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|character_name=The Mandarin |
|character_name=The Mandarin |
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|real_name= |
|real_name= |
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| IOM_alter_ego = |
| IOM_alter_ego = Arnold Brock - [[Iron Man (TV series)|''The Iron Man TV Series'']] |
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|publisher=Marvel Comics |
|publisher=Marvel Comics |
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|debut=''[[Tales of Suspense]]'' #50 (February [[1964 in comics|1964]]) |
|debut=''[[Tales of Suspense]]'' #50 (February [[1964 in comics|1964]]) |
Revision as of 16:19, 22 January 2011
The Mandarin | |
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File:Mandrin1.jpg The Mandarin. Art by Robert De La Torre. | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Tales of Suspense #50 (February 1964) |
Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Don Heck (artist) |
In-story information | |
Team affiliations | Mandarin's Minions Masters of Evil Hand Tong |
Notable aliases | Gene Khan, Zhang Tong, Tem Borjigin |
Abilities | Scientific genius Superhumanly skilled martial artist Ten rings grant various powers |
Altered in-story information for adaptations to other media | |
Alter ego | Arnold Brock - The Iron Man TV Series |
The Mandarin is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain and the archenemy of Iron Man.[1][2][3][4]
In 2009, Mandarin was ranked as IGN's 81st Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[5]
Publication history
The Mandarin first appeared in Tales of Suspense #50 (February 1964), written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Don Heck.
Fictional character biography
Origins
The Mandarin's late father was one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China (and a descendant of Genghis Khan), while his late mother was an English noblewoman. Their son was born in an unnamed village in mainland China before the Communist revolution. The boy's parents died soon after his birth, and he was raised by his (paternal) aunt, who was embittered against the world and raised him with much the same attitude. Every last bit of the family fortune was spent obsessively training the Mandarin in science and combat, with the result that he was completely broke upon reaching adulthood. Unable to pay the taxes on his ancestral home, The Mandarin was evicted by the government.[6]
Hoping to find a means of avenging himself upon the civilization that had taxed him and rendered him homeless, the Mandarin explored the forbidden "Valley of Spirits," where no one had dared to set foot for centuries.[6] There he found the skeleton and starship of Axonn-Karr, an intelligent dragon-like alien from the planet Maklu-4, who had come to Earth centuries ago and died. Over the following years, the Mandarin studied Makluan science until he mastered it. He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship which were apparently its propulsion source, among other things. The Mandarin then became a conqueror and subjugated the villages around the Valley, and, through his advanced science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge. He then embarked on a long series of attempts to achieve world domination.
The Mandarin sees technology as the surest means to achieve his goals. Over the years, he has frequently attempted to turn the weapons of various nations against them. Among the Mandarin's earliest schemes is the sabotage and theft of American missiles and spy planes built by Tony Stark. To restore public confidence in his workmanship, Stark donned his Iron Man armor and flew to China to investigate.[7] Iron Man soon became the Mandarin's principal obstacle against his plans for world domination.
On three occasions in their early confrontations, the Mandarin managed to take Iron Man (or his alter ego Tony Stark) captive, but the Mandarin failed to kill him. Similarly, Iron Man thwarted the Mandarin's various schemes, but was unable to bring him to justice. Some of the Mandarin's early technological achievements are the launching of a small orbiting satellite whose "death-ray" he aims at Stark Industries and the building (later retconned as "reprogramming, refitting, and recharging") of Ultimo, a 30-foot (9.1 m) android possessing vast destructive powers. The Mandarin would employ Ultimo four times over the years, but it was always defeated by Iron Man.
The Mandarin's teleportation technology, derived from Makluan science, enables him to kidnap people at will or teleport himself out of threatening situations. During his fifth encounter with Iron Man, the Mandarin teleported Harold "Happy" Hogan, a friend and confidant of Iron Man, to his castle in China half a world away. Hogan was wearing the Iron Man armor at the time to help protect his employer's secret identity, and the Mandarin mistook him for his true foe. In rescuing Hogan, Iron Man physically bested the Mandarin in personal combat for the first time. Iron Man redirected the missiles that the Mandarin had launched so that they hit the Mandarin's castle, destroying it. The Mandarin escaped by means of his teleportation machinery, and he materialized aboard his orbiting satellite. There, he constructed a gemlike device capable of broadcasting "hate-rays" toward Earth. The Mandarin assembled several of the former Masters of Evil to perform missions for him: the Living Laser, the original Power Man, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. The Avengers managed to thwart the Mandarin's scheme and destroy his satellite.
