(no subject)

[seriousfic]

So the rumor du jour is that Ben Kingsley is going to reappear on a Marvel one-shot as Trevor Shackleby, dealing with the 'real' Mandarin who is out for revenge. Which, hmm. On the one hand, Marvel kind of blew its load on the Mandarin. Everything that's cool and transgressive about making Mandy a viral video gone amok would be lost if they went "just kidding! Here's Iron Man 4: Tony Fights The Mandarin For Realzor!" On the other hand, the Mandarin/Ten Rings would be a pretty great villain for Agents of SHIELD.

Picture this. The leader of the Ten Rings, just a bad guy who uncovered one of ten ancient alien rings (which has precedent, c.f. the Cube). Using its immense power, he becomes a warlord and starts the Ten Rings both to spread his influence and to seek out the other nine rings. Instantly, you've got a serial arc--stop the Ten Rings from getting all ten rings. Plus, since a theme of the series is information wars, you could have 'the Mandarin' basically piggyback onto Aldritch Killian's PR and start making broadcasts about Trevor being a fake set up by the American government to discredit him, how it's all a Western conspiracy, etc etc. All of which gives him even more currency among America's enemies. (For bonus points, we could make this 'real Mandarin' a scarred Faran Tahir from the very first Iron Man, still out for blood and now hungry for revenge.)

But you know who should really be in AoS? She-Hulk. It's probably be a bit much to ask that Marvel basically does their own superhero satire movie, and I don't think a half-hour workplace comedy about legal troubles in the Marvel universe would work for audiences who don't know who Kraven the Hunter is (although... She-Hulk as legal attache to Damage Control Inc? Could work). But as a recurring character, she'd be great. Bruce's cousin gets a blood transfusion from him and starts spazzing out, just wandering around and unrepressing herself and getting drunk and doing people. Skye's just like "I think it's empowering!" and Simmons is like "GAMMA RADIATION!" and Fitz actually gets dragged off by She-Hulk for some "smashing" and comes back in a delighted haze (I still can't tell which is which when it comes to FitzSimmons, so choose for yourself which arrangement works best).

Then at the end of the episode, she actually goes too far and hurts someone, Coulson talks her down and convinces her she can live her life as both She-Hulk and Jen Walters, and she basically agrees to be the muscle the team calls in if they're ever really, really, really in trouble. Basically, I just want Angie Harmon to show up in green bodypaint whenever it's sweeps week.