50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

28. The Mandarin

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

Is it possible for a villain to become one of the greats even though he doesn’t have a definitive version? I’d submit that the Mandarin is proof that it is.

Almost Iron Man’s archenemy by default, it’s tough to say exactly who the Mandarin really is. He could be the half-Chinese, half-English descendant of Genghis Khan. In more recent stories, it’s been suggested that he was actually the son of a prostitute who got his start as a vicious yet garden variety crime lord before he discovered the ten alien rings that give him his powers. He’s been portrayed in different stories as a criminal mastermind using others to do his fighting, as a master of martial arts powerful enough to survive on chi alone, and as a brilliant technologist.

Whatever take on Mandarin you prefer (unless it’s the red herring we got in Iron Man 3), his ten rings make him the functional equivalent to all the surprises Tony Stark always has in any suit of Iron Man armor. A different power in each ring is a great gimmick, one that always manages to survive no matter how writers tinker with the character’s backstory.

And maybe that’s really all we need to appreciate the Mandarin. He’s made so many appearances in animation, video games and other media that it’s obvious that fans accept him, regardless of how he’s presented. It’s not quite style over substance, but maybe an example of how if the core concept of a character is strong enough, everything else simply falls into place.

Next: No. 27: Root for the bad guy