Fu Manchu (Marvel)

Zheng Zu reborn in Secret Avengers v1 #8.

Fu Manchu is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Shang-Chi, son of Fu Manchu from Special Marvel Edition v1 #15.

Zheng Zu

He had a younger brother who was known as Zheng Yi. (Shang-Chi v1 #1)

By the mid-1700's, he along with his brother Zheng Yi were the Sorcerer Brothers who were protectors of China where they headed the Five Weapons Society. In that time, their group were declared criminals in the early Qing Dynasty but still they conducted their duty where they helped stop government efforts in the Tianjin Prefecture where their activities stumbled on the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon which awoke Fin Fang Foom. (Shang-Chi v1 #1) According to legend, texts indicated that the person known as Fu Manchu was actually known as Zheng Zu. He along with his brothers received a gift from the Ancient One from Kamar-Taj, the artifacts known as the Eyes of the Dragon. (Shang-Chi v1 #4) Zu was said to had been an evil magician who stole the essence of his own brother killing him in the process so that he could live forever. (Secret Avengers v1 #8) For the better part of two centuries, he had sought out knowledge in the quest for power. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1) He gained his education from the monastery at Rach Churan where he learnt martial arts, arcane knowledge and every discipline of science. The people of the monastery would hold him in high regard and Fu Manchu would depart in order to share his 'gifts' to the rest of the world. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #124) Around this time, he was known to had visited the monastery of Kamar-Taj and gained a gift from an ancient friend with this being the Eyes of the Dragon that allowed one not only increased life but vigour as well. However, he kept this find a secret from his brother where they instead relied on their longevity spell that allowed them to live longer but their strength waned over the years. By the 1800's, conflict had come to China when the British tried to flood the lands with opium and when the nation resisted a war was fought over it. The Sorcerer Brothers and the Five Weapons Society fought valiantly where they helped fight off many of the British invaders. However, the British then called their own sorcerer Baron Harkness who cast a spell of Dormammu that unleashed the Mindless Ones on the land. They massacred the Five Weapon Society and left Zheng Yi injured with Zheng Zu deciding to use the Eyes of the Dragon to pass his own life force to his younger brother in order for him to live. However, Yi refused as he could not live in a world without his brother and instead sacrificed his life so that Zheng Zu would live on with his spiritual energy. (Shang-Chi v1 #4)

After the death of the Five Deadly Warriors, Zu established houses in honour for each of them where they became the new Five Weapons Society. (Shang-Chi v1 #3) In 1900, he and the Five Weapons Society aided rebel forces in Chain against the Eight Nations Invasion during the Boxer Rebellion. During this time, Western invaders came to break into the House of the Deadly Sabre and desecrated the shrine to Zheng Yi. This angered Zheng Zu who decided to kill the leader of the House of the Deadly Sabre for their failure. After the invasion, Zheng Zu moved four of the Five Weapon Society to foreign nations as a means of keeping a watch against those that would threaten him. The House of the Deadly Hand remained in China whilst the House of the Deadly Staff was established in England, the House of the Deadly Hammer was formed in Russia, the House of the Deadly Sabre made in Japan and the House of the Deadly Dagger built in France. (Shang-Chi v1 #3) Zu turned the Five Weapons Society into a criminal roganization, giving nicknames such as Celestial Order of the Si-Fan and Celestial Order of the Hai Dai.(Shang-Chi v1 #2) He also went on to use aliases such as Fu Manchu, (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15) Han (Black Panther v4 #11), (Master of Kung-Fu #116) and Comte de Saint Germain. (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu #1)

By 1932, he had developed the Elixir Vitae that was an oil of life that was able to preserve his vitality. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15)

Around 40 years ago, he had a marriage arranged for him with high born family who planned to have their daughter Mara Ling marry Fu Manchu. This arrangement was a simple business transaction as it would allow him to enhance his business affairs. The beautiful young woman though was in love with a blind archer named Li but she was powerless to resist her family's wishes. Despite that, she refused to consummate the marriage with Fu Manchu offering to release her if she submitted to him for one night. Still she refused and he tried to tempt her with immortality given by the elixir vitae. Falling to vanity, she drank and submitted where afterwards she left to reunite herself wit Li. However, he refused to partake in the devil's potion and the couple found themselves hunted by a Si-Fan warrior dispatched by Fu Manchu who hunted them over the course of the next forty years. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #114)

