Over the last eight years, Iron Man 3 has turned out to be something of a divisive topic of conversation among Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. It may have raked in over $1.2 billion at the box office, and it still ranks as the franchise’s second highest-grossing solo movie ever behind Black Panther, but that’s partly down to a combination of it being both Robert Downey Jr.’s standalone swansong and the first installment to follow in the wake of The Avengers.
One of the biggest points of contention surrounding Iron Man 3 is the Mandarin twist, with many praising the film for upending expectations and handling a potentially outdated villain in a completely unexpected fashion, while others blasted the call to turn the title hero’s most famous nemesis into a jobbing alcoholic actor. On the plus side for the naysayers, Trevor Slattery’s role was retconned in One-Shot All Hail the King, with the real Mandarin set to act as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ big bad.
The Extremis plotline wasn’t handled with much subtlety, either, and led to a finale that saw Guy Pearce’s fire-breathing Aldrich Killian face off against Gwyneth Paltrow’s superpowered Pepper Potts. However, despite being blown to smithereens at the end of Iron Man 3, Pearce admitted in a new interview that he’d love to return to the MCU if the opportunity arose.
“I would certainly consider reprising it if they were interested in doing so. It was fantastic. It was great. I love playing that character. I loved working with Robert, of course, and Shane, our director, and Gwyneth who is adorable. I had a really, really great time. Who knows how we could do that?”
Marvel Studios have shown on numerous occasions that death is hardly an obstacle, but Iron Man 3‘s Killian seems like an unlikely candidate to make a comeback. Pearce is a great actor, no doubt, but the character was the latest in a long line of evil businessmen that were essentially mirror versions of the hero, and that’s a trope that the MCU needs to move away from for good as the series overcomes its so-called villain problem.