Now that Avengers: Endgame is slowly vanishing beyond the horizon, Marvel fans are desperate to know what the future has in store. After the deaths of a few key players (not to mention one power-hungry villain), things are going to look very different moving forward. The latest trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home teased the introduction of the Multiverse – as well as a couple of new baddies – and for some time, fans have already been aware that new Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy films are in the works, among others.
A few weeks back, Disney CEO Bob Iger teased that Marvel Studios was working on their own announcement on the future of the MCU. And while the House of Mouse has yet to provide any more concrete information, a recent Reddit Q&A session with Kevin Feige hinted at the return of a long-forgotten villain who might just go on to become the next big bad of the MCU.
As reported by ComicBook.com, when asked by a fan, the producer revealed that they were planning to reveal the “real” Mandarin – and his terrorist group, the Ten Rings – in a future MCU project. Feige didn’t give any additional details, but some folks are under the impression these long-forgotten baddies could make their return in the upcoming Shang-Chi movie, before going on to have a much larger presence in the MCU.
For those who need a refresher, the Ten Rings made their debut in the very first MCU film, when one of their factions kidnapped Tony Stark and forced him to make them a Jericho missile. Of course, this eventually led to the creation of the first Iron Man suit, which the playboy billionaire used to escape the terrorist compound.
The Mandarin, on the other hand, has never fully been introduced in the MCU. Instead, Iron Man 3 villain Aldrich Killian hired washed-up actor Trevor Slattery to pretend to be the leader of the Ten Rings, all in an effort to cover up the development of Extremis.
Of course, there’s no telling what the future has in store, but we’re eager to see the reveal of the “real” Mandarin, and considering how Tony Stark is gone, we can’t wait to see which Marvel hero will step up take his place when it comes to keeping the terrorist group at bay.
