10 Marvel Duos Who Will Never Meet In The MCU

There was a lot of anticipation building up to the release of Iron Man 3 for the film’s promised villain, the Mandarin, to be played by renowned English actor Ben Kingsley. In the comics, the Mandarin is Iron Man’s archenemy, and was responsible for his origin.

The Mandarin instructed the warlord Wong-chu to capture Tony Stark with intent of finding the secrets of the ten rings, the source of his power. Instead, Stark used the time and resources to build the original Iron Man armour and escape, with the help of fellow captive Yinsen. This was adapted into the first Iron Man film, with the omission of the Mandarin.

Fans were disappointed at Iron Man 3’s fake-out, as the Mandarin was revealed to be an in-universe character played by an English actor named Trevor. Marvel was given a chance to redeem this misstep with Tony Leung’s portrayal in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While a massive improvement on what came before, the opportunity had passed for Leung’s Mandarin to face off against Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, since the latter had given his life in Endgame, and the former lost his during the climax of Shang-chi.