Ben Kingsley further complicates the Mandarin mystery from Iron Man 3

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

We are past the one year mark since the release of IRON MAN 3 so I will dispense with the spoiler warnings on this article. We are going to discuss The Mandarin. Yes, I mean the version played by Ben Kingsley and not the fire-breathing villain Guy Pearce played who called himself The Mandarin at the end of the film. We all went into IRON MAN 3 expecting Kingsley to bring the comic character to life only to have the rug pulled out from under us when he revealed himself as failed actor Trevor Slattery. The comedy was awesome but many fans felt duped. Then, the Marvel One-Shot ALL HAIL THE KING added back some theories that the “real Mandarin” may still be out there.

While there are hopes that we may someday see a true incarnation of the Iron Man nemesis on the big screen, he may not need to be played by a different actor. During interviews for THE BOXTROLLS with IGN, Kingsley teased his theory regarding the character.

“Has the Mandarin invented Trevor, or has Trevor invented the Mandarin? Which is which?…The Mandarin could be so supremely intelligent that he could have said, ‘You know what? I’ll invent this actor, and he will be my mask.’ You know, which is which? Who’s pulling the strings. Now, this is me just free-thinking here, but I would love to revisit that world. But Trev, bless him, may have made an indelible mark on that world. So everyone might say, ‘Is it Trev under there?’ So they’d have to approach it quite carefully, and so would I, but I would love to go back to that world, yeah.”

While Kingsley doesn’t have any true say on whether this is how things turn out, it would be an intriguing twist to have Aldrich Killian use the Mandarin persona with Trevor Slattery and not know that Slattery himself really is the Mandarin. That would be a mindf*ck of the highest order and would require major balls on behalf of Marvel to go back and make that happen. I want some of what Kingsley is smoking.

While I doubt we will see the Mandarin return anytime soon, this could be a great idea for the studio to keep in their back pocket. What do you think?