Ten Rings (Organization)

Ten Rings (Organization)
Leader	Mandarin
Notable members	Jackson Norriss Ten Rings Agent Cordo Gaines Abu Bakaar
Notable former members	Raza † Ahmed † Omar † Richard Frampton † HYDRA Buyer †
Locations	Worldwide
Status	Active
Appearances
Movie	Iron Man Iron Man 2 Iron Man 3 (mentioned) Ant-Man Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (unreleased)
One-Shot	All Hail the King
Web Series	WHiH Newsfront (mentioned)
Game	Iron Man
Comic	Iron Man: Security Measures Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! Iron Man 2: Security Breach Iron Man: Will Online Evils Prevail? Iron Man 2: Nick Fury: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man 2: Public Identity Iron Man 2: Black Widow: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man 2: Phil Coulson: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Avengers: Iron Man Mark VII The Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes Iron Man 2 Adaptation Iron Man 3 Prelude

"The Ten Rings aren't your typical terrorists. They've raised secrecy to an art form. We still don't have the first clue what's really behind them."

―Nick Fury to Phil Coulson^[src]

The Ten Rings is a terrorist organization dedicated to destroying world peace by any means necessary. It is believed to be led by a mysterious warlord known as the Mandarin.

History

Foundation

"I'm talking about the Ten Rings."
"Come again?"
"The terrorist group historically associated with the Mandarin."

―Jackson Norriss and Trevor Slattery^[src]

The history of the Ten Rings is shrouded in mystery. Several members believed their leader, the Mandarin, had inspired generations of men since the Middle Ages, perhaps even further back in time, implying that the organization was hundreds of years old. Some even described the organization as "faith".

All branches of the Ten Rings operated as individual cells, with every cell operating independently of each other. The leaders of each cell had no idea who anyone was in any other cell save for one contact. Each cell would receive money and weapons as long as they received them and the leaders did not ask questions.

Being a multinational organization, members of Ten Rings branches speak multiple languages, including: Arabic, Dari, English, Farsi, Hungarian, Mongolian, Pashto, Russian and Urdu.

Kidnapping of Tony Stark

"Who are these people?"
"They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings."

―Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen^[src]

The Ten Rings capture Tony Stark.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the Ten Rings were operating mainly in Afghanistan. Obadiah Stane sold Stark Industries weapons illegally to at least one cell to help them achieve their purposes, and later made a deal with them to attack and massacre a military convoy. The attack on the convoy stopped once they realized the convoy included Tony Stark on a business trip to Afghanistan. The cell took him prisoner, filmed a video informing Stane that he would need to pay them more to kill such a target, and meanwhile they attempted to force a captive Stark to build them a Jericho missile.

Raza finds the Iron Man suit

After weeks in captivity, Stark created a suit of armor powered by invention of a miniaturized Arc Reactor, rather than the weapon he was tasked to build, and successfully escaped. Stark upgraded the suit the following days after his return to the United States into the Iron Man armor, and attacked various camps of the Ten Rings, destroying their weapons from Stark Industries and their members. Days later in the desert, the Ten Rings found the remains of the armor Stark used to escape and rebuilt it in an attempt to learn his secrets and build an army of Iron Man suits.

Raza proposed a deal with Stane, he would give him the armor free of charge only if Stane supplied him with an army of iron soldiers. Stane refused, instead betraying and paralyzing Raza and taking the suit for himself. Stane's men then executed the remaining Ten Rings soldiers, as well as Raza.

New Attacks

Ivan Vanko meets with a Ten Rings Agent

"This strike is only Ten Rings' latest step in global destabilization. There will be more..."

―Richard Frampton^[src]

Eventually, the Ten Rings was confronted by S.H.I.E.L.D., as Nick Fury sent United States Navy SEALs team to board a ship controlled by the Ten Rings in the port of Aden. However, Iron Man suddenly appeared and attacked the terrorists. Though the Seals were outnumbered by the terrorists, Iron Man had no problems with killing all the terrorists and saving the Seals. Some time later, a member of the Ten Rings aided Ivan Vanko to travel to Monaco in order to seek revenge on Stark. Around the same time, Natasha Romanoff ruined one Ten Rings operation, sabotaging their plain.

Soon, through various agents, the Ten Rings began buying parts of the Jericho missile from Mikhail Fjodorov. When Fjodorov stopped delivering parts of the missile, Richard Frampton hired Sofia to kill him. Frampton and his men successfully assembled the missile, which they intended to detonate near the border between Russia and North Korea, which would greatly destabilize the world peace. However, Sofia was followed by Black Widow who infiltrated the launch area and destroyed the missile. Both Frampton and Sofia were killed in the explosion, while the remaining Ten Rings agents were arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Phil Coulson.

Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings

After Stark became a consultant to S.H.I.E.L.D., the Ten Rings set a trap for James Rhodes, in order to take him and his suit, but failed. The soldiers of the Ten Rings informed the Mandarin that they managed to scan the suit during the Battle of Hong Kong and take enough information that would help them with their revenge on Stark.

Copy-Cat Terrorism

Trevor Slattery portrays the Mandarin

"Custom-made terror threat."
"Yes! Yes! His think tank thinked it up, the pathology of the serial killer. The manipulation of Western iconography. "Ready for another lesson?" Blah blah blah. Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life."

―Tony Stark and Trevor Slattery^[src]

After the Battle of New York, Aldrich Killian needed to masquerade his failed experiments with the Extremis virus as terrorist attacks. His think tank co-opted the iconography of the Ten Rings for their deception. Killian even employed Trevor Slattery to pose as the Mandarin and publicly take responsibility for those "terrorist attacks".

Kidnapping of Trevor Slattery

Trevor Slattery discusses the Ten Rings

"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]

After the battle on the Norco and the death of Aldrich Killian, Trevor Slattery was arrested and incarcerated at Seagate Penitentiary, so the Mandarin decided to meet him in person and take back his name. He sent Jackson Norriss, disguised as a documentarian, that went to the prison, seemingly to make an interview with Slattery. However, Norriss' real mission was to kidnap Slattery so the Mandarin himself could punish him for stealing his name.

Jackson Norriss threatens Trevor Slattery

During the interview, when Norriss told Slattery that the Ten Rings organization is real, Slattery didn't believe him. Then, Norriss suddenly took a pistol hidden in his camera and killed the prison guards in the room. Though Slattery tried to threaten Norriss with a pistol from one of the dead guards, Norriss easily disarmed him. Norriss then notified his colleagues about the situation and ordered them to attack the prison.

Interest in Pym Technologies

A Ten Rings Agent fights Ant-Man

A member of the Ten Rings was present at the Pym Technologies Headquarters when Darren Cross presented the Yellowjacket Suit to potential buyers. Working alongside Mitchell Carson's HYDRA cell, the agent drew his gun to execute Hank Pym and soon engaged in a fight with Ant-Man who had broken free of his cage to save Pym. Despite attempting to shoot the hero, the agent was quickly defeated and knocked unconscious. He was later killed when the Pym Technologies Headquarters imploded.

Members

Name	Position	Status
Mandarin	Leader	Alive
Raza	Commander	Deceased
Abu Bakaar		Unknown
Ahmed		Deceased
Omar		Deceased
Richard Frampton		Deceased
Jackson Norriss		Alive
HYDRA Buyer		Deceased
Agent		Alive
Naib		Alive
Cordo Gaines		Alive

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Since the Ten Rings was one of the most powerful terrorist organizations in the world, their members were equipped with all types of military weapons, even experimental ones. Anything that could be stolen or bought on the black market would eventually find its way to the terrorists' arsenal. All sorts of rifles, machine guns, handguns, heavy weapons, and even tanks, were used by the Ten Rings.

• Heckler & Koch USP: Pistol seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Heckler & Koch UMP45: Submachine gun seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Heckler & Koch G36KV: Carbine seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Heckler & Koch G36K: Carbine seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Heckler & Koch G36C: Subcarbine seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Heckler & Koch AG36: Underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher attachment, seen mounted on G36K carbines.
• SIG SG 552: Assault rifle seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Colt M4A1: Carbine seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• M26 MASS: Seen as an underbarrel shotgun attachment on M4A1 carbines.
• M203: Seen as an underbarrel grenade launcher attachment on M4A1 carbines; fires 40mm grenades.
• IMI Galil MAR: Assault rifle seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Browning M2: Machine gun seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• FGM-148 Javelin: Missile launcher seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• BGM-71 TOW: Missile launcher seen at the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• Magnum Research Micro Eagle: Compact pistol seen used by Ten Rings agent Jackson Norriss
• Stark Industries Fragmentation Shell: A timed-fuse detonated shell which relies on the fragmentation of its casing to kill. The wounds inflicted by the fragmented barbs can take about a week to reach the vital organs. In Afghanistan, casualties struck by this shell are colloquially known as the "walking dead" due to its effects.
• Jericho: A powerful cluster missile which has a massive area of effect by spreading the smaller munitions apart with Stark Industries proprietary repulsor technology.

Vehicles

As one of the dominant factions in Afghanistan, the Ten Rings needed rugged, reliable vehicles for combat and transport.

• AM General M-35: The main transport truck used by the Ten Rings.
• 1982 Toyota Truck: A technical used to escort Obadiah Stane and his private security contractors to the Ten Rings Camp in Afghanistan.
• M1 Abrams: A modified tank used by Ten Rings insurgents to shoot Iron Man out of the sky after he rescued the Afghan villagers.

External Links

• Ten Rings (Organization) on Marvel Database