1. I really loved Iron Man 3. I particularly liked the emphasis on Tony Stark’s “The Mechanic” persona. He makes things, and that’s a crucial element of his identity, whether or not he is inside the Iron Man suit.

(2. I also loved The Avengers and saw it three times in the movie theater. Two words: Bruce Banner.)

3. I am a geek in no uncertain terms. I play role-playing games, board games, and online games. I love science fiction and fantasy. Outside of Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride, comic book movies are my favorites. Yet, for all of this rampant nerdery, I am not actually a comic book geek. I read a little X-Men and most of ElfQuest and The Maxx, but that’s about the extent of it.

4. This all leads up to my inquiry project for the day: why are Iron Man fans so teed off about the Mandarin in Iron Man 3? (You don’t think they are? Here is some primary research.)

So I thought the whole Mandarin thing was pretty cool. Note: here there be spoilers!

He didn’t seem that interesting at first, sort of a real life terrorist. (I watch Homeland when I’m looking for faux real life, thank you.) But the revelation that he was a made up character played by an actor, that was cool. It also tied in thematically with the movie at large. Tony Stark, once we (and he) delved deeper than the Iron Man persona, found that he was a guy who created things. The surface level of people and events rarely match a deeper “truth” or meaning. Now, I might critique the movie’s understanding of truth versus fiction, but I think that I won’t. The director and writers were consciously playing with those ideas, and their play is complex, not over-simplified. And the story avoids completely one of my pet peeves about movie mad scientists, whose adjacent themes always seem to revolve around some moralistic idea that science is evil and unnatural. Tony Stark’s own science and understanding are the heroes that counter the colonizing force of Extremis.

So, Iron Man fans, I still don’t get it. Help me understand the sense of loss and outrage you feel.

(Update: I just returned from a two-mile jog around the neighborhood and still don’t get the rage. And I thought about the Mandarin the whole time.)