11 Flat Out Lies We Were Told Just To Sell A Movie (And We Stupidly Believed)

6. "Ben Kingsley Is The Mandarin" - Shane Black On Iron Man 3

This spot was almost taken up by Star Trek Into Darkness for the equally derided reveal that Benedict Cumberbatch€™'s John Harrison was key Trek villain Khan. However, as the mystery of whether he was or not was key in getting Trekkie interest so high I'm going for the other 2013 blockbuster that used all manner of trickery to mislead fans.

We should have realised something was up with The Mandarin when there was only a couple of different promotion shots of him compared to the multitude for every other character, but in the end the reveal Kingsley'€™s role was actually that of a decoy took everyone by surprise. This is mainly thanks to a tight marketing campaign known in the biz as lying; in all the press interviews, preview clips and even merchandising Kingsley is set up as the big bad. And for many it was a key drive to go see this single-Avenger film; such a quality actor taking on a classic comic role was something we all expected to be scared of, rather than laughing at.

Still, the lies worked; people not only saw the film for Kingsley, but once word was out to experience the shocking twist. And it'€™s still getting talked about on the internet months later. I feel played.