Spoilers for Wonder Man are below!
The MCU has disappointed some fans with lackluster box office entries over the last few years, including Captain America: Brave New World, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels. The superhero franchise has even delivered a few upsetting plot twists, like Rhodey’s Skrull reveal in Secret Invasion and Kang’s easy defeat by Ant-Man. Still, nothing the long-running franchise has done recently has been as divisive as its 2013 villain twist.
Some MCU villains have failed to live up to their comic book counterparts. Fans were upset by the portrayal of beloved characters like Taskmaster and Gorr the God Butcher, as they were warped versions of their inspiration or failed to live up to their true menace. However, none seem to have disappointed fans as much as Iron Man 3‘s twist involving one of the hero’s classic villains, the Mandarin. While the sequel’s deception has lived on as one of the franchise’s most subversive moments, Wonder Man finally set out to make things right after 13 years.
A Cheap Twist Ruined Iron Man’s Best Villain
For comic book readers, the Mandarin is a top-tier villain, not only for Iron Man but within the larger world. The warlord was a notable counterpoint to Tony Stark’s technical prowess, as the villain often utilized mystical elements. The Mandarin became the perfect dark mirror, allowing the villain’s genius to rival Tony Stark’s own as Iron Man’s nemesis. In the same way that the Joker is inherently linked to Batman as a central villain, Marvel fans see the Mandarin and Iron Man as sworn enemies. Therefore, when the character popped up in the trailers for Iron Man 3, fans got excited.
Iron Man 3 was the first solo superhero outing in the MCU after the highly successful Avengers team-up set box office records the year before. With the hype train barreling toward its release already, the Shane Black-directed sequel began to tease Sir Ben Kingsley playing the Mandarin. The trailers highlighted his menacing nature, showing audiences the terrorist-level threat the notorious villain posed in his live-action MCU debut. While Kingsley may not have been perfect casting for the character’s origins, the trailers made it seem like Iron Man 3 appropriately captured the villain’s menace.
That same buildup of anticipation ultimately became the movie’s creative downfall, even though it still made a killing at the box office. Throughout Iron Man 3, the movie kept teasing fans with the Mandarin, showing Kingsley taunting the world with threats. Then the sequel chose to pull the rug out from under fans, revealing that Kingsley wasn’t the Mandarin at all. Instead, he was an actor named Trevor Slattery, hired by Aldrich Killian, the movie’s true villain, to play the character. The twist landed well with casual viewers, as it played like a fun twist. However, for long-time comic book readers, it felt tantamount to a slap in the face.
‘Shang-Chi’ Attempted To Fix the Mistake
Marvel clearly heard the fan outcry, and the franchise even attempted to make things right in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In that superhero origin story, audiences meet Tony Leung’s Xu Wenwu, who is considered the MCU’s real Mandarin. Wenwu’s story aligns well with many of the villain’s comic-book aspects, presenting a more faithful iteration of the character. However, it still had a few problems: the Mandarin’s name in the MCU was tarnished by Kingsley’s portrayal, he never faced Iron Man, and casual viewers still don’t realize that Wenwu is the infamous villain.
When Shang-Chi was released, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige stood by Iron Man 3‘s twist, but noted the franchise’s attempt to give the character his proper due. Feige stated:
“We’ve been talking about that when we do bring this character to the screen, [we] only wanted to do it when we felt we could do it supreme justice and really showcase the complexity of this character, which frankly we couldn’t do in an Iron Man movie because an Iron Man movie is about Iron Man; an Iron Man movie is about Tony Stark. So [Iron Man 3 director] Shane Black, in his film and his script that he co-wrote, came up with this fun twist that we love to this day, and it turned out to be Trevor Slattery. Just because that version wasn’t real didn’t mean there’s not a leader of the Ten Rings organization, and that is who we meet for the first time in Shang-Chi.”
‘Wonder Man’ Finally Redeems ‘Iron Man 3’s Blunder
The ever-growing franchise recently chose to take one last shot at correcting its misstep, with Wonder Man turning Kingsley’s joke into a beautiful, emotional arc, earning lofty praise from critics and audiences. Not only does it tell a uniquely meta tale about Simon becoming a superhero actor while grappling with his powers, but it also brings back Kingsley as Trevor, giving his presence meaning beyond another joke. Trevor and Simon become friends throughout the series, but the former villainous actor is forced to pose as an informant against Simon. He harbors the secret until late in the show, when Simon learns the truth, triggering an outburst of his powers that causes an explosion at the studio.
Simon is sure he’ll be arrested, with his career ruined, but Trevor sees the moment as a shot at redemption. To keep his friend from losing everything, Trevor gets back into character as the Mandarin, reviving the terrorist persona to take credit for the explosion to save Simon. In one quick motion, the MCU allowed the Mandarin’s name to be associated with a villainous persona within the world, but they also took back the joke of the twist. While Trevor wasn’t truly the Mandarin, he took the character on in earnest, allowing it to thrive as the evil persona it was while also throwing himself on the sword (figuratively). Sure, he ended up in prison, but he made amends for the wrongs of his past, with his role as the Mandarin being the biggest for him and the audience.
Wonder Man picked up where Shang-Chi left off, allowing Kingsley’s Trevor to get one of the MCU’s best redemptions, largely thanks to the character’s origins in one of Marvel’s worst film twists. It may have taken 13 years, but the Mandarin’s fake identity went from the butt of a joke to an emotionally impactful character moment that could bring tears to fans’ eyes. Whether the MCU sees Trevor again remains unknown, but his character finally feels complete, with the franchise giving audiences a “sorry” nod as Wonder Man came to a close.
- Release Date
-
2026 – 2026-00-00
- Network
-
Disney+
- Directors
-
James Ponsoldt, Stella Meghie
- Writers
-
Andrew Guest, Madeline Walter, Paul Welsh, Zeke Nicholson, Roja Gashtili, Julia Lerman
Source link
Add Comment