Iron Man films Informatics Part 43: The Mandarin (proxy)

Trevor Slattery was a struggling actor, once said to be the "Toast of Croydon" due to his performance of King Lear. Due to being bankrupted by his substance abuse and alcoholism, he was forced to live on the streets, doing things for money to feed his drug habit. Trevor was taken in by Aldrich Killian and offered lavish accommodation and an endless supply of drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes, in exchange for some less-than-reputable acting work. Killian had him pose as a terrorist known only as "The Mandarin" in a ruse to give enemies a false target, and the world an enigma to fear. In his role of the Mandarin, he was the public face for a terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings, although this was simply another ruse. The real Ten Rings had already been crushed by Iron Man, and Slattery's 'terrorists' were just another part of the act.

His performances were used to threaten and warn the American people of his plans against the United States. In one video he announced that the Ten Rings were responsible for the explosion at the Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. In another video he threatened to kill an accountant from the Roxxon Oil Company if President Ellis of the United States failed to call him within 30 seconds. Although the the president complied with the request, the Mandarin ignored the call and, in a mock execution, pretended to shoot the man in the head.

Slattery's lifestyle came to an end one day when Tony Stark, the sometime vigilante known as Iron Man, invaded the mansion the Mandarin was residing in. When pressed for information, Trevor told him that the whole thing was just theatre all along, and that the Mandarin was just a role he plays in return for the lavish lifestyle, a speedboat and a copious amount of drugs. He drunkenly gave up what little information he knew of Killian's plan, denying what he had divulged immediately after, and then went back to his slovenly habits for a few hours, while Stark was knocked out by Eric Saven. Stark returned with his military friend, Colonel Rhodes, who had been vainly searching the Middle East for the phantom terrorist, and who accosted him once more on the subject of the Mandarin and Killian.

In the final battle between Killian and Stark, Killian declares himself as the real "Mandarin" having masterminded the events that would lead to the attack on Tony's residence as well as Pepper's abduction. Slattery was apprehended shortly thereafter by local law enforcement officers for assisting Killian's organization as well as his portrayal of the supposed terrorist leader, and was led drunkenly away through a crowd of onlookers and press.