In 2013, Marvel dedicated one last film to Tony Stark. It was five years after the first film directed by Jon Favreau and a few months after the immense reunion that was Avengers. Shane Black explored the character's traumas, particularly his impromptu trip into space during the confrontation with the Chitauri. At the same time, he had to face a very powerful enemy who directly threatened him. The Mandarin was supposed to make his first appearance in the MCU, after decades of playing Iron Man's recurring antagonist in the comics.
He was at the epicenter of the animated series that aired between 2009 and 2012. However, when Iron Man 3 hit the big screen, the antagonist looked nothing like his animated or comic book versions. Shane Black made the controversial choice to reinvent him as the leader of a terrorist organization. Ben Kingsley is recruited for the occasion and all references to the character's Chinese folklore are erased.
It will however be revealed later that The Mandarin is an imposter, hired by Aldrich Killian to divert attention from his Extremis project. The serum is unstable and many guinea pigs explode. Guy Pearce's character makes these accidents look like attacks and creates a climate of terror that works to his advantage.
The Mandarin is a failed British actor: Trevor Slattery. He will also return in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings directed by Daniel Destin Cretton. The film will lift the veil on the organization and what happened to Trevor. But before that, Marvel had already spilled the beans with a short film that few viewers saw.
Long Live the King
Starting in 2011, Marvel began producing short films for the Blu-ray releases of its films. These short stories revolved around Phil Coulson, Agent Carter, and even Trevor. In 2014, for the release of Thor: The Dark World, Drew Pearce stepped behind the camera to immortalize the actor in his cell as he prepared to give an interview to an American TV show.
The sequence reveals more about his background as well as the organization and the man he impersonated. We quickly learn that the journalist isn't one of them. He's a henchman of the Mandarin and kidnaps him to obtain compensation. Shang-Chi viewers know he'll be in the dungeons for nearly a decade. In 2021, he'll become a traveling sidekick for Simu Liu's character. The short film is an anecdotal addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it still puts the character in a new light.
However, it poses a continuity issue since the Defenders series entered the MCU. Melvin Potter appears to play one of Trevor's prison inmates. Matt Gerald is credited as Dave, even though he was the designer of Daredevil's costume in the Netflix series. A small error that went unnoticed thanks to the exclusive Blu-ray release of Long Live the King.
Note that all the short films are available on Disney+ by typing "One Shot" into the search bar. Eight additional content items to nibble on and which were produced between 2011 and 2016. Marvel has not tried the experience again since.
0 Comments