Expect some heavy Iron Man 3 spoilers in this one, just in case two or three of you haven't seen it yet.
Last week while hyping Ender's Game, Ben Kingsley let slip that he was working on a super secret Marvel project. And as one might expect, the speculation was that it would involve his Mandarin character from Iron Man 3, who we learned was really just some London stage actor named Trevor Slattery. It was a reveal that some thought was brilliant and satirical, while others felt it a poor representation of the Marvel villain. Well, it turns out Marvel may not be done with Mandarin after all.
According to Latino Review, so please take this rumor with a dash of salt, Kingsley will be starring in one of Marvel's One-Shot short films centered on the Mandarin. That's pretty much what most were expecting, but the kicker is that the story would involve the real Mandarin looking for revenge against the imposter Slattery for ruining his reputation.
The original Mandarin as seen in the comics was little more than a xenophobic Chinese sterotype, which is why Shane Black was so vocal against using him. If this story turns out to be true, would that mean we'd get the version most of us are familiar with? Probably not, but you never know. Would it be Kingsley playing the real Mandarin? Or would we get a version we've never seen before played by someone completely different?
Latino Review suggests all of this is being done because Marvel thinks they screwed up with how they handled Mandarin, which to me doesn't make a whole lot of sense. That sounds like the site putting their personal opinions ahead of any facts. Nor do they seem to know when this supposed One-Shot would debut. Would it be in a future Blu-Ray release? Or maybe as the wrap-up to an episode of Agents of SHIELD?
Too many questions left unanswered for me to fully buy into this. We'll find out if it's true before too long.
