He went from a villain that wanted the most advance tech (usually Stark’s) to a person who wanted to destroy technology. Introduced in Tales of Suspense #50 (1964) by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the unnamed Chinese man, born from an English prostitute and her drug dealer, was once a common criminal. After the Communist Party came into power, he began a fugitive. He fled into a cave where he found a spaceship of the Makluan, (Fin Fang Foom’s race). In the ship he found 10 cylinder like obtains which he stole and wore on each of his figures. This transformed him into a warrior and alter his mind. He went onto becoming a crimelord with his own city. Mandarin first encounter Iron Man, when the Avengers visited China.

This encounter made Mandarin believe that if could control the world’s most advance technology and weapons he could rule the world. Thus began his campaign to try and steal Stark’s tech, usually ending up failing. But Iron Man wouldn’t be the only hero he fought as he would go onto fight the Avengers, Fantastic Four, The Hulk and Captain America to name but a few, either alone or with a team of villains. He would even go onto to lead the Hand, which brought him into direct conflict with the X-men and led to the Psylocke mind swap. He later came under control of Foom and his comrade but teamed up with Iron Man to stop them, but left him in a coma. He was believed killed during the Heart of Darkness arc but was instead transported to a Hong Kong prison run by Stark, without his memories. They eventually returned and it was around this time his changes his ways and instead decided to bring the world back to a more primitive time by destroying the world tech. He would eventually work behind the scene leading to having other villains attack Iron Man like Ezekiel Stane with the help of his daughter, Sasha Hammer, granddaughter of Justin Hammer. This would eventually lead to a battle not only with Iron Man but with a number of villains forced to work with the Mandarin.

Unfortunately, despite being Iron Man’s arch-foe, Mandarin has had very few good figures made. (Red Skull has had more figures and his a f-ing Nazi!) Toybiz release 1 (plus a variant) as part of their second wave of Face-Off 2-packs but there hasn’t been a new figure since.

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Have

Hands of the Mandarin

Recommend Figure:  Toybiz Marvel Legends Face-Off Series 2 Mandarin with Iron Man

• Background:
  • This outfit comes from the Hands of the Mandarin story arc where we see the Mandarin launching a relentless attack against Iron Man, War Machine and Force Works.
• Why you need it for your collection?:
  • Okay. Unless you absolutely have to have a Mandarin figure in your collection, do not get this (or the red one either). This is a horrible figure that is greatly hindered by the robe and it cannot move because of it.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • Yes. Oh God Yes. Hasbro give us a new Mandarin figure already!!

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Needs

Below you will find a gallery of suits that still need to be made. I have included what I think are the possibilities of them being made. Note that these are my personal opinions and not fact. Please let me know if I have missed anything.