User blog comment:LoveWaffle/We Didn't See It Coming - Iron Man 3 and the Future of the MCU/@comment-1618941-20130513213620

On the Mandarin: You hit the nail on the head with half of what this character was about. The other half of the joke was using an English character pretending to be a mastermind as a send up of Hollywood's tendency to have British masterminds behind Machiavellian criminal plots.

On the surprise: Yeah, I didn't see it coming. It clicked when I heard the toilet flush. Before that the best eye opener I can recall from a comicbook adaptation was the first bifurcated jaw shot on a reaper about to chew on Priest in Blade II.

On Killian's plan: This was explained in the movie. Killian needed Stark to correct the Extremis problems, and the plan was working until Stark escaped.

Why Killian didn't breathe fire: I'd expect it was impractical. He blew about a 3m gout of flame, and the one time he did it he needed to inhale and hold it a moment. He needed to close the distance and pause for a moment, so I don't think it would have been a practical tactic.

Thor: The Dark World: Feige stated recently that Thanos hasn't yet been cast, so maybe Loki will do something with the gauntlet, but it looks like there's no Thanos until the Guardians of the Galaxy at the very least. I'm guessing that end scene in The Avengers was actually a foreshadowing of the next Avengers movie rather than the feeder stories running into it.

Phase 3: Hmm, I dunno yet. I've also speculated on Pym, and possibly Ultron, but I don't know. Marvel? Take my money... :p