Comics vs Movies: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
By Mike McNulty
The Mandarin
When Stan Lee and Don Heck created the Mandarin for Tales of Suspense #50, they clearly intended him to be an ersatz version of Fu Manchu. So having Shang-Chi being the Mandarin’s son instead of Fu Manchu’s in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings isn’t that far of a stretch. It also makes Shang-Chi have a greater connection to the larger MCU. Moreover, when you look at the character of Wenwu, he’s actually a composite character made up of different Marvel villains, of which the Mandarian happens to be one of them.
For those of you who are only familiar with Trevor Slattery’s bogus portrayal of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 (2013) – and why so many Iron Man fans got very upset over that twist – the Mandarin is supposed to be the archenemy of Tony Stark. He’s also a direct descendant of Genghis Khan (or so he claims), half-British, and lost his family estate due to not being able to pay taxes to the Chinese communist government. Or he was a poor orphan working for said estate.
Either way, the man who would become the Mandarin came across a hidden place called the Valley of the Spirits, where he found the wreckage of an alien space craft. Inside, he found what would become his ten magic rings, and he would use them to make himself into an international crime lord and arms dealer. Like in the first Iron Man movie, it was his organization who kidnapped Tony Stark in the hopes he could build weapons for them. He was also the lover of Justin Hammer’s daughter, who gave birth to one Sasha Hammer, who would go on to date Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger’s son, Zeke. Currently the Mandarin in the comics is dead, having been killed by the Punisher.
Wenwu in the movie also says he’s been known by many names, including “Master Khan.” Master Khan is the name of yet another Fu Manchu-style supervillain, who’s also the enemy of Iron Fist, and who’s mastery over the Mystic Arts rivals that of Doctor Strange. He also had the misfortune of trying to brainwash Namor the Sub-Mariner, who ended up killing him instead.