Should The Mandarin become Shang-Chi's arch-enemy in the comics?

[MichaelC]

He's becoming Shang-Chi's arch-enemy in the movies. And he does have the same powerset as Shang-Chi, i.e. martial arts and ability to enhance their bodies with mystic chi.

On the other hand, the Mandarin has a bunch of other things that put him out of Shang's weight-class: i.e. the rings, genius intellect, enormous amounts of money and criminal/corporate/politic power.

And of course there is the weight of history. Then again history doesn't matter much in comics anymore.

I dunno. What do you think?

[Frontier]

If they make Mandarin Shang-Chi's father in the movie, I wonder if the comics would try to retcon it...although Shang isn't as likely to have a continuing comic as Iron Man, so I'm not sure how much Shang/Mandarin mileage they can get in the comics.

I don't think Ghost is suddenly an Ant-Man and Wasp villain.

[LordUltimus]

Why not? Kingpin can be a Daredevil and a Spider-Man villain.

[Tien Long]

I've always been one for blending the two characters. Zheng Zu finds the Mandarin's rings and becomes the new Mandarin. It's still the same Zheng Zu, but now he has the Mandarin title. Elevates Shang's father and Shang Chi.

There are some hurdles. I believe both Zheng Zu and the Mandarin are dead. :/ . But hey this is comics. Easy to resurrect and make this happen.

[MichaelC]

Since he's Fu Manchu, and the whole point of using the Mandarin seems to be to drop Fu Manchu, I think Zeng Zu is likely to remain dead. Which means this would most likely be the Tem Borjigin Mandarin.

I think a fight between Mandarin and Shang would be more interesting than Fu Manchu, since the Mandarin has top-tier martial arts skills and athleticism, and Fu Manchu does not.

[Silvermoth]

I definitely think so. Iron man has a better archnemesis in stane anyway

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Why not? Kingpin can be a Daredevil and a Spider-Man villain.

Good point! Mandarin can be a War Machine, X-Men(Wolverine, Psylocke and Jubilee) and Shang-Chi villain.