Prince of Orphans
The Prince of Orphans is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
John Aman
The young rich explorer came to join a band of nine individuals that included Len Mackenzie, Atlantean war-princess Fen, the rogue Captain Nemo, Ivar the Strong, Orissa Kravinov the Aviatrix, the writer Farrady Bobbs, the thief Musidora and finally Judex the Shadow. (Defenders v4 #8) Alongside the Confederates of the Curious, he came to find a mysterious device known as a Concordance Engine. (Defenders v4 #7) It was then that they encountered Prestor John. In addition, they had felt a call that brought them to the machine where they were determined to protect it and its compatriots scattered around the Earth. (Defenders v4 #8) It was known that as one of the Immortal Weapons, he had participated in numerous tournaments and was respected for his skill as well as his age. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12) At some point over the years, he was noted to had encountered the evil crime lord known as Zheng Zu.
During World War II, he was noted to had encountered Captain America with the two ending up as friends. (Secret Avengers v1 #7) During this time, the pair had encountered John Steele who was a comrade-in-arms that fought against Nazi Germany. (Secret Avengers v1 #9) One of their missions had them going to Prussia following reports of secret Nazi experiments at a castle in the region. During this time, a monstrous creature was accidentally released during Captain America and Steele's infiltration. This caused Steve Rogers to be separated from his comrade in order to battle the beast with the Prince of Orphans aiding him. Captain America suggested Prince of Orphans using his mist form to deposit grenades into the monstrous creature with this ultimately killing it. The two then went to rendezvoused with Steele but he had mysteriously vanished and went missing for the rest of the war. (Secret Avenges v1 #12)
The Prince of Orphans was then dispatched to track down Orson Randall by the masters of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven who wanted the recovery of the golden coins that represented each of their respective lands. Aman had been sent by the Seven Cities of Heaven to assassinate Orson Randall in order to kill another 'immortal weapon' like himself. Chasing Randall around the world, Aman would come close to killing his foe, only to yield honorably when Randall's allies would be injured. Eventually, Randall hinted that the masters of the Seven Cities had lied to Aman concerning the Tournament of the Seven Cities, in which every decade the victorious city is allowed to merge with the Earthly plane. Feeling betrayed after discovering the cities' masters had developed gateways to Earth without the knowledge of the cities' populace, Aman dropped his quest against Randall and vowed to make the city masters pay. Randall told Aman to assist the next Iron Fist in a revolution against the Seven Cities. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1 #1)
At the Heart of Heaven, the Immortal Weapons are the champions of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. Each would face each other in various arenas. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #8) Davos revealed that he now was known as the Steel Phoenix. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #10) He thus proceeded to the second round of the tournament where the victors of the prior matches fought each other. Aman was chosen to battle Fat Cobra but he made a request for a change in opponent as he intended to battle the Steel Phoenix. His request was honoured with the confident Steel Phoenix stating that he would be even more vicious to him than Tiger's Beautiful Daughter. However, the Prince of Orphans cared not for his words as he intended to humble the warrior for his disrespectful actions against Tiger's Beautiful Daughter and effortlessly defeated his opponent. This was intended as a lesson in the importance of honor and a code in a tournament with Steel Phoenix yielding as he fell unconscious. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12) He joined the other Immortal Weapons in the defense of the cities from Hydra. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #13) Working together they easily defeated the invading forces. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #14) Later, after saving the Celestial Cities from the Hydra plot to destroy them, he came to New York with Iron Fist like the other Weapons, where he fought with the Iron Fist against Ch'i-Lin, a mystic beast that kills the Iron Fist on his 33rd birthday and uses his heart to gain access to the dragon's egg, which he attempts to consume. At the Rand Corporation, and looked into Xaos learning he was descended from the Lightning Lords of Nepal. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #16) They helped Iron Fist against Zhou Cheng, the host of Ch'i-Lin. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #19) At Cheng's penthouse apartment they find a partial map to the Eighth City, but were nearly killed by a bomb. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #20) At the gates of the Eighth City Weapons focused their chi energies to open the gateway. Weakened through the process they were unable to fight off a group of monstrous creatures. They are brought before their master Changming. They were forced into gladiatorial combat and only rescued from the brink of death. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #22) The only way they could communicate with each other is through Morse code. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #23) The witnessed a fight between Danny and Changming claimed was the first Iron Fist, Quan Yaozu Tiger's Beautiful Daughter escaped and freed the others. They then attempted to escape. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #24) Working together they open the gateway, but this was Changming's plan all along. Working together they are able to escape trapping the creatures in the Eighth City. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #25)
During the Fear Itself event, the doors to the Eighth City were on the verge of being opened again forcing Fat Cobra and the Immortal Weapons to reunite once again in Beijing with the addition of War Machine who had accompanied Prince of Orphans from Washington, D.C. to close the gate. (Iron Man 2.0 v1 #5) However, after being defeated by Titania and Absorbing Man, when the Immortal Weapons started the ceremony, Iron Fist had come under the possession of Agamotto which was creating a mystical interference that prevented the Immortal Weapons from closing the gate. (Iron Man 2.0 v1 #6) After Iron Fist overpowered the other Immortal Weapons, a reluctant War Machine fought him and due to Doctor Strange infusing some magic to War Machine's gun, it allowed for Iron Fist to be knocked out, allowing for the ceremony to be completed. (Iron Man 2.0 v1 #7)