The Mandarin then established a base in China's Gobi Desert and turned his attention to the Hulk for a time, hoping to make the dull-witted brute an accomplice. Two attempts at controlling the Hulk proved futile, however, including one where the Mandarin allied himself with the American criminal the Sandman. The Hulk destroyed the Mandarin's desert base. When the Mandarin next attacked Iron Man, he employed an android in the Hulk's likeness rather than the real Hulk. The Mandarin set up a makeshift base of operations in America, and attempted to publicly discredit Anthony Stark. Holding Iron Man captive for the fourth time, the Mandarin tried to learn if Iron Man was actually Stark, but Stark fooled him with a rubber mask over his own features. His plans thwarted, the Mandarin tried to kill Stark's current girlfriend, Janice Cord, but the Mandarin's betrothed Mei Ling saved her at the cost of her own life.
New bodies
Returning to China, the Mandarin sought a means to increase his rings' power and learned of the legendary Eye of Yin, a talisman of power created by an ancient group of Chinese sorcerers. The Mandarin manipulated the Royal Family of the Inhumans (who at the time lived in the nearby Himalayan Mountains of Tibet) into locating the idol for him. Yet before he could fully incorporate the Eye's power in his rings, Black Bolt, the ruler of the Inhumans, overpowered him, stripped him of his ten rings, and hid them. Unable to find the rings, the Mandarin journeyed back to the "Valley of Spirits" and the ruins of the Makluan starship wherein he first acquired the rings. There he found a headband containing technology which enabled him to recover the rings. The Mandarin used his newfound power to restore his castle to its original state. The Unicorn, another frequent opponent of Iron Man, sought the Mandarin's aid in curing him of a progressive disease. The Mandarin and the Unicorn traveled to America to attack their common enemy, Iron Man, but in the heat of battle the Mandarin found that the headband had somehow exchanged his consciousness with that of the Unicorn. The Mandarin was forced to flee, desperate to separate himself from the Unicorn's dying body.[volume & issue needed]
When the Mandarin arrived at his castle in China, he found that it had been taken over by the Yellow Claw, another Chinese supervillain. The Mandarin was forced to find another laboratory to try to restore his mind back to its rightful body, which he managed with the unwilling aid of the Japanese mutant Sunfire.[volume & issue needed] In battle with Iron Man again, the Mandarin's interim headquarters was destroyed. The Mandarin then launched an attack on the Yellow Claw in an attempt to regain his own castle, but was fatally injured when the Yellow Claw robot he had been battling exploded. As the Mandarin was dying, he used the headband's mind-transferring capacities to transfer his consciousness into his ten rings.[volume & issue needed] When the rings were confiscated by the Yellow Claw's power-hungry servant Loc Do, the Mandarin's consciousness entered his body, permanently driving out Loc Do's. Using his matter-rearranger ring, the Mandarin transformed Loc Do's body into a younger duplicate of his original one.[8]
The Mandarin returned to his castle, discovering that it had again been destroyed. After rebuilding it, the Mandarin attempted to capture Iron Man with his teleportation devices, but once again caught someone else clad in his armor. This time it was Michael O'Brien, later to become a friend of Stark's and second to wear the Guardsman armor. Iron Man flew to O'Brien's rescue, clad in an old set of armor, saved O'Brien, thwarted the Mandarin's attempt to bomb the United States, and for a second time bested him in personal combat. Perhaps due to the effect of the Mandarin's mental domination ring on him, Iron Man did not take the Mandarin into custody, but allowed him to remain free.[volume & issue needed]
The Mandarin later schemed to turn the Great Vibranium Mound of Wakanda into Type II Vibranium which destroys the molecular cohesion of metals. He also tried to destroy China's entire rice crop with radiation in an attempt to force a starving nation into war. In the second of these plots, the Mandarin encountered James Rhodes, during his custodianship of the Iron Man armor.[volume & issue needed]
Heart of Darkness
When Stark tried to set up a branch of Stark Enterprises in Hong Kong, Iron Man and the Mandarin once again came into conflict. The Mandarin had taken the name of Zhang Tong, and had become a financial leader in Hong Kong. As Tong, he controlled a number of government officials and industry leaders of Hong Kong. The Mandarin thwarted all of Stark's attempts to set up a business branch, even resorting to murder. The Mandarin now employed a group called the Hand to do his dirty work. When on a mission, a Hand member is allowed to take one of the Mandarin's rings and use its powers. As a precaution, if the Hand member were to be captured, he would fanatically try to kill himself. If the Hand member were to be killed or knocked out, the ring would automatically teleport back to the Mandarin. The Mandarin's agents kidnapped James Rhodes and several of Stark's other employees, forcing Iron Man into single combat in exchange for their lives. Iron Man defeated the Mandarin once again, and helped Stark's employees escape the Hand. Ironically, the Mandarin's minions were left without their weapons when their master was knocked unconscious, causing his rings to automatically teleport back to him and leaving them unarmed and unable to stop Stark's employees from fleeing.[volume & issue needed] At one point, during a period in which the then thought-dead X-Men had disbanded, the mutant heroine Psylocke passed through the mystic portal known as the Siege Perilous. The portal relocated her to an Asian shore, leaving her an amnesiac. The man known as Matsu'o Tsurayaba found her and believed he could save his brain-dead lover Kwannon by switching her mind with Psylocke. [volume & issue needed]
