User blog comment:TheOne1000/Mandarin Twist/@comment-24308873-20131027192918/@comment-4651179-20131027223320

If any character from Iron Man 3 is similar to Mallen, that's Savin. They even have the same haircut. I wonder why Shane Black didn't make James Dale's character Mallen.

And, Mallen wasn't a dark reflection of Tony. Mallen and Killian don't have the same blood on their hands. Mallen wasn't a personal threat to Tony. Killian was a mastermind, Mallen was an unleashed mad dog. Killian killed, for a reason ("For SCIENCE!" I guess), while Mallen killed just because he could. Killian wanted to control everything, Mallen just wanted to bring down the goverment without a plan. Killian had a plan, Mallen didn't. They're barely similar.

And Killian wasn't the Mandarin just because one line, he shared numerous psychologial aspects with the Mandarin from the comics. He was a man obsessed with perfection, a mastermind who was two steps beyond the hero.

That's why one of my positions about the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 is that Shane Black decomposed the character in two aspects, mind (Killian) and body (Trevor).