Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringswill be introducing the long-anticipated Mandarin villain of the comics. However, Dave Callaham, one of the co-writers of the newMarvel Studiosfilm, explains that the title doesn’t really fit the version of the character portrayed by Tony Leung.
The Mandarin was firstmentioned inIron Man,but mainly as a character who operated in the background. It wasn’t untilIron Man 3thatfans were able to get a look at the face of the villain, or so they thought. It turns out the character in this film was a fraud and pawn who served as a fake “face” of fear. Though his appearance was inspired by the comics' portrayal of the Mandarin, his personality and fate were not.
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During an interview with Empire Online, Callaham goes on to say that whileLeung’s Mandarin is the true versionin the MCU, he still may not be what fans are expecting. “Our version of the character is not The Mandarin in the way that people are expecting him to be,” he said, “‘The Mandarin’ is a title that has been applied to him in the past by people that don’t understand his culture. But he’s a much deeper character than I think a lot of people would expect.” The number one fear for the creators when working on this film was making sure they didn’t create a Mandarin that further “contributed to the stereotypes that are still flying around.” It appears Marvel Studios is taking a character who was depicted incorrectly in the past and took the steps to correct their ways.
It’s hard to tell whether or not this entire story of The Mandarin was planned or not. If this was the plan from the jump, then Marvel Studios did a good job at thinking in advance. If it wasn’t, then this is damage control gone well. The Mandarin who wasshown during the thirdIron Manfilmwas revealed to be an actor posing in the role. It wasn’t until a Marvel Studios one-shot that fans saw there was a real Mandarin in the MCU, and he wanted to bring the imposter in for punishment.
Hopefully, this character gets more screen time and appears inmore films afterShang-Chi.Having him be in the background for most of the MCU films leads to big expectations for what he will do once he finally appears.
While The Mandarin wasn’t teased to the same extent as Thanos (who made brief appearances in the MCU before taking on the role of lead villain inAvengers: Infinity WarandEndgame), he was hinted at in bothIron Manand the firstAnt-Manfilm. So hopefully the payoff is worth the buildup, though its doubtful this incarnation of The Mandarin will be as divisive as the imposter ofIron Man 3.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringswill be released in theaters on September 3rd, 2021.