He made an arrangement with the Mandarin to help him with the switch, since his rings would be able to cause the mind-switch. Working with the woman known as Spiral, they were able to switch the minds of the two women. Mandarin then put Psylocke (now in Kwannon's body) through conditioning, causing her to believe herself to be Lady Mandarin, the Mandarin's assassin. During this time, Mandarin teamed up with several other villains during the Acts of Vengeance. He also confronted the Avengers.[volume & issue needed]
After completing several assignments for him, Psylocke was eventually rescued by her X-Men teammate Wolverine and his then-sidekick, Jubilee. The three then defeated the Mandarin, causing events which led to Mandarin's leaving the Hand.[volume & issue needed]
Some time later, the Mandarin discovered that one of his rings was an elaborate fake. One of his underlings had betrayed him, surrendering the ring to Chen Hsu, an ancient wizard who lived in San Francisco. Hsu, elfin in appearance but puissant in power, gave up the ring to the Mandarin, who, however, collapsed as soon as he put it on. Chen Hsu tended to him, removing the veil of confusion from his mind; soon the Mandarin realized that his memories had been fragmented because of the theft of the ring, because the rings were still linked to his consciousness.[volume & issue needed]
Next, Chen Hsu made the Mandarin a strange offer which involved the two of them traveling to the Valley of the Dragons. There, he used a magic herb to awaken Fin Fang Foom, an ancient and incredibly powerful dragon. Under the control of Hsu, the dragon obeyed the Mandarin, laying waste to an army sent by the Chinese government to stop him. Soon the Mandarin claimed a third of China's territory, and the authorities sent out a call for help to the only man who has consistently defeated him: Iron Man.[volume & issue needed]
When Iron Man confronted the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom, it soon became clear that there were other plans in motion: eight other dragons appeared. It was revealed that, many thousands of years ago, a number of aliens from the planet Kakaranathara, fourth planet of the star Maklu, had traveled to Earth to look for the conflict which was unknown in their culture and which they craved. The ship had crashed, forcing them to stay on Earth for thousands of years. Then, the Mandarin had found the ship and had claimed their rings. Now, they demanded them back, but he refused them. Iron Man forcibly combined his power with the rings, and managed to destroy the Makluan dragons. The Mandarin survived in a coma state, but his hands were vaporized in the blast.[volume & issue needed]
For months, he lay in a state between life and death, in the care of a peasant woman who did not even know who he was. Over time, his hands grew back - albeit as reptilian claws - and the rings called to him again - called him to reclaim them.[volume & issue needed]
The Mandarin next discovered the Heart of Darkness, an orb of apparently mystic energy; the alien Century believed it was an ancient artifact which acted as a "lens" to attract and focus all manner of dark power.Kaminski, Len (w), Morgam, Tom (p), Wiacek, Bob (i). "Hands of The Mandarin" Iron Man, vol. 1, no. 312 (January 1995). New York, NY: Marvel Comics. The Mandarin used its power to turn back time in China, and literally transformed it into a feudal nation again, in which electronic equipment could not operate "Hands of The Mandarin" War Machine, vol. 1, no. 10 (January 1995). Marvel Comics.. Iron Man, with his team Force Works and ally War Machine defeated him, but not before the Mandarin discovered that Tony Stark is the man inside the Iron Man armor."Hands of The Mandarin" Iron Man, vol. 1, no. 312 (January 1995). Marvel Comics.
Iron Man infected Mandarin with a techno-organic virus, and the Heart, seeing him infected with technology, rejected the Mandarin and imploded. Iron Man believed him dead, though in reality the Mandarin is transported and transformed by the last flare of the orb's magic, turned into a janitor in the Hong Kong branch of Stark Enterprises."Hands of The Mandarin" Iron Man, vol. 1, no. 312 (January 1995). Marvel Comics.
Eventually, the Mandarin's memories returned to him and instead of trying to crush technology, Mandarin believed that the feudalism of yesterday had merely been transformed into the capitalism of today. Mandarin set into motion plans to create a giant flying fortress called the Dragon of Heaven through which he could conquer Russia and eventually the world. Iron Man, vol. 3, no. 2-9 (April–October 1998). Marvel Comics. During this time, Iron man reappeared after being believed dead in a battle against the psychic menace Onslaught. The Mandarin initiated a series of attacks on Iron Man Iron Man, vol. 3, no. 1-8 (March–August 1998). Marvel Comics. , culminating in a battle with the Dragon of Heaven Iron Man, vol. 3, no. 9 (October 1998). Marvel Comics. . Eventually it is revealed that the Mandarin's primary purpose is not to conquer Russia, but to test Iron Man, prove him worthy as a foe, and to justify Mandarin's own thoughts on the feudal nature of capitalism. The Mandarin seemed to die as the Dragon of Heaven exploded, but Iron Man was less than convinced that his foe had truly met his end. Iron Man, vol. 3, no. 10 (November 1998). Marvel Comics.
