Iron Man 3 Mandarin Tattoo

There's no mistaking the tattoo adorning the back of Sir Ben Kingsley's neck as the Mandarin, Tony Stark's new nemesis: that's a Captain America logo with an 'A' reminiscent of the one atop Stark Tower (or the iconic 'A' used by anarchists), last seen in The Avengers. We're going to bet that the Mandarin isn't the head of the Steve Rogers fan club, so the exact meaning of the mark has caused an uproar among fans.

But Marvel studio head Kevin Feige provided clues to its meaning when the decision was first made to cast a non-Asian actor as the new antagonist:

"It's less about his specific ethnicity than the symbolism of various cultures and iconography that he perverts for his own end."

It's not much to go on, but it seems far more likely that the Mandarin has adopted the symbol of Earth's Mightiest Heroes as yet another opportunity to co-opt a cultural icon for his own twisted purpose.

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