LOS ANGELES — Aldrich Killian toy collectors and cosplayers: this is a day for gratitude. We've just learned that your unforgettable, enduringly iconic Iron Man 3 villain was originally written as — brace yourselves here — a woman. Alas, Marvel brass (at the time) realized that the gender of the secretive "Mandarin," who turned out to be a 50-something tech entrepreneur in a tan business suit, needed swift correction. Because as everyone knows, girls don't sell toys. Thanks to that pervasive, never-proven-wrong notion, the Aldrich Killian™ line of Marvel merch, with its commercially optimized perceived anatomy, exists to this day. SEE ALSO: Marvel defends 'Doctor Strange' casting with new character info Uproxx reporter Mike Ryan, who has an uncanny knack for digging news nuggets out of what should be routine filmmaker Q&As, pried this gem from Iron Man 3 writer/director Shane Black (who is promoting his new film The Nice Guys): "There was an early draft of Iron Man 3 where we had an inkling of a problem.
Which is that we had a female character who was the villain in the draft. We had finished the script and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand and we’ve changed our minds because, after consulting, we’ve decided that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female. Now, that’s not [Marvel Studios head Kevin] Feige. That’s Marvel corporate, but now you don’t have that problem anymore." Black's not-so-subtly referring to Ike Perlmutter, longtime CEO of Marvel Entertainment (including its toy division), whose influence over Marvel Studios was revoked last year when Feige demanded that he begin reporting to Disney bosses instead. But before Feige's power move, the notoriously stingy and immovable Perlmutter called the shots. And it's a good thing, too — because Aldrich Killian fans would've been deprived of one — or possibly two — plastic representations of Guy Pearce's legendary turn as the meek-IT-guy-turned-mogul. Who hasn't spent an afternoon playing with the Lego Superheroes: Iron Man 3 Aldrich Killian Minifigure?
The iconic Aldrich Killian Minifigure from LEGO.Image: And what would you say to the little boys who clamored for "Diamond Select Toys Series 49: Marvel Minimates — Iron Man 3: Aldrich Killian and Tony Stark Action Figure" at Christmas 2013? "Sorry, but the Mandarin turned out to be a girl?" There are probably others as well, to the enrichment of Marvel Entertainment shareholders the world over. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan Tony Stark wrestles with his inner demons while contending with monsters of his own creation in Iron Man 3, a thrilling sequel that proves that just because your protagonist is brooding, it doesn't mean that your film has to be. Director/co-screenwriter Shane Black takes the torch from Jon Favreau and keeps the flames burning bright, working with co-scribe Drew Pearce to maintain the series' playful tone without neglecting our charismatic hero's struggle, and delivering spectacular action set pieces that put us right in the chaos of the moment.
The story in Iron Man 3 picks up shortly after the events of The Avengers. Having previously entered another dimension in order to save New York City, Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) remains deeply haunted by the experience. Unable to sleep, he throws himself into his work with such intensity that it begins to take a heavy toll on both his mental health and his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Tony has only started to appreciate the gravity of his problems when an enigmatic terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) hijacks the airwaves and threatens to bring America to its knees with a painful series of "lessons" that even President Ellis (William Sadler) won't be able to ignore. When Tony's former security guard Happy Hogan (Favreau) is badly injured in an explosion caused by one of the Mandarin's agents, the vengeful playboy issues a public threat that results in his home being completely destroyed in a devastating attack, leaving him to face his enemy with only one badly damaged prototype suit.
Fortunately, Tony isn't on his own, and with the help of Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and a young boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins), he pieces together the mystery of the Mandarin, whose final "lesson" promises to be the most painful of all. Back in 2008, comic-book fans praised Iron Man not just for Downey's electric performance as Tony Stark, but for its skillful handling of the title character's origin story and its unconventional villain. Though many decried 2010's Iron Man 2 as a step backward for the series, the first sequel's ramped-up action and humor still made it highly watchable, and provided a bright counterbalance to Christopher Nolan's melodramatic Batman universe. With Iron Man 3, Black and Pearce marry the thrills and comedy of the first two films in a way that feels entirely organic to the franchise, and force their hero to confront a number of challenges that bring out his character in a way that isn't always possible when he's protected by a high-tech suit of armor. In the second movie we got a sense that Stark was really coming into his own after embracing his identity as Iron Man;
here, Stark has been violently shoved out of his comfort zone by forces beyond his control. As a result, he must rely more on his brilliance and innovation than his firepower, and for that reason alone Iron Man 3 is a much more interesting film than its immediate predecessor. It's made all the more entertaining by the fact that Black and Pearce repeatedly toy with our expectations of what to expect from a superhero movie. For example, any relationship between a superhero and a child is typically handled with the utmost sensitivity; here, Tony is nothing short of an ass to the kid who inspires him to use his own ingenuity to confront the Mandarin, calling him names and even wisecracking about the fact that he was abandoned by his father. Further, while Black and Pearce's handling of the Mandarin may upset some comic-book purists, in the context of the film it perfectly highlights the writers' point about the power of illusion, and though Kingsley is a formidable menace when threatening the president in front of the entire world, as an actor he's at his absolute best when the character he's playing is at his absolute worst.
Yes, there are plenty of surprises in Iron Man 3, but the biggest one may be just how well the film works even when the titular hero is nowhere to be found. Though that's largely a credit to the screenwriters, there's no question that Downey Jr. is the big draw here. That said, Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale, and young Simpkins all turn in memorable performances, while Paul Bettany continues to be the behind-the-scenes MVP as the voice of Jarvis, Stark's trusty artificial-intelligence sidekick. The longest film in the series by a handful of minutes, Iron Man 3 certainly doesn't feel like it thanks to its briskly paced screenplay and the wise decision to place some of Iron Man's most heroic moments toward the end of the movie -- such as a dizzying action sequence involving Air Force One and a stunning final battle in which we're never quite sure who has the upper hand until the last possible moment. It's the latter scene in particular where Black and Pearce show their strengths as writers by boldly dropping in humor when the stakes are highest.