Is Shang-Chi's Father The Real Mandarin? It's Complicated

After Trevor Slattery and Aldrich Killian were confirmed not to be the MCU's real Mandarin, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings finally reveals the owner of the moniker, but is Xu Wenwu the direct live-action counterpart of the Marvel villain? Most superheroes have their respective archnemesis. Spider-Man has the Green Goblin, Captain America has the Red Skull, and Iron Man has the Mandarin. But as comic books have expanded over the years, the relationship between heroes and villains has become more complex, and live-action adaptations have followed suit.

Hence, the MCU has given its heroes unique journeys where they're not locked down on a single threat. Although all movies in the Infinity Saga led to the Avengers' battle against Thanos, every hero had to face a different villain in each installment, with antagonists like Red Skull, Abomination, and Ultron only pushing them to evolve until they were physically and mentally strong enough to confront the Mad Titan. Phase 4 seems to follow the same pattern, as Shang-Chi's origin story pits him against Wenwu — the legendary villain who played a crucial role in Tony Stark's journey as Iron Man but whom he never truly met.

Marvel Studios made a bold choice in making Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery an actor who played a parody of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, with Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian calling himself the real Mandarin at the end of the movie. But even after the One-Shot short All Hail The King teased the actual warlord looming in the background, and after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings featured him as the main antagonist, the question remains: Is Wenwu the definitive Mandarin?

Who Is Wenwu?

Tony Leung's Xu Wenwu is, without a doubt, the one in charge of the Ten Rings organization and the person Aldrich Killian and Trevor Slattery tried to impersonate. As Shang-Chi reveals, Wenwu discovered the titular Ten Rings thousands of years before the birth of his children, Shang-Chi and Xialing. These mystical weapons allowed him to become an immortal conqueror so powerful that he became a legend, leading him to win countless wars throughout history without having to reveal himself to the public. His fame forged the legend of "The Mandarin," further reinforced by the supernatural abilities the Ten Rings granted him.

As ambitious as ever, Wenwu sought the mythical village of Ta Lo in order to increase his power. But instead of power, he found the love of his life, Ying Li. Unfortunately, Wenwu returned to his cold-blooded ways after the Iron Gang murdered Ying Li, and his grievance shifted his focus once again towards the Ten Rings terrorist organization. Chronologically, this is where Wenwu begins to influence the MCU — kidnapping Tony Stark, hiring Ivan Vanko a.k.a Whiplash to kill Stark, and taking Trevor Slattery as a prisoner for his offensive impersonation.

The Mandarin In Marvel Comics

The Mandarin's origin dates back to Tales of Suspense #50, in February 1964. Proud of his heritage as a descendant of Genghis Khan, he embarks on a quest for power. The Mandarin finds the Makluan Axonn-Karr amidst a wreckage, but instead of aiding the extraterrestrial being, he steals the Ten Rings and murders him, which leads him to become consumed with his status as a terrorist and a supervillain, fight the Avengers, and attempt to kill Iron Man.

Throughout the years, the Mandarin develops a personal vendetta against Tony Stark and everything he represents. With few other motivations, he turns into a one-note villain with little chance for redemption. It's in The Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 where the Mandarin gains a new layer of complexity, as he kidnaps Jun Shan, a documentary filmmaker, to make a biopic about him. As the Mandarin narrates his life story, Jun Shan realizes that he has lied about his life all along, and worst of all, he has believed it all himself. When the filmmaker attempts to expose the villain, the Mandarin kills him. Iron Man's nemesis never learns his lesson, and he continues his quest to destabilize society.

Shang-Chi Rejects The Mandarin

Having established that Wenwu is the person often referred to as "the Mandarin," Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings decides to distance him from the moniker. While catching up with his estranged children, Wenwu clarifies that Aldrich Killian and Trevor Slattery stole his iconography and used the name "Mandarin" to sow fear in the west, as it sounded sinister enough to cause panic in the masses. Wenwu notes how absurd it was, saying “he gave me the name of a chicken dish. It worked. America was afraid of an orange.” The title is something Wenwu never associated himself with.

Without the Mandarin's mustache-twirling personality, his clichéd appearance, or his original moniker, the MCU makes Wenwu an original character and renders most of the comic book villain's trademark traits irrelevant. With this change, Marvel does away with the harmful racial stereotypes of its Asian villains, as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ignores the existence of Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi's original father in the comics. And instead of replacing him with a similar antagonist, the movie introduces a refined, complex, and believable depiction of the Ten Rings' leader.

How MCU Changes The Mandarin

The Mandarin in Marvel Comics and Wenwu in Shang-Chi

None of the characters associated with "The Mandarin" in the MCU are a direct equivalent of the original Marvel character. While the controversial twist in Iron Man 3 diminished the collective threat of Trevor Slattery, Aldrich Killian, and Xu Wenwu, it established a strong setup for Wenwu's characterization. The MCU managed to pay homage to the character's origins with the introduction of the flashy "foreign threat" that Trevor Slattery embodied, but also commented on the role ignorance and the media play in misunderstanding different cultures. Instead of avoiding the character altogether, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings turned the person behind the "Mandarin" moniker into an antagonist who's power-hungry, resentful, and ruthless, but is also driven by the love for his family and his care for legacy. Xu Wenwu is technically the MCU's Mandarin, but he's far from the outdated villain introduced in Marvel's Tales of Suspense #50.

More: How Marvel Retconned Its Iron Man 3 Mandarin Controversy