: Oh, boy, the Mandarin... initially said he had no intention of doing the Mandarin at all, citing the character's reputation as a racist stereotype as the reason. The Mandarin ended up appearing as the main villain, albeit casting the half-Indian as the Mandarin in order to avoid offending Chinese audiences and the movie's own Chinese financial backers. Later, Black originally stated both in an interview and on the commentary that Aldrich Killian was the actual MCU incarnation of the Mandarin, not Kingsley's Trevor Slattery. All Hail the King retconned it, revealing that Killian wasn't really the Mandarin, either, but someone else who is the real Mandarin wasn't happy with what Killian and Trevor did. Despite being assumed that this was because how some people reacted to Killian being the Mandarin, co-writer Drew Pearce later said the short was not made to please Mandarin fans, but to fix the potential Plot Holes caused by The Reveal.Aldrich Killian is a featured article, which means it has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Disney Wiki community.
If you see a way this page can be updated or improved without compromising previous work, please feel free to contribute. Aldrich Killian is the main antagonist from the 2013 Marvel film Iron Man 3. He was a scientist involved with Extremis, another attempt at the super soldier serum, using nanotechnology along with Maya Hansen. Aldrich Killian was originally a scientist with several disabilities impeding him in life, which he grew up determined to one day overpower them. In 1999, Killian initially asked for Tony Stark's support for his project under Advanced Idea Mechanics, only to be shunned and ignored by the latter. After the realization that Tony had ignored his proposition, Killian decided to work on his own, creating an expansive business for himself. Over the years, through A.I.M. and with the aid of Maya Hansen's designs, Aldrich Killian created a team to further research and develop the Extremis formula, which imparts unusual levels of strength and resiliency to human subjects.
While these tests did backfire and resulted in death among the test subjects, they allowed Killian to eventually recruit Eric Savin and Ellen Brandt to his cause. At some point, he funded the Ten Rings organization by masquerading as their leader, the Mandarin, without the real Mandarin's knowledge. To maintain this illusion he used British actor Trevor Slattery to impersonate the Mandarin. The organization would cover up Killian's Extremis experiments as terrorist attacks in case the former subjects would degenerate and explode. By injecting the Extremis formula into himself, Killian's disability had been cured and he was able to utilize its full power, thereby granting him super strength, durability, heat-based abilities and high-speed regeneration. He was shown as being able to breathe fire akin to that of a dragon. His body was adorned with dragon tattoos, which fueled his claim about being the "real Mandarin". Essentially a foil to Tony Stark in terms of personality, he was described as one of Tony's very own demons, in which Killian was a "mistake" that Tony had committed in his old life.
Initially describing himself as one of Tony's greatest fans, Killian would grow to resent Tony after being shunned by the latter. While Justin Hammer wanted to be seen as Tony's superior, Killian wanted to be just like him, having originally idolized Tony. Acting as a parallel to Tony Stark, Killian is obsessive, arrogant, and immature in his dealings. He sees his creations not as a distraction but as his purpose, as he seeks to exploit war and death for profit. He also desired the women that were associated with Tony, having hired Maya Hansen and killing her when she displayed feelings for Stark, as well as describing Pepper Potts as his "trophy." His goals revolved around wanting to punish Stark by systematically giving him the same sense of desperation he felt 13 years ago. Extremis: The Extremis formula, developed by Killian, endows Killian several superhuman abilities. In addition to completely healing Killian's body of his disabilities, Extremis enhances the body, upgrading strength, speed and durability to superhuman levels.
Killian was shown to have the most advanced capabilities through his infusion with Extremis. After curing himself of his disability by using a dose of his own Extremis formula, he orchestrated many terrorist attacks as part of his experiments, while appropriating the image of the terrorist known as "The Mandarin" through the use of an actor, to mask his illegal activities. He orchestrated the attack at Tony's home, kidnapping Pepper Potts afterwards. Having Pepper Potts as his "trophy" and hostage, he injected her with the Extremis formula to further motivate and antagonize Tony. After his henchmen had abducted President Ellis, Killian had planned to orchestrate a live feed showing the murder of Ellis, only to have Tony Stark and James Rhodes to interrupt and attack their base with the help of Tony's J.A.R.V.I.S.-controlled Iron Man suits. In the ensuing battle, Tony finally found Pepper, only for her to be trapped under debris. Before he was able to rescue her, an angry Killian attacked Tony.