Aldrich Killian

Aldrich Killian is the main antagonist from the 2013 Marvel action film Iron Man 3. He was a scientist involved with Extremis, another attempt at the super soldier serum, using nanotechnology along with Maya Hansen.

Backstory
In 1999, Aldrich Killian initially asked for Tony Stark's support for his project under Advanced Idea Mechanics, only to be shunned and ignored by the latter. After realization that Tony had ignored his proposition, Killian decided to work on his own, creating an expansive business for himself.

Over the years, through his privately funded organization A.I.M., Aldrich Killian created a team to further research and develop the Extremis formula, which imparts unusual levels of strength and resiliency to human subjects.

Early Life
In 1999, Aldrich Killian initially asked for Tony Stark's support for his project under Advanced Idea Mechanics, only to be shunned and ignored. After realizing that Tony had ignored his proposition, Aldrich decided to work on his own, creating an expansive business for himself.

Over the years, through his privately funded organization A.I.M., Killian created a team to further research and develop the Extremis virus, which imparts unusual levels of strength and resiliency to human subjects. One of these tests however back fired and resulted in the death of Chad Davis. Other tests however allowed him to recruit Eric Savin and Ellen Brandt to his cause. At some point he funded the Ten Rings by masquerading as their leader, the Mandarin, without the real Mandarin's knowledge. To maintain this illusion he used British actor Trevor Slattery to impersonate the Mandarin.

Iron Man 3 Prelude
When Rhodey flew around the world in his new battle suit, destroying the terrorist cells of the Ten Rings organization, in which the supposed Mandarin sent members of A.I.M under the disguise of Ten Rings members to capture him and his armor. Though they failed in their mission, one of A.I.M members returned to Miami and reported to the supposed Mandarin  that they're hidden agents managed to scan the War Machine armor, thus obtaining invaluable information for the supposed Mandarin to use against Tony Stark.

Iron Man 3
After curing himself of his disability by using a dose of his own Extremis formula, he orchestrated many terrorist attacks as part of his experiments, while appropriating the image of the terrorist known as "The Mandarin" through the use of an actor, to mask his illegal activities. He orchestrated the attack at Tony's home, kidnapping Pepper Potts afterwards. Having Pepper Potts as his "trophy" and hostage, he injected her with the Extremis formula  to further motivate and antagonize Tony.

After his henchmen had abducted President Ellis, Killian had planned to orchestrate a live feed showing the murder of Ellis, only to have Tony Stark and James Rhodes to interrupt and attack their base with the help of Tony's J.A.R.V.I.S.-controlled Iron Man suits. In the ensuing battle, Tony finally found Pepper, only for her to be trapped under debris. Before he was able to rescue her, an angry Killian attacked Tony. Tony managed to distract Killian so as to allow him to rescue Pepper.

While Pepper seemingly died after falling to her apparent death, Killian approached Tony and taunted him for a one-on-one battle. The two engaged in a brutal fight with Tony switching between various Iron Man suits as Killian destroyed each one after another. As Tony was unable to attach any more extra armor onto himself, JARVIS sent the Mark 42 prototype to aid Tony in his battle. Tony then kinetically attached the armor onto Killian to stall his movements. After commanding the suit to pin Killian against the wall, Tony then activated the Mark 42's self-destruct function, thus blowing Killian up in the process.

After the scaffolding in which the two were fighting was destroyed, the battered Tony is confronted by Killian who is shown as surviving the explosion. Taunting Tony, he elaborated upon the revelation that he is the true culprit, claiming that he's the "Mandarin", and that the two should stop hiding behind "false faces." Just before he is able to attack Tony, Pepper attacked him from behind, having survived her fall with the help of her new found Extremis superpowers. Just before Killian was able to retaliate, Pepper knocked him away. After ripping an arm off from one of the stray Iron Man suits, Pepper attached it to her herself and utilized its capabilities to finally end Killian for good.

The short "All Hail the King" revealed that Killian merely appropiated the Mandarin's image for his own purposes (and naming himself as the Mandarin after the Extremis virus drove him further into evil and insanity). The real Mandarin, the true terrorist leader of the Ten Rings, is angry at Slattery for his portrayal (and by proxy, at Killian as well) and wants to get revenge on Slattery.

