11 Best Things The MCU Did Differently To The Comics
7. The Mandarin - Iron Man 3
Marvel Studios
It shouldn't have to be repeated at this stage, but the original version of the Mandarin was a racist, Fu Manchu-esque caricature who had no chance of appearing onscreen - at least not in his original incarnation. The fact that people not only expected, but actively demanded that he appear in Iron Man 3, was just absurd - he just shouldn't exist.
And to that end, it's even more frustrating that Iron Man 3 was railroaded by fans for divesting from this interpretation. It's easily one of the best films of Phase 2, and one of the best MCU films on the whole actually, and while the Mandarin twist was originally played for laughs, it makes much more sense than the version seen in the comics.
Subsequent changes have been made to the Mandarin identity since Iron Man 3, with it having been revealed that Aldrich Killian had acted as one of several different 'Mandarins' throughout history, but it's doubtful Marvel Studios will ever approach the original version seen in the comics.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
