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The Mandarin has been Iron Man’s most dangerous opponent since they were both introduced back in the 1960s. The son of a wealthy Chinese father and an English noblewoman, Mandarin became especially dangerous after discovering a collection of ten rings of power that were used to power an alien space ship. In this respect, Mandarin is the magical opposite to Iron Man’s science-based strength.
Still, the character is no stranger to science as well, utilizing both science and magic to constantly push Iron Man to his absolute limits, often trapping Iron Man within one of his castles or headquarters and throwing an array of traps at the Avenger. After leaving Iron Man battered and bruised, it always leads to one final confrontation of physical fortitude and wits, with Iron Man just narrowly escaping every time. Mandarin is a perfect example of how a great hero needs dangerous villains.
10 Tales of Suspense #50 Saw Mandarin Fight Iron Man As His Armor Was Running Low On Power
Iron Man runs into the Mandarin for the first time thanks to the US military specifically asking him to investigate a strange new threat. Though Iron Man is able to find the Mandarin easily enough, he’s woefully unprepared for him.
His suit is nearly out of power, and Mandarin has what seems like countless tricks from his different rings to a castle that’s packed with secrets to help him in a protracted fight. In the end, Iron Man just narrowly escapes as his armor almost stops working.
9 Tales of Suspense #54-55 Had Mandarin Destroying Stark Technology Until Iron Man Defeated Him
After Tony’s first battle against the Mandarin, he’s not eager for a round two. But when the Mandarin invents a way to stop his weapons, Tony’s forced to travel back to the Mandarin’s castle and go head to head with him.
The result is him narrowly surviving again, holding on just long enough for him to discover how the Mandarin is shutting down his weapons and sabotaging his weaponry before quickly escaping as the power in his armor wanes.
8 Tales of Suspense #61-62 Explains The Mandarin’s Origins
This issue gives fans the origin of the Mandarin, which is surprisingly well-formed for the era. After making an attempt to kill Tony Stark by blowing up his mansion, Mandarin then captures Iron Man and explains how it all began for him. He talks about spending his entire inherited fortune on training and learning, then eventually finding an alien ship and their power source: Ten rings of great power.
After mastering them, he became the man known as the Mandarin— but he still isn’t able to defeat Iron Man. Instead, he gets tricked when he sends a missile at one target only for Iron Man to direct it at the Chinese army instead, resulting in them attacking the Mandarin and allowing a weakened Iron Man to get away.
7 Tales to Astonish #66 Features A Guest Appearance Of The Mandarin In Ant-Man’s Comic
This doesn’t actually see Ant-Man deal with the Mandarin, but instead sees him have to confront one of the Mandarin’s protégé. Madame Macabre was a young woman who was saved by the Mandarin from an accident because of her intelligence, and from that moment forward he became her benefactor.
He had her experience the very best of tutelage, which led to her gaining the ability to shrink non-living items. She comes to Ant-Man with the hopes of teaming up with him to take over the world, but he turns her down and creates a new enemy in the process.
6 Avengers Vol. 1 #20 Has Mandarin Trying To Recruit The Swordsman To Sabotage The Avengers
The Mandarin is still pretty ticked at Tony Stark for dodging all his attempts to take him out, but this time he takes a break from all that to go up against the Avengers. The supervillain the Swordsman makes an attempt to join the Avengers, but when they reject him he’s suddenly teleported away by the Mandarin.
The Mandarin convinces him to join up with him and place an explosive in Avengers Mansion. The plan would’ve succeeded, but the Swordsman gets caught when he struggles with a guilty conscience and goes back to get rid of the device.
5 Fantastic Four Annual Vol. 1 #3 Features A Brainwashed Mandarin Attacking The Wedding Of Reed Richards & Sue Storm
This wasn’t a major appearance for the Mandarin, but it’s still noteworthy. Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman are finally getting married, but of course that means everyone wants to come ruin the wedding before it happens.
They wind up getting attacked by every relevant Marvel villain— but it turns out it’s all because of Dr. Doom, who controls a number of villains to attack the Fantastic Four. Reed invents a device that sends them all back where they came from with no memory of their actions, leaving the couple to get on with their nuptials.
4 Tales of Suspense Vol. 1 #76-78 Introduces Mandarin’s Greatest Weapon: Ultimo
The Mandarin wasn’t just a dangerous dictator. He was also a genius that was responsible for one of Iron Man’s most powerful villains: The giant robot, Ultimo. After just narrowly dealing with his friend Happy being transformed into The Freak, Tony Stark finds himself teleported to the Mandarin once again to watch him wake the powerful robot he’s invented and plans to use to conquer the planet.
Ultimately, Stark is only able to suit back up because the Mandarin attempts to kill him, knocking him into another room and allowing him to escape. Ultimo is eventually stopped because of Mandarin’s inability to give up control, using Ultimo’s strongest attack in the middle of a volcano.
3 Tales of Suspense Vol. 1 #84-86 Has Iron Man Rescue His Friend Happy Hogan From Mandarin’s Clutches
When suspicion is raised that Tony Stark might actually be Iron Man, Tony Stark’s friend Happy Hogan decides to pretend to be Iron Man for a while to throw off the suspicion. This leads to Mandarin kidnapping Happy with the intention of finally ridding himself of his long-time foe.
While Stark isn’t actually in shape to fight, he manages to build a new armor that’s both more powerful and protective, allowing him to rescue his friend. This three-part story ends with Tony beating Mandarin in hand-to-hand combat before having the Mandarin’s castle destroyed by a missile Mandarin made himself.
2 Avengers Annual Vol. 1 #1 Shows Mandarin Gathering An Army To Battle The Avengers & Take Over The World
The Mandarin wants to take over the world, but he needs to defeat the Avengers first. So he settles for both by assembling a large group of villains to battle an Avengers team made up of both founders and newcomers.
This is a massive comic that ends with the Avengers fighting the Mandarin out in space, and nearly being defeated by the Mandarin’s hate ray that turns all the Avengers against one another. Fortunately the Wasp is there to turn off the hate ray, and afterwards Mandarin basically takes himself out.
1 Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #107-108 Has Mandarin Attempt To Get The Hulk Under His Control
The Mandarin would occasionally have schemes that didn’t involve fighting Iron Man, but they still involved trying to get someone to become his lackey and work for him. This time Hulk was teleported to one of Mandarin’s locations and tested by the Mandarin’s traps.
Though Hulk easily destroyed them all, eventually Mandarin outsmarted him and knocked him out with gas, then placing him under control with a hidden mind control chip. Fortunately Nick Fury was able to get Mandarin’s controller away from him, which restored Hulk back to normal— who promptly got his revenge by destroying the Mandarin’s castle.
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