Iron Man 3: this villain hides a nod to Captain America - Cinema News

As seen in the “Iron Man 3” trailer and the “Long Live The King” short, the faux Mandarin played by Ben Kingsley sports a Captain America shield on the back of his neck. But what does this tattoo symbolize?

A long green hooded coat, a ring on each finger, a pair of small dark glasses, a long beard and shaggy hair pulled up in a bun… Trevor Slattery alias the Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3, is a colorful character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This actor hired by Killian Aldrich (Guy Pearce) to play the role of a formidable terrorist and fool Tony Stark indeed hides many secrets, and in particular a nod to another very famous member of the Avengers.

Indeed, as can be seen in the trailer for Iron Man 3 (on a shot that was ultimately cut from Shane Black’s film) but also in the short film Long Live the King (located just after the events of the feature film), Trevor Slattery sports a tattoo of Captain America’s shield on his neck.

In the center of the blue and red circle, we can read the letter “A”, not in reference to “America” or to “Avenger”, but rather to the word “Anarchy”.

Marvel Studios

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This small detail is indeed part of the exuberant panoply of the actor, developed by his employers, and aimed at making him pass for a dangerous political criminal.

“The Captain America tattoo on the back of the Mandarin’s neck was part of his look”thus confided the director Shane Black in an interview for Empire in 2013. “It’s very DIY. It’s a Captain America shield with an anarchist symbol in the middle. Another way to talk about America’s corruption.”

As a reminder, the shield of the super-soldier embodied by Chris Evans already appeared in the first two Iron Man. Built by Howard Stark, Tony’s father, we could indeed see him hanging out discreetly in the billionaire’s workshop in the middle of the first part, before being brandished by Agent Coulson in Iron Man 2.

(Re)discover all the hidden details of the trilogy…