2013 is sometimes thought of as a down year for the MCU, at least in terms of its early days. Two sequels came out. One was almost universally dismissed as wholly lackluster, Thor: The Dark World, while the other one was more divisive. Unlike with The Dark World, some people really loved it. But, also unlike The Dark World, some people really hated it. The Thor sequel was more of the bland as a rice-only dinner type than a dish that some spat buck up. That dinner would be Iron Man 3, and from Tony Stark’s lack of suit time to his somewhat bullying relationship with Ty Simpkins’ Harley, there were several reasons it turned some in the audience off.
But the biggest of those was the revelation that Ben Kingsley’s much-advertised turn as the Mandarin was ultimately a misdirect that served as a joke. A very good joke, but a source of disappointment, nonetheless. But since then, the MCU has turned that gag into the beginning of an arc, and it’s actually one of the universe’s best.
Spoilers for Wonder Man follow.
What Makes the Trevor Slattery Trilogy So Good?
image courtesy of disney+
The brilliance of the twist in Iron Man 3 is that Ben Kingsley is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, even of all time. To see him as an absent-minded, drug-addicted failed actor guzzling booze in a bed and nodding off mid-interrogation was wonderfully against type for the man so brilliant in House of Sand and Fog and Gandhi.
It was by far the silliest role Kingsley had ever played, set he still sold Trevor Slattery as an individual who could be enlisted to “play” a terrorist and see it as a legitimate acting gig. And opportunity to score drugs, of course.
And the character could have very well ended as that one-note joke. Slattery gets arrested, sent to prison, end of story. That is, until Destin Daniel Cretton, one of the MCU’s best directors, came along. He saw the opportunity in the character and put him in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
But even there, the character was primarily a source of humor. We saw a bit more of his heart, but it was still a primarily humorous performance. Then Cretton, who obviously had a good time working with Kingsley, co-created Wonder Man and gave Slattery his best role yet: Wonder Man‘s Barnaby and, even more importantly, the good friend of Simon Williams.
Kingsley has wonderful chemistry with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and together they sell the characters’ camaraderie. Kingsley also does a great job of selling Slattery’s continued desperation to stay out of jail. And, this time, there’s also some reluctance at what he has to do to ensure that goal.
Then there’s Slattery’s final sacrifice to keep Williams’ big secret safe, which is a wonderful way to bring things full circle for the character. The miniseries ends on an open note, so we may see both Williams and Slattery again, but for now we’ll consider Slattery’s arc a closed, and very satisfying, loop.