Guy Pearce Speaks Out on Return of His Iron Man 3 Villain Aldrich Killian
Guy Pearce played one of the most pivotal Marvel Cinematic Universe villains as Iron Man 3's Aldrich Killian – a genius who create the A.I.M. organization, helped weaponize the Extremis technique, and made "The Mandarin" an infamous (faux) icon. However, most Marvel fans have come around to the opinion that Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian was also one of the most criminally underused villains in the MCU saga – and they would love to see that corrected. Well, Guy Pearce says he's absolutely game for another round as Aldrich Killian, should Marvel Studios come calling.
ComicBook.com's Chris Kilian had a chance to speak with Guy Pearce about his new film Memory – and also about the prospect of returning to the MCU. When talking about whether he still feels like Aldrich Killian should make a comeback, Pearce had this to say:
"I'd be very much interested in to see him come back. And I think because of the nature of the character that he is, it's totally conceivable that he could come back. So yes, I would love to see what he is up to, as well. Because he's somebody – obviously as we saw in Iron Man 3 – went through a sort of rapid vast change from the beginning of the story. So who knows where he's ended up."
Aldrich Killian got one of the more... explosive deaths of any Marvel (or comic book) movie villain, after being thoroughly incinerated (several times to be accurate) by Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. However, the Extremis process made some of the most durable super-soldiers in Marvel lore, able to regenerate virtually their entire bodies from catastrophic injury. Even Pepper seemingly fell to her death into a fiery inferno – but still managed to recover quick enough to take out Aldrich and save Tony. As one of the first (and most successful) human applications of Extremis, Aldrich Killian could presumably endure more than most others – maybe even enough to survive what happened in Iron Man 3.
Even though Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man sacrificed himself at the end of Avengers: Endgame the legacy of Iron Man and his world will soon continue in the MCU. This year, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will introduce Iron Man's successor, Riri Williams (aka Ironheart) to the franchise. Don Cheadle's War Machine will also get his own series, Armor Wars, for Disney+. Both projects are prime opportunities for Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian to return; even if he's not part of the present-day MCU, both Ironheart and Armor Wars could easily feature key flashbacks featuring Killian.
And maybe it's just us, but the way Guy Pearce was talking in the interview... Could he already know something we don't?
Iron Man 3 is available to stream on Disney+.