The Mandarin appreciation 2023

[MichaelC]

Stark calls the Mandarin's brain "almost superhuman".


Stark calls the Mandarin a savage, super-strong fighter and a master of science.


Stark believes that the Mandarin's mastery of martial arts is so great he could shatter the armor if Stark makes one mistake in battle.

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin damages the armor with a karate-chop.


The Mandarin damages the armor with a karate-chop again.


The Mandarin breaks Iron Man's arm with a palm-strike.

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin's rings are destroyed by a Yellow Claw gizmo, yet The Mandarin's steel-shattering martial arts power remains.

[Frontier]

[Nero]

My first exposure to the Mandarin came in the form of the 'Hands of the Mandarin" story arc. My favorite encounter between Iron Man and the Mandarin took place in Iron Man #311 because aside from the emphasis on what makes the Mandarin the perfect dark mirror to Iron Man, it also highlighted just how dangerous the Mandarin is without his rings. Obviously this has been demonstrated before however considering this was my first time seeing the Mandarin and him being diverse in his fighting skills, he instantly became one of my favorite Marvel villains and my all time favorite Iron Man villain.

I look forward to the Mandarin inevitably returning and plaguing Iron Man again.

[Riv86672]

Wow, so great to see some Mandarin love!

I look forward to the Mandarin inevitably returning and plaguing Iron Man again.

^^^Same.
Of all of Tony’s bad guys (and make no mistake I love me some Controller and Fin Fang Foom), Mandarin is the one I’d mark out for the most.

[ARkadelphia]

It’s my favorite restaurant

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin's senses and reflexes are unnatural.

[MichaelC]

Iron Man gives him a superhumanly strong punch that sends him flying at least twenty feet, yet he isn't harmed in the slightest.

[MichaelC]

Iron Man rams The Mandarin through several walls...



Yet the Mandarin comes back uninjured and on the attack.

[MichaelC]

Iron Man blasts the Mandarin with his unibeam, his repulsors, and the Mandarin's own rings at the same time.



The Mandarin is badly injured, but still has enough strength left to punch a hole in a steel containment device.

[MichaelC]

Fanart of The Mandarin's reaction to finding out that his aunt squandered every bit of his wealth having him trained to be her super-soldier.

[Sutekh]

I like the potential for the Mandarin to not just serve as an Iron Man villain, but a mover-and-shaker in his own sphere of influence. He's almost off-handedly *created an Avenger* in the Swordsman, and could easily field an entire team of regional heroes (since he hardly thinks of himself as a villain). Since he's developed fighting skills, advanced alien technology, and dabbled in both mentalism and mystical matters, his Hong Kong-based team wouldn't be limited to a bunch of tech-users, but could be well-rounded, including skilled fighters, psychics, local mutants, a mystic / alchemist sort, someone modified into a hybrid dragon-man by Makluan DNA, etc. (Although, yes, one or more would use the sort of Makluan tech that he included in Swordsman's sword, to allow it to shoot lightning, fire, ice or paralyzing nerve gas!)

[Thirteen]

My first real exposure to the Mandarin was from the Legendary Psylocke "Nimbo" Trilogy in X-MEN #256-258 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee:

Wondering if Betsy Braddock wasn't the only character to get a makeover in those issues or if it marks the modernization of the Mandarin himself as well?

[MichaelC]

Fanart of Doctor Doom visiting The Mandarin's castle.