Jon Favreau Promises The Mandarin for Iron Man 3?

Posted by on May 10th, 2010   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Rumours
Source: MTV

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Regardless of what we all thought of Iron Man 2, the box office numbers make it seem pretty likely that a third Iron Man film is in the cards, although it definitely won’t happen until after The Avengers movie hits theatres. Before they can even think about doing another Iron Man movie, however, I think it’s pretty clear that they need to come up with a compelling villain this time. In a recent interview over at MTV Movies Blog, director Jon Favreau strongly hinted that he would like to see that villain be The Mandarin, but he isn’t sure how he would fit into the post-Avengers world:

“You have to do The Mandarin… The problem with The Mandarin is, the way it’s depicted in the comic books, you don’t want to see that. He also has 10 magical rings, and it just doesn’t feel right for our thing, so it’s either tech-based or the rings are not really rings… But maybe with Thor and all those others you’ll introduce magic to that world and it won’t seem so out of place.”

It does bring up one of the problems with how Marvel is merging multiple franchises on screen: no matter what you might want to do with one particular character, it now heavily relies on what’s going on in the other films as well. It’s a risky game they’re playing, but I guess we’ll see if it pays off. Either way, what do you think of seeing The Mandarin in Iron Man 3? Will the “magic” element be a problem? And isn’t he ultimately just another Iron Man enemy wearing armor?



  • mandarian doesn’t wear armor. The only big issue is that he’s going to have to be heavily updated as his depiction in the comic is very unPC by today’s standards.

  • Maopheus

    Mandarin is different from the other IM villains who are basically mirror images of him, either armor builder/wearers or industrialists. Unfortunately Mandarin is definitely a relic of the Cold War. He doesn’t fit the profile of the enemies we’ve seen up until this time but I think it’s better than bringing back Hammer and having him back some bad guy. The Mandarin will only work if he is the only villain and not a henchman or someone’s puppet. That’s the problem with Iron Man/Tony Stark is that he’s more important/interesting as the facilitator/the wheel greaser. He supplies SHIELD, he supplies the Avengers mansion and equipment. It’s funny how at the end Fury says Stark/Iron Man would be better as a consultant. You know that won’t happen but it almost seems smarter to do it that way.

  • Ben

    Seriously, haven’t you bitched enough about Marvel tying their films together at this point? They’ve managed to do it for decades in the comics. I think they’ll figure out some way to manage.

  • I was one of the few people who actually enjoyed Iron Man 2, infact I could probably say the Iron Man franchise is one of my personal favorite Super Hero franchises along side the Spider Man trilogy and the original Batman films, so I can confidently say i’m looking forward to a third Iron Man film. Saying that though, I don’t know how I feel about the Mandarin as a villain. The main reason I like the Iron Man films is because it takes place in a real world, sleazy LA, and added to that I love the cast, it includes some of my all time favorite actors (RDJ, Don Chedale, Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow). And I know that the villains in these movies have always been over the top and rediculous (The giant Iron Monster in the first film and a russian with electric whips in the second) but I think they may be stretching the limit with a magical asian. Hopefully Jon Favreau can work something out, but I wouldn’t be opposed to him just bypassing this character altogether. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it works out.

  • As much as I would like to see Crimson Dynamo or Titanium Man as the next Iron Man villain, I think I would actually rather see Mandarin because he doesn’t wear armor. Whiplash was made into just another random armored guy at the end of IM2, so an un-armored Mandarin with magic instead of technology would be a nice change.

  • greenblade

    The rings don’t have to be “magic.” They could be variations on that green DC guy with the ring. Each ring could channel some force–electricity, teleportation, nuclear energy, heat, etc. that can be explained “scientifically.” The other poster who said that they should do something other than more armored villains is right.

    The bigger problem is the Mandarin’s PC issue mentioned above.

    Re: the Avengers- they can tie the characters in, no problem (maybe have the heroes fight at first, as Marvel heroes always have). How are they going to pay those big salaries and balance screen time for all the big egos? Now, THERE’S a problem!

  • brian

    Dont tell me Fu Man Chu is to be resurrected? Surely the world has moved on from that bit of anti-asian racism?
    Tony Stark as the allamerican industrialist a more realistic villain..just ask any iraqi or afghan.

  • ralok

    the problem isnt how he is depicted, its the problem with what he really is. In the comics he is tech based, that isnt what we want

    we want iron man to be fighting something mystic, the whole idea is magic vs technology

    the old vs the new