know, they clearly think it’s going to be – he’s going to be the best adversary. And I trust in Marvel. In Marvel, we trust.”
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