During a recent AMA on Reddit, Marvel boss Kevin Feige was asked if there were any plans to bring back the Iron Man baddies Ten Rings or The Mandarin. His answer? A short and to the point, “yes.” He didn’t give any other details. Speculation online suggests that the Mandarin will be the main bad guy in the upcoming Shang-Chi movie.
Now, for those of you who slept through the first three phases’ worth of Iron Man films, the Ten Rings are a terrorist organization headed by a mysterious villain named The Mandarin. The Ten Rings first appeared in Iron Man (2008) as the terrorist group that kidnapped Tony Stark while he was at a weapons test in the middle east. The Mandarin first appeared in Iron Man 3 (2013). Only (spoiler alert) it wasn’t the real Mandarin.
Turns out, that Mandarin was merely Trever Slattery (Ben Kingsley), an actor hired to play the role by the main bad guy of the film, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Fans whined and griped and typed furiously at their keyboards in response, so Marvel retconned things in a one-shot, All Hail the King, which was included on the Thor: The Dark World home media release. That short film saw an agent of the Mandarin infiltrate the prison where Slattery was being held in order to seek revenge.
I, for one, like that they’re bringing these concepts back for another film. It’ll help sustain continuity with the earlier films as Marvel moves forward.
So what do you think? Are you interested in seeing the real Mandarin cause some trouble? What movie do you think he’ll make an appearance in? Hit the comments below!