Have you ever heard of the Marvel one-shots? I hadn’t. Apparently, Marvel one-shots were short films that were commonly released directly to video in between 2011 and 2014. They were meant to be integrated directly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For this Throwback Thursday, we’ll be discussing ‘All Hail the King’ and why it would have actually been a cool tie-in/set-up for Shang Chi if done right/promoted properly.
We all were left scratching our heads after the incredibly inaccurate portrayal of The Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Sir Ben Kingsley is a fantastic actor, but even he couldn’t necessarily make that version of the character likable. Eventually, we find out that Kingsley’s Mandarin is not the Mandarin at all. He’s actually an out of work actor named Trevor Slattery. As we now know, a more comic book accurate portrayal of the Mandarin will be played by Tony Chiu-Wai Leung in 2021’s Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Whether it was done just for laughs or to maybe set up and let people know that they were intending on bringing in Shang Chi and The Mandarin, Marvel put out All Hail the King. Kingsley reprises his role as Slattery, who is enjoying fame in prison. There’s a few familiar faces, such as Matt Gerald, who played Melvin in Netflix’s Daredevil series. He plays a different character in this short. Norman Rockwell also reprises his role from Iron Man 2 as Justin Hammer.
Scoot McNairy plays Jackson Norris, a documentarian who has been meeting with Slattery. Eventually, we find out that Jackson is part of the terrorist organization the Ten Rings. And the real Mandarin is not happy about his name and likelihood being used. A brief scuffle occurs where Norris kills Slattery’s ‘butler’ and reveals he’s taking the fake Mandarin to meet the real leader of the Ten Rings.
All Hail the King is a 14 minute short was written and directed by Drew Pearce. It had a lot of cool MCU mythos in it; such as Hammer’s appearance, the mention of Seagate prison, and the set up of Shang Chi. The film itself is something that was announced recently, but this short possibly opened the door back in 2014. Unfortunately, it’s probably something not many ever paid attention to or even saw. It focused on a character that was way too comical and since a viral marketing video back in 2016 for Captain America: Civil War revealed a separate Jackson Norris exists elsewhere in the MCU, this video ended up not meaning anything at all.
It would have been cool for a video like this to have not only been done better, but generate buzz for the real Mandarin back in 2014. I also would have loved for more of the Ten Rings, including Norris; to be involved and sprinkled in more into the MCU throughout the years. Granted, we’ve largely concentrated on Hydra. Which, as a huge terror organization, makes sense. I have no complaints, but I like the idea of what All Hail the King could have opened up.
Have you seen All Hail the King? What did you think?
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
