Iron Man 3 The Further Adventures of Trevor or How I Learned to Stop Griping & Love The Mandarin

[Whiskey Tango]

Yes, I do. They were upfront about why they brought Coulson back. I see no reason to doubt Pearce's words except contrariness.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

Hah Chow is awesome. But I wouldn't mind a more unknown actor from Chinese cinema. Like how The Wolverine used well known Japanese actors. How about Andy Lau? He's been their #1 box office star for years. Does a lot of action movies

Then again it all depends on if they want an older Mandarin, an "ageless" Mandarin or just one for flashbacks.

Andy Lau as the mandarin would be amazing.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Also there are three other threads for this, can we not keep the grousing and conspiracy theories relegated to them? This one was clearly intended for discussing the overall implications of the Kingsley short. We don't need a fourth thread for people to bellyache in.

 

[Nathan]

I wonder if the plans are to make Mandarin one of the big MCU villains, that isn't simply connected to one particular hero. Since they can't use Dr. Doom, I can imagine that they'll use Mandarin to fill a similar role.

Have his Origin be a mixture of magic and science, so he can tango even with the likes of Dr. Strange and Thor.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Yes, I do. They were upfront about why they brought Coulson back. I see no reason to doubt Pearce's words except contrariness.

Yeah if they were pandering to fans they'd let people know. They'd turn it into a big marketing thing. Like with Coulson. That's free publicity. This is just the conclusion/continuation of the already established story.

 

[Poni_Boy]

I wonder if the plans are to make Mandarin one of the big MCU villains, that isn't simply connected to one particular hero. Since they can't use Dr. Doom, I can imagine that they'll use Mandarin to fill a similar role.

Have his Origin be a mixture of magic and science, so he can tango even with the likes of Dr. Strange and Thor.

Wow I LOVE that idea. The MCU is sorely lacking its 'Doom.' This would be perfect.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Doom, like the FF, is simply missing from the MCU. Shame.

 

[Wolverine's Run]

I wonder how people would react if he showed up in another hero's film as it would be awhile before Iron Man 4 comes out and it seems like the next two Avengers movies are pretty full (assuming that A3 is a Thanos centric movie).

 

[Poni_Boy]

Not sure. Depends on the build up. It's more complicated than bringing back someone like Red Skull since he's already been introduced or just introing a new character since he's been named dropped so much. But I trust Marvel in the sense that if they do it, they'll do it right.

And I really like Joeyjojo's idea of making him the MCU's Dr. Doom since we're prob not getting that character in the MCU for many years.

 

[Wolverine's Run]

Yeah, and with the upcoming Netflix shows, AoS, other One Shots (they could even add a second one shot on every dvd release to further this story if they wanted), they have plenty of options to build him and Ten Rings up.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Exaaaactly. I think people are underestimating the impact the Netflix series have. We're getting to an age where people will quickly choose VOD over theatrical as long as the price is right. And Marvel is embracing that before any other franchise does, so they'll set the standard.

That's why I'm forgiving of AOS. I don't watch it. I don't like it. Maybe I'll start watching it again if the second season look interesting. But it's a very important aspect of the MCU in building the foundation that Marvel Studios is putting out a singular story across mediums. Same goes for the One-Shots.

 

[Steamteck]

I'm disappointed. It's a copout after what they did with Iron Man 3.

It's a lame dangling of the carrot as well considering this was the last Iron Man 3 movie for a while. The next two films with Iron Man are Avengers 2 and 3, the only ones Downey is signed for. So if they ever were to do Iron Man 4, it won't happen for years to come.

And there's no promise they will ever revisit this version of Mandarin or the 10 Rings as well. So what's the point?

OK, so the Mandarin is real...and? Why wasn't he just in Iron Man 3 then? When will we see the REAL Mandarin and the 10 Rings next? I just don't understand any of this.

I'd be anxious to see what Shane Black's perspective on all this was.

Why so we can know what the wrong answer is? I figure the Mandarin is bridge under the water and hopefully I can just forget it. The only result for me is Shane Black ( who wrote many things I liked ) is now a pretty much no see for any Superheroic stuff and I'm praying he doesn't actually get hold of Doc Savage like he wants.

 

[MichaelChen]

I'd like to see the character's origin as described by the comcis: he starts out as a rich *******. He's got all this money that he could use to make his people's lives better. But instead he spends it on himself. He hires the best trainers in martial arts and science to turn himself into a super-soldier, because it's all about HIM.

He succeeds, but in the end he's broke and gets evicted for failure to pay his taxes. And that pisses him off, because he refuses to blaim himself. So he blames the world, the world owes him.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

I think what they've done is great for many reasons but here's one of the primary:

A lot of arguments stem from the "no one even cared about the Mandarin before IM3" types. It's true not many fans know The Mandarin back to front. I'll plead guilty to this myself. But it's almost a given fact that not a single GA member or casual fan could even tell you a thing or two about him.

And that's what is genius about IM3. It introduces the character, the hype and the intrigue behind the character to everyone in the audience, before actually introducing the character in a later installment. "The Mandarin" is now a (arguably) household-ish name. When he finally gets his moment on screen, The Mandarin will have people watching and waiting in anticipation. And not just comic/cbm fans.

It really is genius. As an example, it'd be like if in Batman Begins, Chow Yun Fat was the only "Ra's." And before he died he reveals to Bruce that he was a fake. So now the whole movie Ra's is built up as a badass moniker that it turns out is too badass to be defeated in one go. So people have to wait 2-4 years for the next appearance of the character and that entire time, they can spend wondering about the mystery that is _________.