Character Traits
By injecting the Extremis formula into himself, Killian's disability had been cured and he was able to utitlize its full power, thereby granting him super strength, durability, heat-based abilities and high-speed regeneration. He was shown as being able to breathe fire akin to that of a dragon. His body was adorned with dragon tattoos, which fueled his claim about being the "real Mandarin"

Essentially a foil to Tony Stark in terms of personality, he was described as one of Tony's very own demons, in which Killian was a "mistake" that Tony had committed in his old life. Initially describing himself as one of Tony's greatest fans, Killian would grow to resent Tony after being shunned by the latter. While Justin Hammer wanted to be seen as Tony's superior, Killian wanted to be just like him, having originally idolized Tony. Acting as a parallel to Tony Stark, Killian is obsessive, arrogant, and immature in his dealings. He sees his creations not as a distraction but as his purpose, as he seeks to exploit war and death for profit. He also desired the women that were associated with Tony, having hired Maya Hansen and killing her when she displayed feelings for Stark, as well as describing Pepper Potts as his "trophy." His goals revolved around wanting to punish Stark by systematically giving him the same sense of desperation he felt 13 years ago.

Powers
Extremis: Killian and Hansen developed Extremis together. It completely healed Killian's body of his disabilities, much like the Super Soldier Serum did with Steve Rogers. Extremis enhances the body, upgrading strength, speed and durability to superhuman levels. Killian was shown to have the most advanced capabilities through his infusion with Extremis. Killian also seemed to have some skill in martial arts, as he was able to effectively fight Tony in hand-to-hand combat in correlation with his Extremis abilities.

Extremis Abilities

 * Enhanced Strength : Extremis enhanced Killian's physical strength, the full limits of which aren't known. However, he easily flipped Iron Man, as well as being able to tear through many of Tony's armors.
 * Enhanced Reflexes & Agility  : Extremis enhanced Killian's agility, balance, flexibility, dexterity, and bodily coordination to superhuman levels. This was demonstrated when he was able to dodge Iron Man's repulsors at point blank range.
 * Enhanced Speed : Extremis enhanced Killian's speed, the full limits of which aren't known.
 * Enhanced Healing :  Extremis gives the human body tissue regeneration capabilities. Killian was able to regenerate his left hand after Tony had cut it off during their fight with Tony wearing the Silver Centurion armor. Despite Tony managing to trap Killian with the Mark XLII and causing it to self-destruct, a weakened Killian still managed to rise from the resulting wreckage.
 * Exothermic Reaction : Extremis allowed Killian to be able to consciously raise the temperature of parts of his body. Killian can control the extent that it might only scorch skin, or increased to the point where it can cause steel to turn into a molten state. Killian was able to heat the Iron Patriot armor to the point of forcing it to automatic-eject Rhodey. Killian was also able to melt through the Silver Centurion armor with ease forcing Tony to auto-eject out of the damaged armor. Killian's ability to generate heat in correlation with his enhanced strength also allowed him to punch, cut and tear through many of Tony's Iron Man suits. Another interesting abilty, the ability to eject a stream of fire from the mouth, seemed to be unique to Killian, as none of the other Extremis enhanced superhumans demonstrated such power/control.

Relationships

 * Tony Stark - Enemy
 * Pepper Potts - Old Friend and victim
 * Maya Hansen - Assistant turned Enemy
 * Trevor Slattery - Ally and Pawn
 * Eric Savin - Ally
 * Jack Taggart - Ally
 * Ellen Brandt - Ally

Appearances/Actors

 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (2 films)


 * Iron Man 3  (First appearance) - Guy Pearce
 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (1 comic)


 * Iron Man 3 Prelude

Behind the scenes

 * Jude Law was considered for the role of Aldrich Killian.

Trivia

 * Aldrich Killian is the only Iron Man villian that doesn't use armor or any variation of a mechanical suit.
 * Aldrich naming himself as the real Mandarin seems heavily inspired by the comic Iron Man: Director of SHIELD (#15-28). Within the comic, not only does the actual Mandarin attempt to use Extremis-enhanced soldiers as a part of his plan to cleanse humanity, but he is also depicted as fighting shirtless during his battle against Iron Man, much like how Aldrich Killian is depicted in the film Iron Man 3.
 * Aldrich Killian is the second Iron Man main villain to survive a fight with Iron Man and be killed by Pepper, the first being Obadiah Stane.
 * The dragon tattoos on Aldrich Killian's chest are a reference to Fin Fang Foom.
 * Aldrich Killian in the comics was a very brief one-time character that only appeared at the beginning of the Iron Man: Extremis storyline. In that version he committed suicide out of guilt for letting Extremis get into the hands of terrorists and it was initially believed that he was the only conspirator before it was revealed that Maya Hansen was also involved as this plot was her idea to use Extremis against Iron Man as an attempt to renew their military funding.