So Cap's Shield is tattooed on Mandarin's neck. Anyone care to explain?

[Tony Stark]

Be curious to get a closeup of it. I wonder if it's a 10 rings symbol in mocking Cap.

[Kiltman]

I posted this in the other thread but...

Yea...It definitely looks like it is caps shield but with the Anarchy A instead of the star

[The Question]

Originally Posted by cherokeesam

"Captain Anarchy" is the easiest and most logical explanation. Mandarin had it tattooed as a sneer/insult at America and an espousal of anarchy.

He's an anarchist terrorist from the Middle East who hates America and loves China....this is Fox News' antichrist.

Is there any indication that he's an anarchist, though? Generally speaking, anarchist are opposed to the concept of leadership, even if it's just symbolic or a figurehead. Doesn't really gel with the concept of a singe terrorist leading an organization and serving as a human example for the rest of the world.

[Surfer]

I agree it looks like Caps shield and it probably is since Marvel loves to tie things together. However, it still could be a number of things really. I had mentioned a target a little bit ago with an "A" standing for Avengers, but it could also be a target with the "A" standing for America. I just hope that if there is a scene with Caps shield on the back of his neck like what appears to be shown in the picture that we have a clear understanding of it's meaning, because right now despite us thinking it is cool that they are tying Mandarin somehow to Captain America, the confusion could detract from the film. I guess I am just saying I hope it has a clear purpose and that it doen't come across to people just as an advertisement for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Anyways its cool I just want it to be relevant in the film.

Surfer

[The Question]

Also, guys, there is another possibility: It may be a tattoo of Captain America's shield with an anarchist A in it, and it may be meant to mock America and the concept of super heroes, but it might not be a new tattoo. I mean, the Mandarin is all regal and classy, with a beard and robes and those rings, doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd get a Captain Anarchy tattoo. Unless, of course, he got it when he was an angry punk kid. Most politically radical people have been politically radical since they were in their late teens. Might be that he got the tattoo when he was an angry political idealist going to college somewhere, and his outlook and MO has matured since then.

[Artistsean]

Maybe the idea is that Stark keeps improving on his armor technology. Now he has the Extremis armor that responds to his thoughts and forms around him by though and he can control it from a distance. So Maybe the nano tech of the Extremis armor evolves into an artificial intelligence. It would be different from another armored bad guy if Stark has to fight his own armor. But my guess is its the Mandarin controlling the armor with his own Extremis (or maybe he is in the armor). Why does the Mandarin have a Captain America tattoo on his neck?
Maybe the tattoo is a visual way to show that the Mandarin has injected himself with the Extremis too, in his neck there. And maybe thats why Tony is attacked by his own armor and why Pepper is attacked in bed by the armor. I think its Mandarin using the Extremis to attack Stark, destroy everything he has and kidnap his love.

[Surfer]

Perhaps, they should have a flashback scene showing Mandarin getting the Tattoo to help explain what was happening in his life and what he was thinking at the time to give it relevance.

I don't know just a thought.

Surfer

[cherokeesam]

Originally Posted by The Question

Also, guys, there is another possibility: It may be a tattoo of Captain America's shield with an anarchist A in it, and it may be meant to mock America and the concept of super heroes, but it might not be a new tattoo. I mean, the Mandarin is all regal and classy, with a beard and robes and those rings, doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd get a Captain Anarchy tattoo. Unless, of course, he got it when he was an angry punk kid. Most politically radical people have been politically radical since they were in their late teens. Might be that he got the tattoo when he was an angry political idealist going to college somewhere, and his outlook and MO has matured since then.

I think you hit the nail on the head.
If it's a tattoo, it's highly unlikely he got it within the past year or two, either to mock or honor a *revived* Captain America. He most likely got the tattoo in a time when Captain America was still a dead symbol, a martyr for the cause (so to speak).

