1. Iron Man And The Mandarin - Iron Man 3
Nobody expected it. Regardless of what you thought about the 'conflict' between Tony Stark and The Mandarin, you sure as hell couldn't say it was predictable. Ben Kingsley had done some convincing quasi-Colonel Sanders baritone in those slickly edited terror adverts, and seemed to just exude menace. We expected something similar to Kingsley's turn in Sexy Beast a superpowered Don Logan with a taste for extravagant robes. Whatever he was, it was sure going to be an awesome fight when he went toe-to-toe with Tony Stark. What we got was... somewhat different. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing the twist down I personally loved it and thought it was a genius way of adapted a somewhat-racist character into the Marvel Movie Universe. But you can't deny that turning the Mandarin into a whore-boning, footy-watching, beer-swilling Englishman from Croydon denied the world of what some might've considered an awesome fight scene. After all, the Mandarin is a formidable guy on-page, possessing ridiculous martial arts prowess and a collection of magical rings. He's a cool adversary for a walking armory, so we let our imaginations run wild. What we got instead was a bemused Tony discovering an oblivious Terry Slattery midway through the Champions League funny, but somehow gutting. So that's what I think. Know of any more? Feel free to comment!