User blog comment:LoveWaffle/We Didn't See It Coming - Iron Man 3 and the Future of the MCU/@comment-5977347-20130513205536/@comment-1895174-20130519011136

''You just explained why it's not crap. It provides some trivia, and some great insight into the vision behind the work. But yes, your opinion of the work shouldn't be based at all on what the people behind it intended. Authorial intent is not crap. It should just be ignored in this case.''

You've got to stop explaining why it's crap to justify it not being crap.

''It was there. Right in your face. You're putting it to one side, just calling it "Killian's boast" as if it didn't count. Just because he boasted, it doesn't mean he wasn't being truthful about it.''

It's not there. Just because Killian boasted "I AM THE MANDARIN" doesn't actually make him the Mandarin, just as Jack Dawson's boast "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD" doesn't actually make him the King of the World.

He created the Mandarin (and was so into the symbolism that he tattooed dragons on his chest), so I'm pretty sure he gets to call himself the Mandarin.

You keep assuming he got the tattoos because of the Mandarin. Maybe he just likes dragons. Or maybe it's because he can breathe fire. And the Mandarin doesn't have dragon tattoos.

''The Madarin character wanted to pursue acts of Terrorism against America. Which is by definition, escalating his side of the War at least.''

But he didn't want to escalate it, he wanted to win it. You're confusing strategies with goals.

''Again, you're talking about the reasoning behind the goals, rather than the goals themselves. They both wanted the President gone.''

Again, you're confusing strategies with goals. "The Mandarin" wanted to kill the president because he wanted to kill the president. Aldrich Killian wanted to kill the president because it would escalate the war on terror and put his inside man in the Oval Office. Two completely different things.