So yeah, given his age and Feige's vague description of his background, I'd say that this Mandarin is definitely a type of American Taliban....an old hippie radical who's always hated and mocked America, and now wages war on it from some stylized (and culturally incorrect, but he's too stupid and arrogant to know that) Asian-Arabic compound in China or Afghanistan.

[HandofDoom]

Maybe thats not Mandarin, but a SHIELD agent disguised as him for some purpose?

Mandarins hair looks different in all the shots of him, which could be to do with the span of time this movie covers. Or it could be that someone disguises themselves as Mandarin and happens to have a captain america tattoo on his neck..

[Incredible Hans]

It means that Madarin has a weird concept of being a "true warrior".

He tries to be the ultimate warrior, combining elements from all cultures.

He's like a Japanese warrior: samurai hair style.

He's like an Arabian warrior: Bin Laden beard.

He's like an American warrior: Captain America tattoo

[MessiahDecoy123]

Some of these theories are crazy as hell.

It will be interesting what the real reason turns out to be.

[Alexei Belyakov]

I like the anarchy theory.

Still hoping Mandarin ends up being someone from Cap's past though.

[Excelsior.]

He tries to be the ultimate warrior

He's missing face paint and his speeches make too much sense.

[Kiltman]

Yea I could see him getting it when he was younger. You gotta think that when he was a kid Cap would've been idolized still as the embodiment of the world's greatest power in that era. He was this smiling blonde haired perfect symbol of America, so perverting that symbol makes sense.

He wanted America's reign to end and Western influence to die....so he tried to send the world into anarchy after cutting off the head (America). I think it'd make sense to have him in the MCU have some sort of involvement in the Middle East in the 70s/80s....places like Iran that overthrew American placed figureheads in seats of power. Kinda show how the Ten Rings (organization) was forged.

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by Kiltman

Yea I could see him getting it when he was younger. You gotta think that when he was a kid Cap would've been idolized still as the embodiment of the world's greatest power in that era. He was this smiling blonde haired perfect symbol of America, so perverting that symbol makes sense.

He wanted America's reign to end and Western influence to die....so he tried to send the world into anarchy after cutting off the head. I think it'd make sense to have him in the MCU have some sort of involvement in the Middle East in the 70s/80s....places like Iran that overthrew American placed figureheads in seats of power. Kinda show how the Ten Rings (organization) was forged.

Make them sort of like an al-Qaeda or Taliban-like group that's been fighting Western influences for many years now. I could see that working quite well within the domain of the IM movies.

[Kiltman]

Originally Posted by Webfoot Hero

Make them sort of like an al-Qaeda or Taliban-like group that's been fighting Western influences for many years now. I could see that working quite well within the domain of the IM movies.

Yea like that but a step further where he's had his hands in everything, he's the one that stoked the embers of unrest and made them burst into revolutions and attacks all over the world. The ten rings are basically a union through the mandarin of The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other top terrorist groups throughout the last 40/50 years. It sets up how dangerous he is pretty easily without showing the evil things he's done...helps make him even more mysterious. In IM1 Yinsen talked about all the different languages he heard while he was there so they already laid the groundwork that this is a global group.

I kinda hope that for now his rings have no powers, and that be a development at the end of the movie. So IM3 he has the big terrorist group at his disposal, and they are defeated. But near the end he gets a hold of the alien tech to craft what we know his rings do in the comics to set up IM4 where he is really powerful but on his own. That'd be a really cool arch for him to take and allow them to use the Madarin as Tony's arch-nemesis twice but in two really different ways.

[Webfoot Hero]

Originally Posted by Kiltman

Yea like that but a step further where he's had his hands in everything, he's the one that stoked the embers of unrest and made them burst into revolutions and attacks all over the world. The ten rings are a union through the mandarin of The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other top terrorist groups throughout the last 40/50 years. It sets up how dangerous he is pretty easily without showing the evil things he's done...helps make him even more mysterious.

