In the Iron Man comics the Mandarin is Tony Stark's main nemesis, think the Joker to Batman for comparison. All the promotional trailers, clips, posters and interviews for Iron Man 3 seemed to be set up to bring this huge character into the film franchise at last. Sir Ben Kingsley was named to be playing The Mandarin which brought some grumbles but the fury came halfway through the film when instead of being a super villain, it was revealed that he was actually an actor hired by Killian, the real villain of the film and that the whole concept of The Mandarin was made up as a public face for the terror attacks taking place worldwide. Fans were furious that such a vital character was turned into little more than a comedy bit for Ben Kingsley to play, but it for the rest of us it was a brilliant twist that gave a standard 'superhero versus super-villain' story a refreshing shake up.