Temugin
Despite the uncertainty of his fate, it would be nearly ten years before the Mandarin returned to the pages of his foe's comic. In the interim, the Golden Avenger faced Temugin, the son of the Mandarin. Temugin has precious few memories of his father and most of them involve his father taking him to the monastery where he was raised and trained by monks. Temugin is sensitive, spiritual, and unbelievably powerful because of his control of chi, the living force in all things.[volume & issue needed]
One day, Temugin received a package containing the severed hands of the Mandarin, bearing all the rings of power. Temugin knew that he was honor bound to fulfill his father's wishes for him. He challenged Iron Man in order to avenge his father’s death, and he proved a deadly adversary even without the rings.[volume & issue needed]
After Tony Stark revealed a conspiracy for mass murder in his own ranks, Temugin appeared to have forgiven Iron Man for the death of his father and to have turned to more lofty pursuits, but events indicate the power of the rings has corrupted his soul.[volume & issue needed]
Temugin was named after his claimed ancestor Genghis Khan, whose birth name was Temujin (also spelled Temuchin, Temudjin, u also variates to ü).[volume & issue needed]
Temugin is later contacted by the double-crossing Spot, who promptly hands over a super-weapon that MODOK had been planning to steal. In this appearance, Temugin speaks of the Mandarin as "My Late Father", and bears the rings, one of which he uses to imprison Spot in another dimension with nothing but money. In the following issue, the Puma tore off at least one of his hands, but despite this, he retained at least half of the rings - and possibly all, as Nightshade, who used the rings on his lost hand, was not seen with them at the end of the story.[9]
Nevertheless, he later lost the rings (or perhaps discarded them), and reappeared - with a cybernetic arm - as a member of the Atlas Foundation, having been selected as a secondary candidate for the position of its ruler by the ancient dragon Mr.Lao. In this capacity he is a constant irritant to Jimmy Woo, the head of Atlas.[volume & issue needed]
Revival
The Mandarin has been revived in a later arc of Iron Man. Apparently, he has been in a prison in central China for some time. In this story it has been revealed that he has lost his hands (most likely the hands that were sent to Temugin were, in fact, actually the Mandarin's). He has also been living with no food or water for years. His ability to survive so long without food or water is likely due to his mastery of chi. Despite being handless and starved, he was able to kill several men armed with guns via his mastery of the martial arts. His rings have been returned to him, and were reassimilated into his body by heating them and burning them into his spine.[10]
After attacking Iron Man, via S.H.I.E.L.D. - with dozens of unwitting proxies in the form of extremist splinter groups, equipped by him with hyper-advanced biological weapons - he eventually resurfaces as Tem Borjigin (yet another name of Genghis Khan), now once again sporting hands (although they are artificial).[volume & issue needed]
Government infiltration
The Mandarin infiltrates the U.S. government via his role as CEO of Prometheus, a corporation specializing in bio-engineered weaponry. He appears to be using Extremis creator and Tony Stark's former love interest Maya Hansen to produce an army of Extremis enhanced soldiers as well as financing and arming terrorists around the globe. The Mandarin also appears to plan unleashing the Extremis virus in aerosol form on the public, expecting the 97.5% fatality ratio to cause a mass catastrophe of deaths.[volume & issue needed] The Mandarin admits to Hansen that even he will die in the outbreak but she and those with the gene to survive will become free from disease and become effectively immortal. Though he has his Extremis disabled, Iron Man defeats the Mandarin while wearing the Silver Centurion armor by tearing five of the rings out of the Mandarin's spine, blasting him with those rings, his unibeam, and repulsors at the same time, and then freezing him as he is engulfed in deadly concentrated Extremis virus. Iron Man then prevents the Extremis-outbreak.[11]
However, when the Mandarin's apparently frozen body is autopsied, all that is found is a blackened husk... not unlike an Extremis chrysalis.[volume & issue needed]
Enter the Mandarin
The Mandarin appeared in Iron Man - Enter the Mandarin in 2007 which is an expanded and modified retelling from his earliest appearances in Tales of Suspense.
Mandarin: The Story of My Life
In Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 by Matt Fraction a new updated origin of the Mandarin is offered. Here we see him kidnap a young up and coming film producer to tell his life's story. He relates the same story he once told Iron Man in Tales of Suspense of his English noblewoman mother and his schooling at the finest boarding schools in the land.
