Mandarin (Earth-616)

Mandarin was the son of one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China (who claimed to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan) and an English noblewoman. Both parents died upon their son's birth, and he was raised by his aunt, who was embittered against the world. He displayed his scientific genius at an early age and underwent intensive education in various sciences both in China and possibly abroad. As an adult he became a high ranking government official (Mandarin) and became renowned throughout China for his administrative brilliance.

However, with the success of mainland China's Communist revolution, the Mandarin was deprived of his position, his palace, and his wealth. Hoping to find a means of restoring his himself to a position of power, the Mandarin explored the dreaded Valley of Spirits, where no one had set foot for centuries. There he found the skeleton and starship of Axonn-Karr, an intelligent dragonlike alien from the planet Maklu-4, who had come to Earth centuries ago and been killed by humans. Over the following years, the Mandarin reassembled the starship's extraordinarily advanced machinery within an ancient deserted castle which he found within the Valley of Spirits, and studied the Makluan science until he had mastered it. He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship. The Mandarin then subjugated the villages around the valley, and, through his science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge. He next embarked on on a long series of attempts to achieve world domination, all of which failed, usually due to the efforts of Iron Man.

Among the Mandarin's earliest schemes was 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. Iron Man soon became the Mandarin's principal opponent in 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 failed to kill him. Conversely, Iron Man thwarted the Mandarin's various schemes, but was unable to bring him to justice.

Mandarin was among the many costumed menaces assembled by Doctor Doom to disrupt the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm.^[1]

Other of the Mandarin's early technological achievements were the launching of a small orbiting satellite whose "Death-ray" he aimed at Stark Industries, and the building of Ultimo, a 30-foot android possessing vast destructive powers. The Mandarin employed Ultimo four times without success.

The Mandarin's teleportation technology, derived from Makluan science, enabled him to kidnap people at will or teleport himself out of threatening situations. The Mandarin teleported Harold "Happy" Hogan, a friend and confidant of Iron Man, to his castle in China half a world away, precipitating his fifth encounter with Iron Man. Hogan had been 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. Rescuing Hogan, Iron Man physically bested the Mandarin for the first time in personal combat and redirected the missiles that the Mandarin had launched at the Mandarin's castle, destroying it. The Mandarin escaped by means of his teleportational machinery, and materialized aboard his orbiting satellite. There he constructed a gemlike device capable of broadcasting "hate-rays" toward Earth, and assembled several superhuman allies to perform certain missions for him, Living Laser, the original Power Man, Swordsman, Enchantress, and Executioner. The Avengers managed to thwart the Mandarin's scheme and destroyed his satellite.

The Mandarin then established a base in China's Gobi Desert and turned his attentions 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 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 then 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.

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 maneuvered the Royal Family of the Inhumans (who at the time lived in the nearby Himalayan Mountains of Tibet) into locating the idol for him. But before he could fully incorporate the Eye's power in his rings, Black Bolt 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 rescue himself from the Unicorn's dying body.

When the Mandarin arrived at his castle in China, he found that it had been taken over by Yellow Claw, another Oriental mastermind. The Mandarin was forced to find another laboratory to try to restore his brain back to its rightful body. With the unwilling aid of the Japanese mutant Sunfire, the Mandarin restored his mind to its rightful body. 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. The Mandarin was fatally injured when the Yellow Claw robot he had been battling exploded. As the Mandarin lay dying, he used the headband's mind-transferring capacities to transfer his consciousness into his ten rings. When the rings were confiscated by the Yellow Claw's power-hungry servant Loc Do, the Mandarin's consciousness entered Loc Do's 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.

The Mandarin returned to his castle, discovering that it had again been destroyed. After rebuilding it, the Mandarin attempted to capture Iron Man using his teleportation devices, but once again caught someone else clad in his armor. This time it was Michael O'Brien, who would later become a friend of Stark's. Iron Man flew to O'Brien's rescue, clad in an old set of armor, thwarted his attempt to bomb the United States, saved him, and for a second time bested the Mandarin 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 permitted him to remain free to launch further threats against the world.

The Mandarin later schemed to transform the Vibranium mound in the African country of Wakanda into isotopic form that destroys the molecular cohesion of metals. He was thwarted by Iron Man and the Black Panther. Another plot involved attempting to destroy China's entire rice crop in order to provoke World War III, during which he encountered James Rhodes, during his custodianship of the Iron Man armor.

