The revelation that Aldrich Killian is in fact "The Mandarin" as well as the main antagonist of
Iron Man 3 is similar to the twist in the DC Comics film
Batman Begins in regards to its principal antagonist known as Ra's Al Ghul. Both characters employed a double to disguise their true identities in order to avoid exposing themselves; with the difference being that Killian had hired Trevor to act out an idealized appearance of "The Mandarin" to manipulate the media and mask his illegal experiments as terrorist attacks, while the real Ra's Al Ghul had implemented the use of an expendable decoy to disguise his identity while acting as the mentor of Bruce Wayne. Ironically, both characters were portrayed as being of caucasian descent in their respective film versions (at least based on the ethnicity of their actors), despite both of the comic versions of the Mandarin and Ra's Al Ghul being originally inspired by the "Fu Manchu" stereotype. Also,
Guy Pearce was considered to portray Ra's Al Ghul in
Batman Begins, but the part ultimately went to Liam Neeson.
- However, it is revealed in All Hail the King that he merely appropriated the name of the Mandarin for his own goals
