10 Movies That Cruelly Teased What We REALLY Wanted To See

9. Iron Man 3 Delivers The PERFECT Mandarin... Then Takes It Away

Iron Man 3 Mandarin
Marvel Studios

Admittedly, Ben Kingsley's depiction of the Mandarin was a little different to the rogue seen within the pages of Marvel Comics. There, the Mandarin is a wealthy Chinese genius, with a mastery of martial arts and a penchant for world domination courtesy of his famed ten rings that have been adapted from alien technology.

Still, Kingsley gave film fans a brilliant, if not slightly different, take on a character who had been around in comic book form since 1964.

In Iron Man 3, there was a Mandarin who felt like a threat that was genuinely too much for Tony Stark to deal with. Forever being one step ahead of ol' Shell-head, Kingsley's Mandarin was a chilling, unrelenting presence who positioned themselves as one of the most intimidating figures in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe up until that point.

Of course, that amazing take on the Mandarin would be revealed to be a complete and utter sham, with actor Trevor Slattery playing the 'role' of the Mandarin as part of a plan from Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian.

You could actually say Iron Man 3 didn't just tease us with what we wanted, it totally made that wish a reality for a good hour of its run time, before then highlighting that this was all merely a giant ruse - which is arguably even more frustrating than just a brief tease.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.