That's the thing. They take a villain who, yes, has a very problematic history as far as race relations, but also is a powerful character... and made him not exist at all, represented by a drunken white guy. That doesn't really sit well with me.
Yes, its not ideal. But I look at it mostly as a 'What If', in this case, what if there was no Mandarin - AIM hatches a plot, taking advantage of fear of terrorism, etc. - and hires an actor to play a part who they call The Mandarin. They select a non-white, but still British actor to play the part to deflect attention from their scheme. The Mandarin is never actually a villain of the story beyond the part he's hired to play, as a character actor.
Its /not/ great. I'd rather have the actual Mandarin as a villain. But its really not shoving a white guy in to play the part of an ethnic character. As an AIM plot, in a world where no other character calling himself the Mandarin has ever existed, its /not/ horrible... its just not nearly what it could have been either.
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Yes, its not ideal. But I look at it mostly as a 'What If', in this case, what if there was no Mandarin -
AIM hatches a plot, taking advantage of fear of terrorism, etc. - and hires an actor to play a part who they call The Mandarin. They select a non-white, but still British actor to play the part to deflect attention from their scheme. The Mandarin is never actually a villain of the story beyond the part he's hired to play, as a character actor.
Its /not/ great. I'd rather have the actual Mandarin as a villain. But its really not shoving a white guy in to play the part of an ethnic character. As an AIM plot, in a world where no other character calling himself the Mandarin has ever existed, its /not/ horrible... its just not nearly what it could have been either.
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