All Hail the King is a short movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the fifth and final installment in the Marvel One-Shots. It was included in the home video release of Thor: The Dark World, and later was re-released on Disney+ to tie in to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Following the events of Iron Man 3, documentary filmmaker Jackson Norriss visits Seagate Prison to shoot a film about Trevor Slattery, the man who claimed to be the Mandarin.
All Hail the King contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: Jackson Norriss. Just your average independent filmmaker in the Marvel Comics Universe, now a member of the Ten Rings in the Cinematic Universe.
- Ambiguously Gay: Justin Hammer now has a younger male companion, who says nothing and constantly strokes his shoulder.
- Badass Boast: Subverted. Trevor tries to taunt an attacker after having him at gunpoint. Unfortunately, said attacker is a lot more experienced at weaponry than Trevor is.Trevor: I'm an out of work actor. You've no idea what I'm capable of. And thanks to CBS, I'm pretty good with a handgun.
[Jackson quickly disarms him.] - But Not Too Gay: Justin tells his boyfriend "Not here baby, not here."
- The Cameo: Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, who is also a prisoner at Seagate.
- Continuity Nod: In his late 70's pilot "Caged Heat", one of Trevor's co-stars was Priscilla Everhart — presumably the mother of Christine Everhart from the Iron Man series.
- Cursed with Awesome: Trevor is in prison, but at least he's now got a huge fanbase, including many of his fellow inmates.
- Decomposite Character: Aldrich Killian was intended to be a Composite Character of himself and the Mandarin, but the short reveals that there is an actual leader of the Ten Rings terrorist group that goes by that name.
- Didn't Think This Through: Impersonating a terrorist organization that really exists? Yeah, obviously they're not going to be happy about you.Trevor: Thanks to the CBS network, I'm pretty good with a handgun.
Jackson: ]turning around and grabbing the gun from him in a single motion] Consider this a lesson in what's real and what's not. - Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Impersonating the leader of a terrorist organization, and then showing him to be just a fraudulent has-been actor, is going to seriously anger any terrorist mastermind who's concerned about his reputation.
- The Ghost: The real Mandarin is only mentioned in the short and never physically appears.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: Trevor's research of the Ten Rings and the Mandarin, which have a history spanning nearly a thousand years, consisted of a brief Google search... of himself.
- It's Personal: Jackson Norriss is as upset that Trevor Slattery didn't research the Mandarin and the Ten Rings as he is that Trevor stole the real Mandarin's title. He's also upset that Trevor is nonchalant and blase about the existence of the Ten Rings.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The short reveals the plot twist of Iron Man 3, specifically that the Mandarin that Ben Kingsley played is a fabricated role played by an actor.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Norriss claims that certain people (strongly implied to include the real Mandarin) might be upset with Trevor for pretending to be the Mandarin, Trevor responds by saying he's familiar with the message board posts, almost certainly a reference to the backlash the twist in Iron Man 3 caused when it was released.
- Mythology Gag:
- Slattery is incarcerated at Seagate, the prison where Carl Lucas will become Luke Cage.
- Fletcher Heggs, aka The Knight — one of Iron Man's rogues — appears as a prisoner who is a fan of Trevor.
- Never My Fault: Norriss notes that Trevor never blames himself for his many failures, but always other people. Trevor insists this is because he's just an actor whose only responsibility is to act.
- Plot Hole: The reveal of the existence of a real Mandarin raises the question of how Slattery was able to co-opt his name and organization without reprisal before now.
- Prepare to DieTrevor: It's not the Mandarin people will remember, it's the name, Trevor Slattery. It's the brand of Trev.
Jackson: You're right, and for that sin you will soon suffer horribly with a hole in your body for every ring of our faith. - The Real Remington Steele: Trevor Slattery, the false Mandarin, finds out much to his peril just how this trope works.
- Shoe Phone: Norriss gets a pistol into the prison by hiding it inside his video camera. The gun is assembled by the camera out of several separate parts, then pops out of the tape deck.
- Show Within a Show: The short reveals that Slattery was cast in a Magnum, P.I. rip-off back in the 80's called Caged Heat.
- The Stinger: Justin Hammer, a prisoner at Seagate, criticizing Trevor over his apparent fame as well as commenting on his relationship with Tony Stark with a fellow prisoner.
- Stylistic Suck: What little of we see of Caged Heat suggests that it was terrible, though Trevor insists the network didn't pick it up because it was too sophisticated for them.Jackson: Was that a monkey drinking vodka?
- Take That!: When Trevor's bodyguard/butler says that Trevor should have agreed to let 60 Minutes interview him, Trevor bluntly states that he'll never work with CBS again. We find out it's because they rejected the show Caged Heat that he was going to star in. Seeing as how Marvel is owned by Disney — which also owns ABC — this was basically their way of giving CBS the finger.
- Taught by Television: Subverted; despite Trevor's Badass Boast about being pretty good with a handgun thanks to CBS, he's immediately disarmed.
- Too Dumb to Live: Trevor has Jackson Norriss at gunpoint, and despite already having witnessed Norriss' incredible combat capabilities, he hesitates pulling the trigger long enough for Norriss to take the gun from him.
- Two Words: I Can't Count: When asked how he didn't know anything about the public fear of his persona, Trevor holds up three fingers and says: "Three little words: Lovely. Drugs."
- The Usurper: As it turns out, Aldrich Killian stole the identity of the Mandarin as well as his organization's name as part of his terrorist activities. It's only after his passing that the real Mandarin goes after his stooge, Trevor.
- Wham Episode: Jackson Norriss is not a documentary filmmaker, but actually a member of the real Ten Rings. He is breaking Trevor out of Seagate to meet the real Mandarin, who intends to kill him.
- Wham Line:Jackson: You're right, and for that sin you will soon suffer horribly with a hole in your body for every ring of our faith.
