In Defense of Iron Man 3

In case it wasn't already obvious, there are major spoilers about the plot and characters of Iron Man 3 and the Marvel One-Shot "All Hail the King" in the post that follows.  You have been warned.

We are living in a Golden Age of superhero films.  The traditionally maligned "nerd" genre is officially mainstream and arguments over "Marvel vs DC" pop up more frequently than "Jordan vs Lebron."  Marvel is raking money in hand over fist with an unprecedented string of blockbuster hits and DC is finally making good live-action movies that aren't about Batman.  Superman is an interesting character for the first time since 1938 and Guardians of the Galaxy - let that sink in for a second, Guardians of the fucking Galaxy - is the must-see blockbuster in theaters right now.

Perhaps the most controversial thing that you could say in this brave new world of cinema - even more than "I liked Man of Steel" - is "I liked Iron Man 3."  The argument against Iron Man 3 generally comes down to its Shyamalan twist: that Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) arch-nemesis, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), is really just Trevor Slattery - a drug-addled, lecherous, alcoholic, focus-grouped actor hired to play the character of The Mandarin that was invented by Aldrich Killian's (Guy Pearce) think tank A.I.M.

Granted, there is a faction of any fan base that will be upset if anything is changed between the source material and film.  I've even heard somebody rail against Lionsgate changing the eye color of the dogs in The Hunger Games from what was described the book.  Those are not the kind of arguments that I am addressing.  I am concerned with the group of fans that are understandably upset that Iron Man's only really interesting villain (ie, the only guy who wasn't Nega Stark nor one of many forgettable Cold War era moustache twirlers) was turned into a red herring: a punchline at the expense of Iron Man's  arch nemesis.

I acknowledge that it is a lucid, intelligent, rational objection to an anti-canonical twist that nobody - and I mean nobody - saw coming.  And yet I cannot help but ultimately reject this line of thinking.  The Iron Man films have always been the Beverly Hills Cop of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - an action-comedy series whose protagonist always has a cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner at everyone else's expense.  It's the reason why Iron Man ended with the line "I am Iron Man" instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cover story and the reason why Iron Man 2 ended with a humiliating jab at the obnoxious Senator Stern (Garry Shandling).  The only difference now is that the film's twist isn't a jab at a character's expense, but a sucker-punch at our's.  The villain who was just too good to be true turned out to be exactly that.

I can't help but feel that everybody's viewing Iron Man 3's Mandarin in the wrong light.  He is not a post-9/11 Venus, emerging fully-formed from the Middle East.  This is an origin story.  Trevor is a method actor: a breed of thespians noted for their ability to deeply entrench themselves in the psychology their characters.  They think and feel and act as that character would, both on and off the set.  This is further developed in the Marvel One-Shot "All Hail the King" (featured in the Thor: The Dark World DVD special features), in which the imprisoned Slattery basks in his newfound fame, bragging that "when an actor has inhabited a role as long as [he has], he often becomes it and it him."  Shortly afterwards, he is broken out of prison so that he can answer for his defamation of the actual, comic-inspired Mandarin.

This latest twist isn't an apologist ret-con of Iron Man 3's handling of The Mandarin, but of an origin story in the vein of Doctor Strange or The Shadow.  Imagine Trevor - an unstable man whose mind has latched onto the character of The Mandarin and refuses to let go - delusionally basking in the unprecedented popularity of his most successful role.  He now comes face to face with his muse: "a warrior king [who] inspired generations of men through the Middle Ages [and] perhaps even further back in time."  Like Bruce Wayne to Ra's Al Ghul, he is brought into the fold of his organization and, due to his intimate understanding of its leader, groomed for his succession, eventually emerging as the one true Mandarin that he always imagined himself to be.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see this as the basis of Iron Man 4 or even Avengers 4.  Maybe we'll see him get developed in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the main villain of season 2.  For now, though, let's all give the series some breathing space.  They pulled one Hell of a doosey on us with Iron Man 3 and got us all pretty good.  Some people didn't like being the butt of a joke, and that's understandable.  But since Marvel has shown an interest in further developing the character of The Mandarin, we should all just wait and see what avenues they will choose to explore with him.