Ben Kingsley Hints Trevor Slattery Really Could Be The Mandarin

In yet another twist on the Marvel Cinematic interpretation of The Mandarin, Sir Ben Kingsley has suggested that perhaps Trevor Slattery is indeed the Mandarin, and not a puppet as he led Tony Stark -- and then the authorities -- to believe.

In a new interview with IGN, Kingsley was asked whether he'd like to return to superhero films. He said yes, while acknowledging that fans would likely see Trevor in any role he took in the genre.

"It's up to the powers that be to decide whether or not they'd want to introduce Trevor, whether or not they'd want to reintroduce the Mandarin," Kinsley said. He added, "Has the Mandarin invented Trevor, or has Trevor invented the Mandarin? Which is which? The Mandarin could be so supremely intelligent that he could have said, 'You know what? I'll invent this actor, and he will be my mask.' You know, which is which? Who's pulling the strings. Now, this is me just free-thinking here, but I would love to revisit that world. But Trev, bless him, may have made an indelible mark on that world. So everyone might say, 'Is it Trev under there?' So they'd have to approach it quite carefully, and so would I, but I would love to go back to that world, yeah."

Kingsley, who played a cinematic twist on the classic Iron Man villain in Iron Man 3 and then reprised the role in a Marve One-Shot short film titled All Hail the King, isn't the first to make such a suggestion; fans have speculated since the film was in theaters that the audience might eventually learn Slattery was a facade, and when the short film was slated to come out on the Thor: The Dark World Blu-ray, there was a vocal contingent who speculated, or hoped, or both, that the twist Kingsley describes would actually come to pass there. It didn't -- but what the short did accomplish was to tease the idea of the Mandarin as being a real thing, someone who is still making moves.