As funny as Ben Kingsley is as Trevor Slattery - you can't put that past the man - the disappointment in Marvel's Mandarin fakeout still stings today. The character initially looked to be such a great, modern take on the outdated source material. Kingsley's deep, Southern Baptist-esque voice and mish-mash of cultural styles made for a threatening, enigmatic presence that fans expected a lot of. When Marvel expertly pulled the rug out from all of us, it was almost a slap in the face. A lesson in presuming to know everything about Marvel films before they're actually released. The salt on the wound was Aldrich Killian's (Guy Pearce) proclamation of "I AM THE MANDARIN!". No you're not, mate. The backlash was too much for even Marvel to handle, as they did a 180 and released the All Hail the King One Shot, which ended up having Trevor Slattery answering for his crime of impersonating the Mandarin... to the actual (mysterious, off-screen) Mandarin. I'm sure given the chance, Feige would simply go back, have Kingsley be the bloody Mandarin, and have that be the end of it.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
