Warning: This article contains
huge spoilers about Iron Man 3, so if you haven't seen the movie I suggest you to stop reading right now. As you've probably seen by now The Mandarin as we know and love him did not appear in Iron Man 3. And sure enough the fans were outraged because the character was introduced as some kind of comic relief instead of the menacing, iconic figure he was in the comics. Only a few movies have been able to divide public opinion as much as Iron Man 3, with those who accept the change made to the character and those who felt betrayed by it. To be honest with you while I liked the twist in the movie and I felt it was done quite well, working pretty well for the movie, I did feel extremely disappointed when I saw that the character I was being so hyped about seeing was nothing more than a smoke curtain for the real villain. And to make matters worse, there were many ways in which the character could have been successfully introduced to the MCU while keeping him as a realistic villain. They could have turned him into a retired soldier who got disappointed with the government so he tried to destroy it in revenge. He could have been an explorer who found something that he shouldn't have and went crazy because of it (this could have also explained the origins of the rings) and if they felt that a fight against him could have been quite unrealistic, then just give him the Extremis Serum, and if they wanted Killian in the movie they could have turned him into Technovore. There were many ways he could have been introduced in the movie, but they decided to go with a different way. However, contrary to popular belief, the guys working at Marvel know what they're doing.
Let's do a small count and see how many villains are currently in custody either at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters or in a "normal" prison. We have The Leader, The Abomination, Loki, Justin Hammer, and now we have Tthe Mandarin (or, at least "the face" of the Mandarin). And if we consider that Crossbones was already confirmed for at least two movies, and that Tom Hiddleston said that he'll return to the role as long as the fans want him to, they might have something on their hands. The guys at Marvel like to think for the long run, I mean they're already planning Phase 3 and that won't happen for another 3 or 4 years. Maybe they have something planned. Those villains already have their backstories explained and we know why they would have some kind of personal grudge against some member of the group. Perhaps they might be planning to do a movie version of the Masters of Evil. While this idea it's just a theory, you can't deny the fact that Marvel should have some kind of reason to keep those characters alive instead of killing them just like the rest of the villains that appeared in previous movies. However out of all those characters The Mandarin is the one who stands out because he isn't an actual villain. Sure he was with the bad guys, but he was just a puppet. A smoke curtain for the real villain. So how they can reintroduce him as a threatening villain?
We know that the character was just a simple alcoholic living the good life doing the role of The Mandarin for Killian. But he was captured and locked away in prison, losing everything of value that he had in the past. This gives him a good motive for him to plot some kind of revenge against Iron Man. While he was in prison he somehow contacted with some other villain (Thanos, Justin Hammer, Loki, whoever you want) so he plotted a way to escape prison. But, since everybody thought of him as a simple actor nobody would care about his escape, giving him the opportunity to train himself and become a real threat. This could also explore the origins of Fin Fang Foom, having him encountering his ship and acquiring a new version of his rings that would give him powers, inadvertently awakening the dragon. And so, in Iron Man 4 he would be the main villain, causing destruction all over the world as the villain we all know in the comics, having an after credits scene featuring him and Fin Fang Foom. While that's just an idea on how Marvel could reintroduce the character to the movie's continuity without ignoring the points showed in Iron Man 3, it shows a way in which he could return to the big screen. I'm sure that if they decide to use the character again they'll give him a better story that the one I came up with, so let's hope that if that happens, they give him the return that a character like him truly deserves.