However as the director researches into this he begins to learn that much of what the Mandarin says is contradictory and false, photos from this time staged. (It is hinted that the Mandarin has used one of his own rings to make himself believe this tapestry of half truths) the director hears a different tale of the Mandarin's origins. The son of a opium den prostitute who went on to become a powerful underworld figure before discovering the Ten Rings of Power in an alien craft, the pilot of which he brutally slew to obtain them, the Mandarin slaughtered the Red Chinese army officials who dared cross him while financing his operations with drug and gun smuggling, aided by a mercenary named Raza.
The Mandarin in this retelling is also said to have been at the camp in which Tony Stark constructed his Iron Man armor, though Stark is unaware of this fact.
Angered at the Mandarin holding his wife hostage the director shoots the movie as he wishes, not as the Mandarin dictates. The Mandarin denounces this telling of his past as lies and angrily destroys the cinema in which it was being shown, before having the director killed.
Later he is regretful about murdering the director, noting that he really did love his films.[12]
It is unknown if this new origin is the truth or not as a major theme of the issue is that the with the Mandarin's life it is impossible to tell the truth from the myth that the man has created around himself and at least some of what the Mandarin claims must be true as he possesses the ten alien rings and well honed martial arts skills that he describes acquiring.[volume & issue needed]
Stark Resilient
At the conclusion of the Stark Resilient storyline, it is revealed that the Mandarin is the father of Sasha Hammer, as she introduces her boyfriend Ezekiel Stane to her parents. Mandarin tells Stane some of the various names he's known as, then simply instructs Stane to refer to him as "Master".[13]
Powers and abilities
The Mandarin is a superb athlete with tremendous skill in the various martial arts. Through repeated practice, he has toughened all the striking surfaces of his body, especially his hands, which are covered with thick calluses. He can even split Iron Man's magnetic-beam reinforced alloy armor with repeated blows. So great is the Mandarin's martial arts ability, that he can even survive years without food and water, apparently sustaining himself purely via his mastery of chi. The precise degree of The Mandarin's martial art powers has been the subject of multiple implied retcons by Marvel Comics. Initially, Mandarin was portrayed as being such a superhumanly skilled martial artist that he could destroy Iron Man's armor with his bare hands[volume & issue needed]. Later portrayals focused on his use of the rings, and implicitly retconned the Mandarin's skill to being great but no longer superhuman[volume & issue needed]. The most recent continuity has restored Mandarin's martial arts ability to its original superhuman level.[volume & issue needed]
The Mandarin is one of Marvel Earth's greatest scientific geniuses, and highly skilled in various sciences. Not only has he made himself into an expert authority on alien Makluuan science, but he has also built upon this knowledge by making further discoveries based upon it.
The principal personal weapons of the Mandarin are the ten rings which he wears on the fingers of each hand. The rings' operations cannot be explained by contemporary Earth science, but it is known that they served as near-limitless power sources for the warp-drive engines of the Makluan starship of Axonn-Karr. The Mandarin learned how to convert the rings to his personal uses and to make them respond to his mental commands. The fingers on which he wears each ring, and the known functions for which he uses each ring, are given below.
Digit | Left Hand | Right Hand |
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Little finger |
|
|
Ring Finger |
|
|
Middle Finger |
|
|
Index Finger |
|
|
Thumb |
|
|
Over the years through mental discipline achieved through meditation and long practice in use of the rings, the Mandarin has established a strong psionic link with his ten power rings, which was made many times stronger during the period in which his mind/spirit actually inhabited them[volume & issue needed]. One result is that no one who wears the rings other than the Mandarin himself can command them without his permission. The Mandarin can now command the rings even when they are separated from him by vast distances. He can mentally monitor events taking place near a ring that has been separated from him. Continued exposure to the alien rings made his hands green and scaly. He can voluntarily give temporary control over a ring to his servants, however. If the servant dies or falls unconscious, the rings teleport back to the Mandarin. Conversely, if the Mandarin himself is knocked out, all the rings automatically return to him. On one occasion[volume & issue needed], this left the Mandarin's servants powerless to stop some of Tony Stark's employees, that the Mandarin had kidnapped, from escaping.
The Mandarin also briefly used a force field generator[volume & issue needed], but this is not part of his standard weaponry[citation needed].
He has also used a head band enabling him to transfer his mind into his rings or into another's body, and a teleportation device hidden on his person, both examples of Makluuan technology.
The Mandarin is a brilliant and brutal tactician and a gifted strategist. He also abides by a very strict code of honor. When he attempted to stop Stark Enterprises from establishing itself in Hong Kong, the Mandarin challenged Iron Man to a duel, stating that if he won, he would take control of Stark Enterprises' Hong Kong operations, and that he would cease hindering Stark's activities if he lost. When Iron Man defeated him in fair combat, he lived up to his end of the agreement. On another occasion, he killed one of his minions for attempting to drug him during a practice session, angry that one of his students would use such dishonorable tactics.