In Kunming, China, there was a site guarded by an ancient senile K'un-Lun dragon that contained an undead army of vengeance spirits that sought revenge against a Chinese emperor. They were to remain trapped until the dragon protector had passed away with the Prince of Orphans determining that this would be a danger to thousands of the spirits were freed. Thus, he called upon the aid of the Iron Fist with Danny Rand travelling to China to help the Prince of Orphans. Whilst Iron Fist battled the dragon, John would travel into the tomb and fight the spirits as his Green Mist of Death meant he was the only one able to battle them. (Immortal Weapons v1 #5)
Commander Steve Rogers came to recruit the Prince of Orphans to help the Secret Avengers they learnt that Zheng Zu was being resurrected by his followers. Reluctantly agreeing to help the heroes, he went across sites in China to hunt down for information that he passed to the Secret Avengers. Afterwards, they learnt that the Celestial Order of the Hai-Dai were dispatched to assassinate Shang-Chi though the Prince of Orphans intercepted them where he helped eliminate attackers. (Secret Avengers v1 #6) Alongside Brunnhilde, he and the Valkyrie went to investigate he resting site of Zheng Zu to check whether the villains Hai-Dai warriors had resurrected their master. Once there, they encountered armed agents of the Shadow Council where the two heroes took one of the guards back to the Secret Avengers for interrogation. (Secret Avengers v1 #7) He later joined the Secret Avengers when the Council had captured Shang-Chi and Zheng Zu intended to sacrifice his son to restore himself completely. The ritual was interrupted causing Zheng Zu to turn to stone with the Prince of Orphans shattering his body thus ensuring that the warlord was killed once again. (Secret Avengers v1 #10)
He was later present in the devastated K'un-Lun that had been ravaged by The One who was responsible for killing the Yu-Ti Lei Kung whose body with its severed head left kneeling by the Tree of Immortality. The Prince of Orphans attempted to ease the news to Danny Rand when he arrived at the destroyed city and then asked for him to eat from the Tree of Immortality so that he could join K'un-Lun as an Immortal so that he could repay the land by rebuilding it as the new Yu-Ti. However, Rand rejected this and instead sought revenge against the person that killed Lei Kung with an angry Prince of Orphans using his powers to knock Danny towards his target. (Iron Fist: The Living Weapon v1 #3)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, John Aman was a tall bald headed male with a muscular body. On his chest was a tattoo that was the mark of the Thunderer and indicated his allegiance to the Army of Thunder's cause. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12)
He was noted for being mysterious even to those that cultivated mystery. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #8) It was said that he preferred to remain off the grid and it took a lot to convince him to even accept a communicator. (Secret Avengers v1 #6)
He stated that he was not an evil person but he was not above engaging in acts for the greater good. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1 #1) Despite that, he felt he was a man with a code and followed unstated rules such as those of a tournament. He grew angry at those that defied this code such as when Steel Phoenix mercilessly beat Tiger's Beautiful Daughter with Prince of Orphans intending to humble Davos for his actions. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12)
After meeting Captain America in World War II, the Prince of Orphans came to greatly respect the hero and considered him an old friend. (Secret Avengers v1 #7)
Powers and abilities
He could move across the room, or to another spot on the planet, as he did when he teleported himself from China to New York City and back in a few moments. (Immortal Weapons v1 #5)
He was able to survive being stabbed with a bladed weapon with this not impeding him or injuring to any great extent. (Secret Avengers v1 #6) Aman was capable of picking up the unique vibrational frequencies of objects allowing to distinguish items from different dimensions thus giving him the edge in tracking them. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1 #1) He could turn into a mist to surprise someone by suddenly appearing before them or change into a mist to avoid gunfire. (Secret Avengers v1 #7) One trick he used was turning into mist form and hiding in the body of another person. The person could be conscious and simply exhaled allowing Aman to ambush people. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1 #1) He could replace the air surrounding him with the Green Death Mist thus poisoning people and causing them to choke to death. (Defenders v4 #8)
One powerful blow he could use was Jawsnapper in Twilight whereby he launched multiple punishing punches whilst shifting into his mist state. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12)
The Prince of Orphans was noted to had operated from his jungle kingdom of Z’Gambo. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1 #1)
Notes
- The Prince of Orphans was created by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja where he made his first appearance in Immortal Iron Fist v1 #8 (October, 2007).
- The character was based on Amazing-Man from Centaur Publications.
- His name as John Aman occurred in Immortal Iron Fist v1 #12 (February, 2008).
- In an interview on CBR, writer Matt Fraction commented, "After inspiring one of our favorite Marvel characters, it seemed only polite that we try and repay the favor and reinvent John Aman for a new era... And Aman is, like, the Boba Fett of the Immortal Weapons: an absolutely ruthless and unstoppable samurai bounty hunter that's dedicated himself to finding and killing Orson Randall. Orson's motivation is to stay alive. Aman's is to catch Orson. Unstoppable force, immovable object, etc."
- In Heroic Age: Heroes v1 #1 (2010), the Prince of Orphans received a minor entry in the reference guide.
Alternate Versions
- In Defenders v4 (2012), the Prince of Orphans appeared in an alternate timeline designated as Earth-11127. This version was the protector of the Concordance Engine and after learning that its compatriots were being found by Iron Fist he decided to eliminate any that sought these mystical relics. Aman came to believe that the other Immortal Weapons were working with Iron Fist and thus eliminated them with him being unaware that he was operating alongside the Defenders.
Appearances
- Immortal Iron Fist v1: (2007)
- Immortal Weapons v1:
- Secret Avengers v1:
- Defenders v4:
- Iron Fist: The Living Weapon v1:
External Links
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