The original plan for Iron Man was to have the (real) Mandarin as the villain, and this would have changed the MCU in some big ways.
Iron Man 3 tricked the audience into believing Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) was going to face the Ten Ring’s leader, The Mandarin, but had Marvel gone with its original plan, Iron Man would have met the real Mandarin in his first movie, which would have completely changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is what it is today thanks to Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, the movie that started it all back in 2008 and set the tone for subsequent movies. Iron Man also established the title character as a leader of the MCU, later becoming one of the leaders of the original Avengers alongside Steve Rogers/Captain America.
During his time in the MCU, Iron Man came across a variety of villains, of which some targeted him as personal vengeance, while many others were the unintentional result of Tony’s recklessness, past mistakes, failed technology, and more, as was the case of Iron Man 3’s Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and Avengers: Age of Ultron’s title villain. However, one of the most notable bad guys he came across was the supposed Mandarin in Iron Man 3, who was actually a paid actor named Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), but the original plan for the first Iron Man movie was to have the real Mandarin as the villain, so much so that Favreau announced him as such, and had Marvel stuck to that plan, the MCU would have been very different – and here are five ways in which the real Mandarin in Iron Man would have changed this connected universe.
Although inspired by the Mandarin’s ten cosmic rings in Marvel Comics, the Ten Rings is an original creation for the MCU, so it’s not surprising that Marvel has been making a lot of changes to it as the MCU expands more and more – however, had the real Mandarin been the main villain in Iron Man, the Ten Rings as it’s now known would be very different. The Ten Rings is a clandestine criminal and terrorist organization founded by Xu Wenwu in the Middle Ages, and by the 21st century, it was involved in terrorist activities all over the world. Iron Man revealed that Tony’s business partner, Obadiah Stane, had been illegally selling Stark Industries’ weapons to the Ten Rings and made a deal with them to attack the military convoy Tony was traveling in. The Ten Rings told Stane they would need more money to kill such an important target as Tony Stark, and they forced another prisoner, Ho Yinsen, to save Stark as pieces of shrapnel were approaching his heart, making way for the arc reactor on his chest that would go on to power the Iron Man suits.
Details about The Mandarin’s role in Iron Man are scarce, but he was supposed to be a rival of Stark Industries, so it was all about getting Stark’s technology and weapons, so The Mandarin surely would have had other ways to get to Stark instead of attacking the military convoy, though that would have also given a new origin story to Iron Man, the arc reactor, and his suits. Had The Mandarin been the main bad guy in Iron Man, his and the Ten Rings’ purpose in the MCU would have been a lot clearer from the beginning, as so far, the organization has taken part of or attempted to do things that don’t really seem to follow a line, and it wasn’t until Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings arrived in Phase 4 that there was some coherence in what The Mandarin and the Ten Rings do in the MCU. Most importantly, the Ten Rings would have become the biggest threat on Earth in the MCU, as even if the Mandarin died, someone else would take the throne, and the organization would have continued targeting Iron Man and others as well.
Iron Man 2’s Ivan Vanko Might Have Never Appeared
Among the things the Ten Rings did that don’t really seem to match the organization’s style is its involvement with Ivan Vanko, the villain in Iron Man 2. Ivan Vanko was a Russian physicist and son of Anton Vanko, a scientist who partnered with Howard Stark at Stark Industries and created the first Arc Reactor with Stark. After Anton died in poverty due to Howard’s actions, Ivan swore revenge against the Starks, targeting Tony, and for that, he counted on the help of the Ten Rings. Ivan built a replica of the Arc Reactor along with an exoskeleton with two electrified whips, and with the help of the Ten Rings, he traveled to Monaco to the Circuit de Monaco, as Tony was attending the event. Had Iron Man faced the real Mandarin and the Ten Rings in his first solo movie, it’s unlikely the organization and its leader would have helped someone else get their revenge against Tony when they could do it themselves, especially as helping Ivan Vanko wouldn’t have benefited them in anything.
Iron Man 3 Might Have Been Saved From Backlash
One of the biggest changes that the real Mandarin in Iron Man would have brought is all about Iron Man 3. As mentioned above, the third Iron Man movie was supposedly going to introduce the Mandarin, but the twist in the story was that Aldrich Killian had hired actor Trevor Slattery to pose as the Mandarin and take credit for a bunch of “terrorist attacks” that were actually failed experiments of Killian’s Extremis. The Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3 is one of the most criticized moments in MCU history and with good reason, but had the real Mandarin been introduced in Iron Man, this would have never happened, and Iron Man 3 could have focused on just Aldrich Killian as the villain or another character.
Shang-Chi Might Have Arrived Earlier To The MCU
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduced Xu Wenwu, the real Mandarin, who also happens to be Shang-Chi and Xu Xialing’s father. Xu Wenwu’s presence in Iron Man would have made way for Shang-Chi’s introduction in Phase 1, which in turn would have completely changed Iron Man’s MCU history. Shang-Chi would have shared the spotlight and leadership of the MCU with Iron Man given his connection to the Ten Rings, and the Mandarin and the organization would have been at the core of both Shang-Chi and Iron Man’s stories. Shang-Chi would have also been part of the original Avengers team, changing the dynamic in the group, and events like those of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and even the Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame would have been completely different or not happened at all – and with the Ten Rings being the main and most extensive threat in the MCU, Shang-Chi would have become one of the most important characters, matching or even surpassing Iron Man and Captain America.
What Would Have Happened To The Mandarin?
One of the biggest questions around the Mandarin’s introduction in Iron Man is what would have happened to him at the end. As mentioned above, even if Xu Wenwu had been killed by Iron Man, someone else would have taken over the Ten Rings’ leadership, as seen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where Shang-Chi’s sister, Xu Xialing, became the new leader. The Ten Rings would have surely continued with their mission against Iron Man, becoming a recurrent Iron Man antagonist, and as mentioned above, that would have made the Ten Rings (and the Mandarin, if he survived) the biggest threat on Earth in the MCU – and with Shang-Chi around, the Mandarin and the Ten Rings would have made Shang-Chi’s and the Avengers’ stories a lot more complex and dramatic, giving a different tone to the overall MCU.