In other media
Television
The Marvel Super Heroes
The Mandarin was a major foe of Iron Man in The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Bernard Cowan.
Iron Man (TV series)
In the Iron Man series, the Mandarin is Arnold Brock, an archaeologist who falls into an ancient catacomb containing an alien starship (which belongs to this series' incarnation of Fin Fang Foom whom Mandarin forged an uneasy alliance with) while fleeing from desert bandits. In this catacomb, he finds a large gem that is the ship's power source with ten gems beneath it. Unfortunately, the bandits slay everyone else, including his fiancée Ilona. All the raiders leave behind are his fiancée's rings with the jewels plucked from them. The Mandarin uses these as the settings for the ten gems which he made into his rings. The Mandarin of this continuity was altered by the power of the ship's power source when he touched it; he developed pointy ears, claw-like fingernails, and enhanced musculature. His skin turned emerald-green, and he became very smart. The cartoon version of the Mandarin was served in his villainy by Justin Hammer as well as by several supervillains like Blizzard, Blacklash, Dreadknight, Hypnotia, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind, Living Laser, and MODOK, but following the cartoon's adaptation of the "Dragon Seed" storyline, the Mandarin's servants were captured and his rings scattered across the world. Eventually recovering all of his rings, appearing in a brief epilogue at the end of most episodes to do so, the Mandarin renewed his hostilities against Iron Man in an adaptation of "The Hands of the Mandarin". Prior to finding his last two rings, The Mandarin claims his 8th ring from MODOK in the episode "Empowered". "Empowered" was the clip show of the season, the purpose being that the Mandarin wanted to learn of Iron Man's recent activities. In the final episode of the series, Iron Man manages to reflect the power of Mandarin's rings, destroying them, and ultimately leaving the Mandarin with amnesia and helpless before a band of desert bandits who likely killed him, or at least cut off his hand/fingers for the rings.
The cartoon's versions of the rings were much more ambiguous, with no particular power associated with any ring - most frequently, they were used to project force blasts, alter reality, and transmute objects. The eleventh episode of season two, "Hulkbuster" would reveal the specific abilities of two of the rings:
- One allows for creating windows through time and space.
- The other allows for traveling through the windows.
They were both used by The Leader in an attempt to travel back to the time that the Gamma Bomb that transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk detonated.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Mandarin.jpg/220px-Mandarin.jpg)
Mandarin appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures voiced by Vincent Tong. In this version, he is full-armored, with a helmet hiding his face and identity, and is looking for the rings, which in this series are referred as the "Makluan Rings".[14] His armor appears to be created by the rings, as he is able to make it appear and disappear around him at will. The helmet also alters his voice, making it deeper and unrecognizable and at times the armor can give him great amounts of strength. Mandarin is the main antagonist of the show next to Obadiah Stane, though he's much more ambivalous than in the other versions.
In this version, the "Mandarin" actually is a title that was used thousands of years ago by a man, only known as "Khan" who found the Makluan Rings and used them to conquer everything he saw with his might. However, he needed/wanted an heir, and none of his children were worthy of the rings. In order to assure his legacy, he hid his rings on the four points of the globe, creating tests for a descendant in his family, one who would be worthy for the rings, to pass in order to prove his worth for the rings, obtain them, and activate their powers. From the tests so far, it would appear the first Khan was a noble ruler who looking for a descendant who would not use the rings for a selfish and evil purpose.
Years later, Temugin (Khan's last descendant) learned the story from his mother, who wore the last known ring on a string necklace. As they were planning to go on a quest to find the rings, his mother remarried with a man named Shin Zhang. She unfortunately died soon after (it's not said specifically how, though it mildly implies she was killed and the main suspect is thought to be Zhang), and to Temugin's rage, Zhang claimed the ring for himself. He then used it to take the title of the Mandarin, and became leader of his own criminal organization, the Tong. Throughout it, Gene always refers to him as his stepfather (and vice versa, as Zhang only refers to him as his stepson), even correcting anyone who calls Zhang his father.
In the present days of the show, however, Temugin (under the aliases Gene Khan), succeeded in taking back the ring from Zhang, and imprisoned him, posing as him in front of his men thanks to the armor. As the new Mandarin, Gene successfully took the second ring from Obadiah Stane, and faced for the first time Iron Man.
Now leading the Tong as he could, Gene started to use them to help him find the rings. As Gene, he ironically befriended Tony Stark, and enrolled in his school when discovering Stark could also help him find the rings. This later causes Gene to team up with Stark, Pepper, and Rhodes in order to get the rings throughout the series. Though overall driven by his desire to get the remaining rings, Gene proved several times he took his friendship with the group seriously, as he showed it several times: he helps Pepper and Rhodes to get the Stealth Iron Man armor in "Field Trip" (though he was unaware of what they were trying to do), and even once risked a gang war in order to save Pepper's life. Even after he betrayed Tony, Pepper, and Rhodes and revealed to them that he was the Mandarin, he remembers all of the times they had together and for a very short time becomes distraught to what he has done.