An entirely other reason it works well, is the MCU is running low on great IM villains. They have been since the first IM, but so far they've made it work. You could argue Zeke Stane and Madame Ghost could hold a movie on their own (especially if Aldrich Killian can) but why not have one or both of these characters alongside The Mandarin? Well, idk. But it seems like building this all up further to a fourth installment with Iron Man's nemesis is smart.

 

[Chris B]

I know AHTK seems to allude to this, but I'm hoping they avoid making the Mandarin into some ancient sorcerer like was suggested there.

This is probably too much like Nolan's take on Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadow in his Batman films, but I think Marvel should have "The Mandarin" be a mantle that has been passed on from one individual to the next over the course of the preceding centuries. With only an extremely small inner circle within the Ten Rings knowing the truth, with the laymen believing in the whole mystque surrounding the character such as him being some immortal warrior-king.

I guess they can finally pull the trigger and have him using the rings. But they have to make sure they execute them well since I think it is a legitament question of whether or not they would come across as too out of place given the tone of the IM films.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

I think since you had Iron Man fight aliens and was next to the likes of Thor and Loki, while technically it wasn't an IM film, you can the Mandarin with the Ten Power Rings.

 

[DocLathropBrown]

Hmmmm

 

[TheLongestDay]

If you want to see how badass a true cinematic Mandarin could be,check out FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

Check this out (skip to 5:45)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJJjP51Dim4



I want him as the main villain in AVENGERS 3 meaning the gang has to bring in Doctor Strange to help them with all this magic mumbo jumbo

 

[Gr0oT]

But the main villain in Avengers 3 seems to Thanos.
I can hold out until Phase 4.

 

[The Overlord]

There is a still a problem with having a comic book Mandarin in a movie, it would never fly in China and China is too important to overall BO returns take that Marvel would not want to alienate them. I also think if they put comic book Mandarin in the movies, he will need stronger writing then he generally gets in the comics.

 

[MichaelChen]

I know AHTK seems to allude to this, but I'm hoping they avoid making the Mandarin into some ancient sorcerer like was suggested there.

This is probably too much like Nolan's take on Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadow in his Batman films, but I think Marvel should have "The Mandarin" be a mantle that has been passed on from one individual to the next over the course of the preceding centuries. With only an extremely small inner circle within the Ten Rings knowing the truth, with the laymen believing in the whole mystque surrounding the character such as him being some immortal warrior-king.

I guess they can finally pull the trigger and have him using the rings. But they have to make sure they execute them well since I think it is a legitament question of whether or not they would come across as too out of place given the tone of the IM films.

Why go through all that **** when the comic Mandarin isn't even close to ancient? With Ra's you have an ancient comic character, so making him work in a movie required them to at least acknowledge the comic origin before subverting it.

The comic Mandarin doesn't require anything like that. He's a modern aristocrat who spent all his people's money turning himself into a super-soldier. There's no comic origin as an ancient that needs to be acknowledged before being subverted. He's no more ancient than Black Mask.

 

[Gr0oT]

There is a still a problem with having a comic book Mandarin in a movie, it would never fly in China and China is too important to overall BO returns take that Marvel would not want to alienate them. I also think if they put comic book Mandarin in the movies, he will need stronger writing then he generally gets in the comics.

Does this mean Marvel Studios will never have Asian villains for fear of offending our, ahem Overlords?

Honestly so long as the characterization doesn't use China as the enemy I don't see the problem, I want my Radioactive Man and Mandarin.

So long as the character doesn't piss over Chinese culture and sensitivities I don't see the problem.

 

[The Overlord]

Does this mean Marvel Studios will never have Asian villains for fear of offending our, ahem Overlords?

Honestly so long as the characterization doesn't use China as the enemy I don't see the problem, I want my Radioactive Man and Mandarin.

So long as the character doesn't piss over Chinese culture and sensitivities I don't see the problem.

It depends, I guess. I think Mandarin has some baggage from the Silver Age , where he was a racial stereotype. Shane Black didn't want to use him in Iron Man 3 in the first place, because he thought he was a racial stereotype. You would need to pretty carefully handling him. Also I would have been upset that comic book Mandarin didn't appear in Iron Man 3, if I thought he was a stronger character in the comics. Plus Marvel is a business, they care far more about getting access to the Chinese market then they do pleasing hard core fans.

Radioactive Man is a bit different case, he seemed more like a political stereotype than a racial and there is an easy way to update him, make him a Chinese superhero who fights for China's interests. He should be a "frienemy" rather then a straight up villain, he should reflect the US and China's current relationship, not the one from the 60s.

 

[Chris B]

Why go through all that **** when the comic Mandarin isn't even close to ancient? With Ra's you have an ancient comic character, so making him work in a movie required them to at least acknowledge the comic origin before subverting it.

The comic Mandarin doesn't require anything like that. He's a modern aristocrat who spent all his people's money turning himself into a super-soldier. There's no comic origin as an ancient that needs to be acknowledged before being subverted. He's no more ancient than Black Mask.

Well, if you had bothered to read my entire post, you would seen that I was trying to find a way around making the character ancient in light of AHTK alluding to the "real" MCU Mandarin being some ancient warrior-king.

 

[Chris B]

Does this mean Marvel Studios will never have Asian villains for fear of offending our, ahem Overlords?

Honestly so long as the characterization doesn't use China as the enemy I don't see the problem, I want my Radioactive Man and Mandarin.

So long as the character doesn't piss over Chinese culture and sensitivities I don't see the problem.

That's my sentiment as well. They'd have to be careful, but as long as they didn't engage in blatant ethnic stereotyping, they should be okay.