12 MCU Villains That Were Wasted

There are many words to describe the Mandarin, but the one brought up the most is 'problematic'.

Because he is Iron Man's arch-nemesis, we all expected the would-be conqueror to pop up in the MCU. But since this Asian villain is derived from racist stereotypes, Marvel Studios always knew adapting him would be an issue. His demeanour and appearance is reminiscent of a Fu Manchu caricature which is deemed so offensive, he rarely appears in the comics anymore. (He's been entirely absent for three years.)

But when we got our first proper glimpse of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3's teaser, people were excited (and relieved) to see the criminal mastermind had been revised so he didn't resemble his comics-self.

But when the big twist revealed 'the Mandarin' was an out-of-work British actor posing as a terrorist, comic fans were furious, accusing Marvel Studios of turning a once important Marvel villain into a gag.

Unable to ignore the negative reception, Marvel incorporated the REAL Mandarin into the soon-to-be released Shang Chi film. Even though the MCU has screwed up a few characters, the Mandarin gets special mention since he received a do-over after being mishandled so badly.