As the story progresses, the team finds the temples of the second and third rings and the third ring within its temple and Gene keeps it and the other two rings he has (ironically like his mother) on a string necklace he mostly hides beneath his shirt when he's not Mandarin. The team even encounter the tests that guard the second and third rings and although Gene succeeded to get the second ring activated and later took the third active from Iron Man, it was Tony/Iron Man who passed the tests each time, causing Gene to start feeling unworthy of the rings (an idea Zhang took pleasure in reminding his stepson).
At the same time, Pepper, who until now had a dislike of Gene (due to his stepfather being rumored to be a criminal), eventually tried to befriend him in order to keep her friendship with Tony, (They found they actually had a lot in common with each other when they talked at a restaurant) but this accidentally caused her to be taken prisoner by Count Nefaria during a diplomatic discussion between the Maggia and the Tong arranged by Gene for peace between the two crime organizations (possibly so the Maggia and the Tong would leave him alone so he could continue to look for the rings). Despite the risk, Gene tried to find a way to save her, voluntarily calling Iron Man to do it. However, as Iron Man was forced to fight The Black Knight, Nefaria's henchman, Gene had to save Pepper as his normal self, but this made him abandon the fight that broke out between the Maggia and the Tong due to Iron man's arrival. Because of this act, the Tong men began to have doubt about their Master's current identity.
Ironically, after this, Pepper became obsessed with him (causing him to cringe when he hears there was 11 messages left on his phone as well as how she keeps asking about him), and even suggests Tony and Rhodes tell him about Iron Man (though she eventually changed her mind). However he may have seen Pepper as a true friend, as she was the only person he said he was sorry to after revealing he was the Mandarin.
Gene is shown to hate Happy Hogan, who despite being friends with everyone else, Gene can't stand. Usually this is due to his behavior and immaturity; such as in "Don't worry be Happy" when he was inside Gene's limousine, he stuck his entire body out the sun roof. The one thing that makes Gene hate Happy more than anything else is the nickname he gave Gene, calling him by yelling "The Khan". However Happy is completely oblivious to this, seeing Gene as a friend.
Gene eventually succeeded in passing the test of the fourth ring, saving in the process Tony, Rhodes, and Pepper, as well as the world which was threatened by the side effects of the test (despite not being with Tony and his friends, as he told Rhodes what to do by using the phone). This is the first test he had personally passed, but he could not keep the ring because he wasn't with Tony to take it from him as Mandarin.
In "Tales of Suspense (Part 1)", Zhang returns from his imprisonment and reclaims the rings from Gene. He then orchestrates Tony and Pepper's capture, takes the fourth ring from Tony and learns from their recently gathered information that the 5th Ring is in Peru. He then goes there taking Gene, Pepper and Tony with him. Zhang ends up retreating when the Test of Sacrifice begun with the awakening of Fin Fang Foom, inadvertently leaving the Makluan Rings behind. In "Tales of Suspense (Part 2)", Pepper tries to pass the test by throwing the Rings into Fin Fang Foom only to have him swallow the rings. Rhodey in his War Machine suit then learns Tony and Pepper's location from Zhang and comes to save them. It was then that Gene learned Tony was Iron Man. Gene eventually passed the test by allowing Fin Fang Foom to swallow him when he saved Pepper. Inside the dragon, Gene found the four rings as well as the fifth. Upon coming out of the dragon, (which he stopped by obtaining the fifth ring) he revealed to the others he was the true Mandarin (whom up until that time they thought was Zhang) and fought Tony. It was during the battle that Tony learned that Mandarin was behind the explosion that destroyed his father's plane and that he had abducted Howard Stark for information on the Makluan Rings before he made the explosion. Gene manages to get away. Later, after Iron Man and his friends left the temple, Gene reflected on the times he had with Tony, Rhodes, and Pepper and says that even though his mother said having the Makluan Rings was his destiny, they did not make him stronger; until the 5 Makluan Rings reveal to him that there are five more rings hidden somewhere on Earth, meaning that there were ten Makluan Rings in all, much like the comic series. He then declares that their power will be his.
The rings in this series are yellow bands with fire-shaped "gems". Each ring has a different colored gem with Chinese characters on the gem. They allow Gene to summon his Mandarin armor and levitate in the air. The rings also create an electrostatic reaction when they grow closer together and can generate lightning that's powerful enough to cripple the Iron Man suit or be seen from all of New York. Once Zhang used them to pull apart a massive cliff-face. The rings only work for members of "Khan's" family, including those marry into the family, (become step-family members) which could be a defense mechanism against evil foreigners. Gene currently has five rings for each finger of his right hand which are as follows:
- 1. Purple Ring: The first obtained ring. It had no temple and was guarded by Gene's mother and no test. It is worn on the middle finger and allows Gene to teleport, create vacuum explosions and force fields.
