12 MIA Marvel Cinematic Universe Characters Unlikely To Ever Return

There is still a huge division in opinion amongst Marvel fans about Iron Man 3’s infamous twist, which saw the identity of the Mandarin, Tony Stark’s archenemy from the comics, appropriated by Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian to cover his own activities.

The character was always going to be problematic to adapt to screen, given that his origins are steeped in racism,, but the revelation that the enigmatic terrorist was simply a role being played by a washed-up British thespian, Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery, came as a huge shock. He provided some great comic relief, but was surplus to requirements after Killian was unmasked as the film’s mastermind.

Slattery subsequently appeared in the same One-Shot as Justin Hammer, imprisoned and kidnapped by a member of the Ten Rings on behalf of the ‘real’ Mandarin.

It’d certainly be amusing to see the Mandarin interact with or swiftly dispatch of the man who besmirched his name in the forthcoming Shang Chi film, in which the character will appear, but bringing back acting royalty like Ben Kingsley for a cameo appearance after almost a decade of absence is probably easier said than done.