With the digital release of THOR: THE DARK WORLD this past week (ahead of the home release on February 25), we’ve had a chance to take a look at the long awaited Marvel One-Shot ALL HAIL THE KING. Starring Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, reprising the role from Iron Man 3, we get to see what the famous con man is up to once he hit prison. We have a quick overview of the short film, a list of known easter eggs, and lastly….the video itself! Watch ALL HAIL THE KING while we still have access to it.
I recommend scrolling to the bottom and watching the video first, but sometimes we know videos don’t stay available before their official release due to copyrights. To help avoid spoilers until home release, I’ll be placing my review up to, but feel free to read on for a breakdown of the One-Shot with a list of easter eggs below!
Review: Â 4.5/5 – Excelsior!
First off, I’d like to commend Marvel for continuing to improve their game and quality each time a One_Shot is released. What began as a fun side project featuring Coulson has really spanned to grow the Marvel cinematic universe to new heights. With that note, this is the first One-Shot to not feature SHIELD as the main focus. It was bold also for Marvel to take an existing character and lead us to the potential of a modern villain. Kudos for the risks on this one.
The short film focuses on Trevor Slattery as he has gained infamy inside Seagate Prison and I couldn’t be happier to see Sir Ben Kingsley return to the Marvel universe. The reveal that Trevor is not the actual Mandarin in Iron Man 3 got a lot of people’s panties in a twist but casting choice, he has brought both characters to life. The inmates even stop Trevor to have him do the Mandarin’s famous line in the iconic voice, “You’ll never see me coming.” Throughout the entire length, Kingsley breaths life into this character and his unstableness, as he goes from quipping acting lessons to being touched by a photograph of him and his mother at a young age.
As for the story, All Hail the King was a bold move that makes no apologies for previous reveals, but bring about potential for a character that could be written off and forgotten just as quickly as he was introduced. This movie not only brings about Trevor Slattery as the ‘Mandarin’ but also further fuels the 10 Rings organization first introduced in Iron Man (2008). No part of this story is wasted and I can’t wait for them to extrapolate this in future Marvel films, television shows (The Defenders series on Netflix), or other One-Shots. Drew Pearce has piqued my attention and garnered my interest. My only wish is that we’d been teased with more Mandarin than what we had been given.
Lastly, the most SPOILER filled part of the review, are the easter eggs. Here I’ll list the biggest ones I’ve found thus far, but expect more to come to light as we study the One-Shot frame by frame.
- Seagate prison is the known residence of one LUKE CAGE, a confirmed member of the Defenders Netflix series who will be receiving his own season in the near future. Watch out for this location to pop up again.
- The man interviewing Trevor goes by the name Jackson Norriss, this man is known in the Marvel universe to be the super hero Nighthawk and has teamed up with the Defenders, again a nod to the upcoming Netflix series. However, we see him as a Ten Rings member with a bad streak in this One-Shot, so that may be out the door.
- In the prison, we see a man called Fletcher Heggs played by Allen Maldonado, who is often seen as The Knight, a c-list villain who seems to always bump heads with Iron Man in the comics.
- Lastly, the not so subtle hint to Justin Hammer and the fact he’s staying in the same prison as Trevor. It has been nice for Marvel to allude to past villains and their whereabouts recently, even if it isn’t in the main films. Sam Rockwell is on point as he again plays second fiddle to Tony Stark’s genius. His prison lover is huge comedic relief as well, just  make sure you stay through the credits on this One-Shot.
Now for the main attraction, please feel free to watch All Hail the King as much as you want until you purchase THOR: THE DARK WORLD.