Later, while Anthony Stark was trying to set up a branch of Stark Enterprises in Hong Kong, Iron Man and the Mandarin came into conflict yet again. 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 of followers, called the Hand, to do his dirty work. While on missions for the Mandarin, members of the Hand were allowed to take one of the Mandarin's rings and use its powers. If the Hand member was captured, he would fanatically try to kill himself. If the Hand member was killed or knocked out, the ring would automatically teleport back to the Mandarin.

At one point, the mutant hero Psylocke passed through the mystic portal known as the Siege Perilous. The portal transformed Psylocke slightly and relocated her to an Asian shore, where she immediately encountered the Hand assassin Kwannon and the two somehow merged their minds/personalities. The Hand brought Psylocke to the Mandarin, who oversaw Psylocke's transformation into the Hand's ultimate assassin. Psylocke was eventually rescued by her X-Men teammates Wolverine and Jubilee, and Psylocke defeated the Mandarin, causing events which led to the Mandarin's exile from the Hand.

The Mandarin also clashed with the Makluans, including Fin Fang Foom. They either came looking for the missing ship or had been passengers who eventually reawakened after centuries of slumber.

Sometime later, the Mandarin had discovered the Heart of Darkness, an orb of apparently mystic energy, which he used to turn back time in China. Iron Man, with his team Force Works and ally War Machine, broke his power, but not before the Mandarin discovered that Tony Stark was the man inside the Iron Man armor. Iron Man infected Mandarin with a techno-organic virus, and the orb, seeing him infected with technology, rejected the Mandarin and imploded. Iron Man believed him dead, but in reality the Mandarin was transported and transformed by the last flare of the orb's magic, turned into a janitor in the Hong Kong branch of Stark Enterprises.

Eventually, Mandarin's memories returned to him and instead of trying to crush technology, Mandarin believed that the feudal system 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. 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, cumulating in a battle in the Dragon of Heaven. Mandarin's primary purpose was not conquering Russia, but to test Iron Man and prove him worthy as a foe and to justify Mandarin's own thoughts on capitalism. Iron Man successfully destroyed the Dragon.

An aged man named Khan was found by Karim Mahwash Najeeb in a psychiatric ward, chained and meditating. Najeeb presented him with new rings and asked the Mandarin to join his cause. He was met with silence. Najeeb then ordered his men to shoot the old man. The Mandarin freed himself, with one of Najeeb's men supplicating to him. He accepted the rings; revealing his original rings had been grafted into him.

As Tem Borjigin, he ran the Prometheus Corporation. As part of his manipulations, he provided terrorist groups with bio-weapons. Maya Hansen's death was faked so she could work on Extremis projects for him. The Mandarin coerced Cooper Roth to work for him in order to save Roth's mother. He also influenced Secretary Kooning to oppose Tony Stark's investigations in the Omaha area.

The Mandarin's Technological Achievements:

Interceptor Ray: This ray could supossedly catch anything that moves, regardless of speed, and return it to the Mandarin's Castle within the hour. This device was used by the Mandarin in Tales of Suspense #54 and Tales of Suspense #55 to interfere with the US Military's use of Stark Industries new Observer Missiles in Vietnam. The Ray was destroyed by Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #55.
Killer Satellite: This orbiting satellite could project powerful blasts of laser energy against targets on the Earth's surface. It was used to attempt to destroy Tony Stark's private estate in Tales of Suspense #61.
Jet Car: This sleek hover vehicle was utilized by the Mandarin in Tales of Suspense #62.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

The Mandarin is able to use his power rings for various effects. He also maintains a strong psionic link to his rings.

Long-term exposure to the rings has apparently augmented the Mandarin's physical prowess to superhuman levels.

Abilities

The Mandarin is a superb athlete with tremendous skill in the various Oriental martial arts. The Mandarin is one of the world's greatest scientific geniuses. Not only has he made himself into an authority on Makluan science, but he has also built upon this knowledge by making further discoveries based upon it.

The Mandarin is extremely knowledgeable on ancient history, specifically that of Asia and China.

Strength level

Unknown

Paraphernalia

Equipment

formerly a forcefield generator in costume; formerly possessed the Heart of Darkness and the Eye of Yin

Transportation

Teleportation via his rings or other technologies.

Weapons

Makluan Power Rings

Links

Technology sub-page: Mandarin/Technology

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