The Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Conan-chandesune]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

[Kaito Lady]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!

[mangaluva]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

*squues and flails uncontrollably*

[cinnamoroll]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

This looks epic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Memesu]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

*Enters to the hype zone*

[Jd-]

Extremely hype trailer, even better than the first.

Now, the wait...

[ProfParanoia]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

How did they manage to make the Mandarin more offensive?

[pofa]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

How did they manage to make the Mandarin more offensive?

My favorite thing about the old-school Mandarin was that he wore an English "M" on his outfit.

Spoiler:

Looks like they're really calling him "The Mandarin." I wondered if they would. :V But it seems like we're gonna have an evil American politician to make ourselves feel better about the racism.

[mangaluva]

I'm wondering what's up with the Mandarin's swag sunglasses. Combined with the rings, it honestly makes him look like he's going to yell "YOLO" right before trying to kill Tony.

[Jd-]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/05/ ... 3-trailer/

Kitta kitta kimashita......

How did they manage to make the Mandarin more offensive?

Anyone finding this offensive is simply looking for something to be offended over.

PC Police, I ask of thee: Wasn't it worse when Mickey Rourke (an American) played a belligerent Russian out to destroy the American dream? After all, he is of Irish and French descent, but... I don't really remember a whole lot of outrage about him portraying a disenfranchised Russian villain. Russians have a rich cultural history dating back thousands of years, and yet... this rich American thinks he can convey all the suffering they have felt as a civilization in a Hollywood blockbuster WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THE PAIN THEY HAVE FELT!?!?!?!?

Yes, yes, I could make a serious post and try to reply with some sort of candor, but I really can't because--to be honest--I find this subject to be laughably shallow, so I'll let you go back to being "offended".

[pofa]

Jd, I don't know what Ben Kingsley plans to bring to the table, but the Mandarin was always a pretty racist caricature of a character, no matter what angle the comics shot him from through the decades.

And I mean, I'm prepared to deal with that; I read the comics and will watch the movie. And I hope I'm pleasantly surprised. But I don't think it's a reach to be apprehensive about some possible offensiveness in this particular case.

[Jd-]

The Mandarin in the movie is a cultist warlord who is mad about Sun Tzu and the like--he is half-white and half-Asian (like the original Mandarin, and like Ben Kingsley, who is also half-Asian and half-white), but beyond that his ethnicity and nationality isn't really specified or focused on as far as I know. Chinese ideologies and folklore (such as the Three Kingdoms period) are common throughout Asia given the obvious heritage there, so having a half-white and half-Asian psychopath that's taken to a contorted view of history to satisfy his own twisted worldview and has taken his obsession so far as to adopt the moniker of "The Mandarin" is a fair progression I'd say (and not at all a racist one). There's no commentary on Chinese people here--the guy is clearly imbalanced and deluded without representing China in any actual way.

In fact, a Chinese media company was involved in partially funding the production and knew (clearly) exactly what went into the movie. It's going to be one of the few foreign movies that the Chinese government allows to be shown widely this year, too. If there was anything to be offended over, I think their regime would be the first to put their iron fist down.

All in all, it's much like they did with Whiplash in Iron Man 2. They're just not really doing a straightforward adaptation of the character. I mean, yo--the dude's sportin' aviators. With his usual getup, he's looking more Bin Laden than he is Fu Manchu.

[Conan-chandesune]

Jd- , Pofa, your argument will be solved and the movie osorakun spoiled if you read this spoiler box.

Spoiler:

It was posted on BDC and i heard from various other sources that the Mandarin will be like Ducard of Begins i.e. a scapegoat. The real Mandarin will be one of the minor villains.

[pofa]

Well, a large percentage of Iron Man's villains originated as racist or political/ideological caricatures, so they didn't have a whole lot else to pull from when they started making these movies. And it's not like I want them to make up new villains or whatever. That would be like making a Captain America movie and not having him fight Nazis: what's the point?

But my willingness to have fun with the movie in spite of, or even because of, the campy jingoism doesn't mean it's not there.

And of course, there's always the possibility they'll take the xenophobic source material and do something really cool and deep with it, and if so, excellent. I'm just not expecting it, because it hasn't happened yet in this franchise.

And I say all this loving these movies, and the comics, to death.

@Conan: Huh, that's weird.

[mangaluva]

The nice thing about Nazis or Neo-Nazis as bad guys is that most people are aware that they're not representative of Germany as a whole and frankly they're never not going to be "history has misunderstood them" bad guys. I think Yatzee theorized that that's why so many shooters take place in WWII; you have definite, all-time bad guys to shoot.

In other news; I honestly didn't see the Mandarin as that racist myself :/