Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King

Trevor Slattery(Kingsley, loving every second of pretending to be a bad actor) is in prison after the events of Iron Man 3. Some people there are huge fans of his, and they try to protect him from the ones who... maybe just don't... *get* his work, you know? Maybe it's too sophisticated for them? He agrees to do a series of interviews, and finds that the man conducting them is a professional who takes great care in his work. Thing is, he's not actually a journalist at all.

This is featured on the Blu-ray of Thor: The Dark World (2013). It was added to Disney Plus not long before Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released, since The Mandarin is a major part of that. This short is essentially a course correction by the studio, after so many people were unhappy with the treatment of that character in his first appearance. It's filmed and edited well. It's funny and stops short of being self indulgent.

I recommend this to everyone who's going to watch the aforementioned Asian-led MCU film. 8/10.

I give it a deserving 9.5*

Ben Kingsley returns in this wonderful One-Shot, and he doesn't disappoint. The 'twist' in Iron Man 3 had the fandom divided, some people liking Trevor Slattery and the others hating him, but this One-Shot gives the answer to how the hate was misdirected after all. Before I go let me tell you this wasn't a work of appeasement, or Marvel tracking back their footsteps, though they tease it a little when Trevor says, "Once an actor plays a part for too long he becomes the character...", or something. On the contrary the One-Shot establishes the Ten-Rings connection from the first Iron Man and shows that there is yet more depth to uncover in Iron Man's own side story. TLDR: It's an awesome ride for MCU and Iron Man movie fans, though if you are just a regular movie goer, chances are that you won't get what all the fuss is about.

First off, let me just say, that anybody who at the very least disliked the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3, watch this right now. Not only does it remedy that, but this short is actually confirmed to be canon by Feige.

Let's start out with the star of this short, Kingsley's Trevor Slattery. I loved his performance in Iron Man 3 because as the "Mandarin" and as Slattery. He nailed both roles of harrowing villain and bumbling buffoon. And I'm glad he hasn't changed now that he's in Seagate Prison.

Thankfully, it is revealed that the Mandarin actually does exist as Killian took it from legend to make Slattery into him. Kingsley can actually play the real Mandarin too, because in Iron Man 3, Slattery said that Killian's men gave him plastic surgery, most likely to make him look like the rumored Mandarin, so that's good news.

I also loved the Justin Hammer cameo. Sam Rockwell is an underrated actor (watch Moon), and I like his character in Iron Man 2.

+ Mandarin lives!...and can still be played by Kingsley! + Kingsley's Slattery + Hammer cameo

Final Score: 9.3/10

All Hail the King is the follow up and spin-off of Iron Man 3 with exceptional performance by Ben Kingsley.

This short escalated so many unimaginable and shockingly wonderful ways that nobody see it coming.

I hope MCU will bring back Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer in future entries.

Loved every second of it! We got to know what happened to the fake mandarin and to Justin Hammer! While we have seen again after this the fake mandarin I hope we get to see Justin Hammer again in the future, maybe he could have escaped prison with the blip.