| For other uses, see Mandarin (disambiguation) |
- "There's somebody who wants to meet you."
"Do I know him?"
"No. You took his name and now he wants it back." - ―Jackson Norriss and Trevor Slattery[src]
The Mandarin is an extremely powerful, legendary, and nearly mythical terrorist leader and anarchist who is the founder and the supreme leader of the Ten Rings.
Biography
Early Life
Legendary Warrior
- "He was a warrior-king. Inspired generations of men through the Middle Ages, perhaps even further back in time."
- ―Jackson Norriss to Trevor Slattery[src]
The Mandarin's past is shrouded in mystery, but his followers described him as an ancient warrior-king that has inspired generations of men since the Middle Ages, perhaps even further back in time.[1] His name was an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "advisor to the King".[2]
The Ten Rings
Expanding Operations
The Mandarin became the leader of the Ten Rings, an organization with religious beliefs going back thousands of years.[3] Over the years, the Mandarin became a myth to his followers, with only his most trusted men being aware that he really exists. The legend of the Mandarin would eventually reach the Western world.[1]
By the beginning of the 21st century, the Ten Rings had become an international terrorist network. In 2009, they bought illegal Stark Industries weapons from Obadiah Stane, who made a deal with them to ambush a military convoy in order to get rid of Tony Stark, who was on a business trip to Afghanistan. Said and done, the Ten Rings kidnapped Stark, whom they imprisoned on their base and attempted to force into making them advanced new weapons along with Ho Yinsen. However, Stark made a suit of armor and escaped.[4]
Battle of Hong Kong
- "I understand you failed to obtain the War Machine Armor. Explain why you should leave this room alive."
"I-It's true, Mandarin. We did not succeed in capturing Rhodes. However, the conflict served its purpose. Our hidden agents analyzed the armor with every imaginable scanning device. The data we collected is invaluable." - ―Mandarin and Ten Rings agent.[src]
Over the next year, the Ten Rings suffered numerous defeats at the hands of Iron Man, who had became their greatest enemy.[5][6] Their chance for revenge came when Stark became a consultant to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Temporarily retiring from his role of Iron Man, Stark made a new battle suit for James Rhodes who would fight the terrorist threats around the world. The Mandarin sent his men to capture Rhodes and his armor.
A few months later, Rhodes was victorious in all of his battles with the Ten Rings. However, during those conflicts, the Ten Rings successfully scanned Rhodes' armor with all possible devices, thus obtaining invaluable information. Later, a Ten Rings agent gave his report to the Mandarin. Though the Mandarin originally wanted to kill him for failing to obtain the armor, the agent said that with the information they stole the Ten Rings have all they need to destroy Iron Man.[7]
2012 Copycat Attacks
Six months after the last conflict between the Ten Rings and James Rhodes, the Mandarin's organization became dormant. The Mandarin himself would eventually come to notice that many recent terrorits attacks that were happening around the world were later said to be from the Ten Rings as a man calling himself the Mandarin assumed the responsibility behind the attacks. The impostor continued to declare that these attacks were a lesson for the American people. These events infuriated the Mandarin who planned to recover his name by trapping the man who pretended to be him. Unbeknowst to him, the mind behind the attacks was the A.I.M. CEO Aldrich Killian, who had built his idea from legends he had heard, unaware that the Mandarin was quite real.[8] However, after Tony Stark managed to uncover the truth behind the attacks and Killian was killed, the man who impersonated the Mandarin was revealed to be Trevor Slattery, a British actor who was hired by Killian.[2] The real Mandarin was not willing to allow Trevor Slattery to get away so easily and understood that he had a right to know.[1]
Kidnapping of Trevor Slattery
- "I'm talking about the Ten Rings."
"Come again?"
"The terrorist group historically associated with the Mandarin. Officially they're dormant, but evidence suggests that they're becoming more active." - ―Jackson Norriss and Trevor Slattery[src]
As the Ten Rings started to become more active around the world, the Mandarin ordered his loyal agent Jackson Norriss to break Slattery out of the Seagate Prison. Disguised as a documentary filmmaker, Norriss successfully infiltrated the prison and abducted Slattery into the Mandarin's custody.[1]
Personality
- "Explain why you should leave this room alive."
- ―Mandarin[src]
A ruthless and calculating terrorist, the Mandarin leads the Ten Rings with an iron fist, threatening his subordinates with death if they didn't accomplish his orders, like when one of his agents failed in obtaining the War Machine Armor. Nevertheless, the Mandarin isn't extremely cruel with his men: when his agent told him that he had got valuable information surrounding War Machine's battle suit, the Mandarin simply spared him, demonstrating that he accepts any kind of useful progress on his plans.
Having his style of leadership, the Mandarin has demonstrated that he doesn't like to be imitated, being willing to punish those who dare to impersonate him for their purposes. When the Mandarin fiasco engineered by Aldrich Killian incriminated the Ten Rings from Extremis-caused explosions and had Trevor Slattery posing as the Mandarin himself, the Mandarin resented them enough even after Killian died to the point of sending one of his most loyal agents to the Seagate Penitentiary to abduct Slattery for as of yet unknown purposes.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
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Abilities
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Equipment
Weapons
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Other Equipment
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Vehicles
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Facilities
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Relationships
Allies
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Enemies
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Behind the Scenes
- According to Jon Favreau and Jeff Bridges, the Mandarin was intended to be the primary villain in the first Iron Man. Kevin Feige revealed in an interview that early drafts of the film depicted the Mandarin as a younger individual, contemporary to Tony Stark, who would have business dealings with Stark Industries. Though this idea was eventually omitted to further push Obadiah Stane as the main antagonist of the film as opposed to the Mandarin, some of the traits for the character were incorporated into the character of Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3.
- Early versions of the story of Iron Man 3 featured the real Mandarin, but writer Drew Pearce suggested the idea that the film's Mandarin was an impostor during one of the writing sessions, conceiving the character that ultimately became Trevor Slattery. Director Shane Black detailed: "Who would be fool enough to declare that they're an international terrorist? If you're smart, whatever regime you're part of, you'd put a puppet committee and remain in your house".[9]
- On May 15, 2019, during an AMA on Reddit, Kevin Feige stated that Marvel Studios has plans for Mandarin and the Ten Rings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's future.[10] On July 20, 2019, Marvel Studios announced that Mandarin would be the primary antagonist in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iron Man 3
- ↑ Marvel One-Shot: First Look at Ben Kingsley's Mandarin encore in 'All Hail the King' short film -- EXCLUSIVE
- ↑ Iron Man
- ↑ Iron Man 2: Public Identity
- ↑ Iron Man 2: Nick Fury: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- ↑ Iron Man 3 Prelude
- ↑ Marvel’s Kevin Feige Talks Red Skull’s Return And The “Real” Mandarin
- ↑ Iron Man 3 - Audio Commentary
- ↑ Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige Reaffirms That The Real Mandarin Will Be Introduced Soon In Reddit AMA