I kinda hope that for now his rings have no powers, and that be a development at the end of the movie. So IM3 he has the big terrorist group at his disposal, and they are defeated. But near the end he gets a hold of the alien tech to craft what we know his rings do in the comics to set up IM4 where he is really powerful but on his own. That'd be a really cool arch for him to take and allow them to use the Madarin as Tony's arch-nemesis twice but in two really different ways.

That'd be kind of sweet is Marvel would do something like that but I'm getting the feeling that villains are only meant to be used once and either imprisoned or killed.

[Mr. Dent]

Maybe Ben Kingsley got a Cap tat after Avengers and producers decided to not edit it out for ****s and giggles?

[C_Carmichael]

I'm going to toss this out there, but it might be nothing more than to "generate buzz", since they know people are pouring over this trailer with a fine tooth comb, and nothing generates buzz like a good mystery.

Never trust anything in a trailer. For example, early versions of the Captain America trailer, showed Steve Roger's form being stamped as "REJECTED", however the final film shows it being stamped in the military correct "4F".

So, now, if the producers were to "touch up" the shot of the Mandarin's neck with that little Cap shield, then it would be removed for the final film, but in the meantime, here we all are, talking about it, keeping us buzzing.

[Whiskey Tango]

Originally Posted by Incredible Hans

It means that Madarin has a weird concept of being a "true warrior".

He tries to be the ultimate warrior, combining elements from all cultures.

He's like a Japanese warrior: samurai hair style.

He's like an Arabian warrior: Bin Laden beard.

He's like an American warrior: Captain America tattoo

This is what I'm thinking. The ET article even said much the same.

“from his samurai hair, to his royal robe, to his bin Laden-esque beard and the AK-47 he keeps at his side, Kingsley’s interpretation is a hodgepodge of various warrior motifs.”

He probably has a pair of Hulk Hands laying around somewhere too.

[Whiskey Tango]

Originally Posted by Excelsior.

He's missing face paint and his speeches make too much sense.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by He-Man

Could have something to do with the Iron Patriot armor or maybe he has some kind of tat repping all the avengers?

I was wondering if the Iron Patriot was linked to it given the way he was unveiled in the trailer.

[Lone]

The Mandarin: Disgruntled Cap fanboy.

[TheVileOne]

My idea is that he's a hipster rocker Osama Bin Laden.

[Nave 'Torment']

Those are some excellent suggestions! I don't know which one I'd want more! I personally think it's more coherent than that, as Hunter Rider's said, it's got to be linked up with the Iron Patriot armor in some capacity.

I like the theory of Mandarin being a militant leader in the 70s when CapAm was "the hero who doesn't show" -- he'd be a Godot figure, making the interpretation of him being an anarchist, that is, fundamentally believing that nothing inherently exists plausible, more cohesive. Of course, anarchists have a more positivist approach to human nature, they believe that humanity can be inherently good and self-sustaining without the 'corruption' of reason and system -- like the Joker, Mandarin might be looking at Stark as the ultimate symbol of rationality and hence Order, and therefore opting for chaos. He calls himself a "teacher," just as the Joker or any number of terrorists consider themselves to be "ahead of the curve" and being in this position to bestow some sort of universal inner-wisdom. Anarchism, politically speaking, strives for a utopian cause. It's all there.

As for the tat, what if they do make a more closer connection to Bin Laden and show how the Ten-Rings had been armed by the US, like how the Taliban was aided by the CIA in the Afghan-Russian wars and so we have the Mandarin as this psuedo-SHIELD operative who was part of a failed super-soldier project. That could explain his 'A'. It would also bring that theme of guilt/responsibility that Stark felt regards his weapons in the first film back to this one.

I'm not convinced that it's an Anarchist logo, I mean it could be, but that blue in the middle does suggest the American flag. Even if it is an anarchist sign it's meant to look like the captain's shield.

The tat suggests a possible connection with the Iron Patriot.