Mandarin | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Tales of Suspense #50 (Feb. 1964)[1] |
Created by | Stan Lee Don Heck |
In-story information | |
Species | Human |
Team affiliations | Mandarin's Minions Hand Tong |
Notable aliases | Gene Kahn Zhang Tong Tem Borjigin |
Abilities |
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Altered in-story information for adaptations to other media | |
Alter ego | Arnold Brock – Iron Man: The Animated Series Gene Khan / Temugin – Iron Man: Armored Adventures Xu Wenwu – Marvel Cinematic Universe |
The Mandarin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the archenemy of Iron Man.[2][3][4] The character was created by Stan Lee and designed by Don Heck, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #50 (Feb. 1964).[5] The character is described as being born in China before the Communist revolution to a wealthy Chinese father and an English aristocratic mother, both of whom died when he was young. He is characterized as a megalomaniac, attempting to conquer the world on several occasions, yet also possessing a strong sense of honor. The Mandarin is portrayed as a genius scientist and a skilled martial artist. However, his primary sources of power are 10 rings that he adapted from the alien technology of a crashed space ship. Each ring has a different power and is worn on a specific finger. Though his primary obsession is Iron Man, given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Thor, Hulk, Shang-Chi and other superheroes in the Marvel Universe.
The Mandarin has appeared in several forms of media. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley portrayed an impostor (Aldrich Killian) and actor (Trevor Slattery) of the character in Iron Man 3 (2013) respectively,[6][7] and Tony Leung portrayed the "real" character Xu Wenwu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).[8] In 2009, The Mandarin was ranked as IGN's 81st-greatest comic book villain of all time.[9]