- 2. Green Ring: The second obtained ring. Its temple was buried in New Jersey at the site of Howard Stark's new complex for his company (which made him abandon building the complex and excavate the site instead) and was guarded by an army of living Dreadknight statues and the Test of Wisdom. It is worn on the index finger and allows Gene to generate and project force beams (once Gene used it to "put" force on the head Tong henchman).
- 3. Blue Ring: The third obtained ring. Its temple was somewhere in Greenland and was guarded by the giant and powerful robot Ultimo and the Test of Courage. It is worn on the ring finger and allows Gene to create and manipulate water-like substances.
- 4. Red Ring: The fourth obtained ring. Its temple was in Mt. Saint Helens and was guarded by the human-possessing fire demon/spirit Firebrand and the Test of Temperance. It is worn on the little finger and allows Gene to generate fire.
- 5. Yellow Ring: The fifth obtained ring. Its temple was buried in a cliff-face at the ruins of the Incan city Machu Picchu in Peru and was guarded by the giant dragon Fin Fang Foom and the Test of Sacrifice. It is worn on the thumb and allows Gene generate a force that he can use to manipulate objects or opponents (a similar use of the water-like substances made by the third ring).
The powers of the other five rings are not yet known.
Films
- The Mandarin is the main antagonist in the 2007 direct-to-DVD animated movie The Invincible Iron Man voiced by Fred Tatasciore. This version of the Mandarin was an ancient ruler of a Chinese dynasty whose minions are attempting to resurrect him by collecting five magical rings. According to prophecy, however, the Mandarin will be opposed by the "Iron Knight" upon his resurrection, although the prophecy only states that the two will fight without revealing who will win. Despite being the main driving force behind the plot, he appears only briefly at the film's climax and only as a spiritual projection, which is later destroyed when his descendant Li Mei (voiced by Gwendoline Yeo) removes the rings and thus breaks the connection.
- The Mandarin is referenced in the 2008 live action Iron Man movie via the name of the terrorist group called the Ten Rings, who holds Tony Stark captive in the beginning of the film. Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, has a single red ring that he rubs with his other hand. He also makes a reference to Genghis Khan when speaking to Stark and Yinsen. Director Jon Favreau revealed that their version of the Mandarin in the live action Iron Man movie series "allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains".[15]
- After the successful release of Iron Man 2, Favreau stated that he hopes to include the Mandarin himself in an Iron Man 3 project.[16]
Video games
- The Mandarin appeared as the third and last boss in stage 3 'Challenge from the Bottom of the Sea' in Data East's 1991 arcade game, (later ported to the Sega Genesis and Super NES) Captain America and the Avengers, controlling the Red Skull's undersea base, against which is Namor, the Sub-Mariner, who guides the heroes.
- The Mandarin appears as one of the supervillains in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by James Sie. The Mandarin joins Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil, but is rejected after he attempts to steal control of the group from Doom. In Atlantis Loki shapeshifted into Mandarin to get the Heroes to venture to his castle, where they had to fight through his warriors, Dragon Man, Ultimo, Grey Gargoyle, and his new Ultimo Mark 2. Afterwards they had to confront him at his palace in the Valley of Spirits. After Mandarin was defeated, the heroes found that they had been tricked by Loki. Mandarin has special dialogue with Iron Man (in his simulation disk), and Blade (upon Mandarin's defeat).
References
- ^ Terrence Howard on the Future of War Machine
- ^ http://popurls.com/view/iron-man-s-arch-enemy-the-mandarin-like-you-ve-50e3b82332b43091dc9e291c6f1b1718
- ^ http://ironman.ugo.com/?cur=mandarin
- ^ http://www.ironmanarmory.com/IronManOrigin.html
- ^ Mandarin is number 81 IGN. Retrieved 10-05-09.
- ^ a b Tales of Suspense #62, vol 1
- ^ Tales of Suspense #50
- ^ Iron Man #100 vol 1
- ^ 'MODOK's 11' #3
- ^ Iron Man #17
- ^ Iron Man #28
- ^ Invincible Iron Man Annual #1
- ^ The Invincible Iron Man #33
- ^ Iron Man:Armored Adventures page on Marvel.com
- ^ "Live chat with Jon Favreau today at 11am Pacific Time". Los Angeles Times. 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ John Favreau on 'Iron Man's' Next Villain: 'You Have To Do the Mandarin, Yahoo News, 9 May 2010
External links
- Mandarin at Marvel.com