10 Movie Characters Who Look Nothing Like Their Comic-Book Versions

6. The Mandarin - Iron Man 3

Kingsley Mandarin
Marvel Studios

Iron Man 3's Mandarin might be the single most controversial character in the history of comic-book movies.

That now-infamous reveal - that The Mandarin was simply a character played by Trevor Slattery, and not a real villain - caused quite a stir, and will either make or break Iron Man 3 depending on your stance on the subject.

But even if this version of The Mandarin had been legitimate, would comic-book fans still have dismissed it, given the difference in design between the movie and source material versions?

The Mandarin Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics

In the comics, The Mandarin has long, pitch-black hair, and in many storylines, sports a dark green suit with a vibrant yellow pattern adorned on it.

The Mandarin.jpg
Marvel

Like a lot of characters on this list, the movie version ditches the vibrancy in favour of a much more muted look, which is reflective of the grittier age of comic-book movies we live in today.

But this doesn't make the characters easily identifiable - or eye-catching - in the slightest. Kingsley looks like a random crime lord, and while he's not the real Mandarin (meaning that another version of the character is out there somewhere) his bland design was still a disappintment.

 
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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.