Marvel re-imagined: The Mandarin.
Xu Wenwu was born in the mid 1920s. His mother was a prostitute, bastard daughter of an English soldier, and his father was a low level criminal.
His mother ended up dying under unkown circumstances when he was only a child. He later ended up murdering his father.
Gao, the Madame of the brothel he was raised at, took him under her wing. Among other things she taught him several lenguages (including Chinese, English, Japanese and Russian).
Since childhood he was treated differently because his mother was mixed and he was a bastard.
During the Japanese ocupation, he was captured and sent to Unit 731. Managing to survive because he could act as translator between the Japanese officials and the Chinese and Russian prisoners. He spent several years there, until 1943, where he was traded to a high ranking British officer who needed a translator.
The officer was Gene Kent, his grandfather. Gene had located Wenwu, because he was his only living descendant. Still he was treated as a servant as they traveled the world during the war. In the west he was also treated differently because of his race.
When Gene fell sick, he promised to leave him his fortune after his demise. Wenwu murdered him and went back to China with his newfound fortune.
When Mao's revolution started, Wenwu's assets where taken by the goverment and he was emprisoned. He was rescued by British agent Union Jack, as their goverment had need of him.
A spaceship had crashed inside an old military outpost in Kowloon. The British's translator couldn't figure out the alien lenguage, and since they had no time to bring another expert, they needed Wenwu's help. The officer in charge, Arnold Brock, knew Wenwu from when he was Kent's translator. He knew he had killed Kent and could've had him arrested or murdered, but he spared him because he knew one day he would need of him.
Wenwu found the dead Makluan alien inside the ship. He wasn't much bigger than a man; the British scientists theorized "the being" could change size at will.
The alien reminded Wenwu of an old Chinese tale, about a boy who tricked a dragon into fighting off the foreign invaders to free his people. As times went by, the invaders in the story changed to adapt to current history (when Wenwu was a child they were British, when he told the story to the children in Unit 731 they were Japanese).
Wenwu figured out the lenguage and learned the secret of the creature; The Makluans were made of living energy, the corpse they found was only an empty husk. His real self was insade The Ten Rings that controlled the ship.
Wenwu appropiated the rings. The Makluan lives inside of him, and he now has his memories and all of his knowledge. He used his newfound power to kill off the British army keeping him there, including Brock.
A city was built in that military outpost; The Walled City of Kowloon, which became his main headquarters. It housed a total of 35.000 residents, and was ran over by Wenwu's gangs.
Wenwu gave himself the alias of "The Mandarin", which had originated as a mistranslation by the Portuguese. He choose the name because for the west it was a powerfull figure from the East, and for the East it was another symbol of foreign ocupation. He had always been treated as an outsider, so the name was his way of saying he didn't belong nowhere.
Eventually he became the biggest weapon dealer in the world. His organization, The Ten Rings, has also stirred some conflicts all over the globe. His goal is for an eternal World War in which he provides weapons to all sides.
The main energy of The Makluan creature is stored in a reactor in his house. There are several across the world (one of them is the one powering Stark Industries, and another is unkowningly carried by Tony in his chest), and each is controlled by the rings.
In regards of look, I'd like him to look like a Chinese Tony Stark. While Tony has the heart reactor, Wenwu has some small dragon scales around his neck (like in the 90s cartoon, because his body is hosting by The Makluan).
I can't draw, but I did this concept with the program Heromachine (no AI). His main look would be a suit, a green leather coat, and a scarf, and I'd replace the mask with purple sunglasses. I based him on Tony Leung in 2046, because he portrayed him in the MCU (and because he is cool as hell).
I wanted the shirt's neck to look like an "M" as an homage to his original logo.
I also like the idea of him having his own Armor similar to his appearance 'Iron Man: Armored Adventures'. But to make it different to other Iron Man villains (like The Iron Monguer, or The Crimson Dynamo), his armor is The Makluan's corpse. It looks like Adi Gradinov's Fing Fang Foom design (but Green).
