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As Iron Man, Tony Stark managed to master the ten rings of Marvel’s Mandarin in the comic book Marvel Universe long before Shang-Chi did in the MCU.
Before the MCU’s Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, there was another heroic master of the Mandarin’s Ten Rings. While he usually deals with technology more than mysticism, Tony Stark ended up mastering the rings the last time they appeared in the comics. The story comes to a head in 2014’s Iron Man #28, by Kieron Gillen, Joe Bennett, Scott Hanna and VC’s Joe Carmanga, but there were many events that led to the unification of the Ten Rings’ power within a Master Ring.
This preamble to Superior Iron Man had Tony Stark returning to Earth after he accepted Star Lord’s offer to join the Guardians of the Galaxy and discovered he was not only adopted, but had a brother named Arno who was hidden from him all his life. Somehow the deceased Mandarin’s rings had gained sentience and found new ring bearers including Thor’s long time adversary Malekith the Accursed.
Each of the Mandarin’s Rings granted the ring bearer various powers and abilities, including invisibility, foresight, matter manipulation and more. Following the death of the Mandarin at the hands of Zeke Stane, his powerful rings were taken into the protective custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. When Tony returned to Earth with the corpse of Rigellian Recorder 451 and discovered he had a long lost brother named Arno, the rings gained sentience through 451’s alien frequency. Soon after, they escaped confinement in search of new ring bearers.
The new ring bearers chosen by the rings themselves included a reporter named Abigail Burns, Malekith the Accursed, Mole Man and others. Working with his brother Arno, Tony searched for the rings and a solution to contain their power. Malekith had similar plans, learning there were nine other rings of power and aimed to take them for himself. However, the other ring bearers decided to work together and turned on the dark elf.
During all of this, Tony Stark’s life had become extremely tumultuous. He was rocked by the revelation that he was not only adopted but had a brother hidden away from him for decades. Additionally, Arno’s intelligence matched and even potentially surpassed his own, and he had the ego to match. He and Tony created a technological haven named Troy in the wake of the Mandarin’s destroyed home base. And within those walls, Arno began to experiment with the Extremis virus to turn it into a universal cure. Outraged, Tony buried himself in the hunt for the rings leading him to confront Malekith. Luckily, the dark elf relinquished the ring to avoid death so he could restore his kingdom. During that journey, Tony was able to acquire three of the other rings which helped him analyze their data and reverse engineer the powerful items.
Using the information they gathered, Arno and Tony were able to create a ‘Master Ring,’ which they used in a final confrontation with the remaining ring bearers. This gave them the ability to take the other rings from their present hosts with less difficulty than they would have initially encountered. Along with Arno in a powerful suit of armor, former ring bearer and reporter Abigail Burns assisted Tony in their endeavor. Foiling the cabal of ring bearers’ plans to take over humanity, the Stark brothers collected the remaining rings and returned 451’s body to the Rigellians. Afterwards, Arno gave one of the rings to Abigail, who used the power to become the heroic Red Peril.
Although the Ten Rings have not been seen in the comics since, their introduction into the MCU may spark their return to the comics, especially considering that it was never made clear what Tony and Arno did with the remaining rings.
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