For 40 years, Sir Denis Nayland Smith battled Fu Manchu first alongside Dr. Petrie and then others until the Western government came to unite among their efforts. Despite their efforts, the Chinese warlord always evaded his pursuers until a new operation was conducted by U.S. agent Tony McKay who sought to dismantle Fu Manchu's criminal empire by apprehending all his lodgemasters in China. This forced the villain to go into hiding but the efforts by the West led to Fu Manchu's pursuers being captured. The Devil Doctor then decided to seek out his retribution for the damage done to his criminal empire where he killed McKay with an injection that saw him murdered whilst Fu Manchu's servant the sumo Tak used his legs to land immense blows that ground Sir Denis's legs to paste leaving him crippled. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15)

Among his many children included his daughter Zheng Bao Yu,(Fearless Defenders v1 #8) also known as Cursed Lotus (Journey into Mystery v1 #514) and Fah Lo Suee. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #26) After trying to invade Ta Lo, Zu was betrayed and almost killed by pirates, he was rescued by Jiang Li, one of the Qilin Riders, the group responsible for protecting a portal between Earth and Ta-Lo, Zu falls in love with Jiang Li and has two children with her, Shang-Chi and Shi-Hua, (Shang-Chi v2 #7) with the two spending their youth at the Hunan Retreat. This was until the two children entered into one of the forbidden chambers where Zheng Zu was performing experiments on the undead. Zheng Zu found them in the laboratory where he was furious and grabbed his son Shang-Chi. This led to Shi-Hua begging her father to free him and she struck him after picking up a nearby weapon. For her actions, Zheng Zu was ready to kill her but Shang-Chi intervened where he begged that his sister was spared and offered to obey his fathers every command from that point onwards. Unknown to Shang-Chi, his sister was taken away to Russia where she resided in the House of the Deadly Hammer to serve as a warrior there. Zheng Zu told Shang-Chi to forget about his sister from that day and he came to believe that she was killed when in reality she trained within the Five Weapons Society. (Shang-Chi v1 #2) After a brief stay in the dungeon, he had her shipped to Russia to the House of the Deadly Hammer where he placed her training under Baba Maximoff to be one of his operatives. She trained there for years with the intention of making her proud and when he next checked on Shi-Hua he declared her simply adequate as her brother Shang-Chi had already completed his trials three years earlier than her. This drove Shi-Hua into becoming a more ruthless warrior where she sought to make her father proud of her. (Shang-Chi v1 #5)

Since that time, Fu Manchu had Shang-Chi trained by his martial arts masters to be his prime agent and a master of murder. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1) When his son was 10 years old, a martial artist by the name of Tiger-Claw who demanded to join his service as a lodge master of the Si-Fan. (Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu v1 #4) One of his instructors was Cho Lin and on Shang-Chi's 14th birthday it was decided to test him for his killer instinct. This saw outsider assassins being hired to attack Shang-Chi who was forced to defend himself. Afterwards, Cho Lin confessed that this was part of his fathers test which shocked the boy and became one of the reasons for turning against Fu Manchu over the brutality of his actions. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1)

Master of Kung Fu

After his death, it was believed that the Si-Fan had disbanded and that Manchu's criminal empire was quartered by various factions. These included Chiang Kai-Dong's Sleeping Dragon Clan, Hsien Ming-Ho's Steel Lotus Group, Deng Ling-Xiao's Wild Tiger Mob and Mao Liu-Cho's Coiled Serpent Syndicate. (X-Men v2 #62) All these groups gradually fell as the Kingpin established himself as the new ruler of Fu Manchu's resources with him seeking to claim the power of his Elixir Vitae. (X-Men v2 #63)

The Black Panther would later tour the United States to look for a wife with Fu Manchu sending his ninjas to follow him where they tracked him to Luke Cage's flat. (Black Panther v4 #10) They would attack the two heroes but were forced to retreat which allowed the pair to infiltrate Fu Manchu's ship and later his fortress. During the confrontation with him, he introduced himself as Han and offered his daughter Kwai Far to T'Challa in the hopes of uniting their two kingdoms. T'Challa would refuse as his heart belonged to someone else with Han getting angry over the rejection of his daughter whereupon he would dispatch his ninjas against the two heroes. The battle was soon joined by his own son Shang-Chi who joined with the Black Panther and Luke Cage in defeating Han's forces where they managed to escape the fortress along with his daughter Kwai Far. (Black Panther v4 #11)

Legacy

He was later partially resurrected in a decaying body by the Shadow Council though had only a few days in order to seek immortality otherwise his body would die once again. As such, he would dispatch his Hai-Dai assassins with the task of capturing his son Shang-Chi but would fail when the Secret Avengers protected him. (Secret Avengers v1 #7) The reason for capturing Shang-Chi was because Zu intended to sacrifice his son as part of a ritual with the Eyes of the Dragon to achieve immortality. (Secret Avengers v1 #8) With Shang-Chi in their hands, Zheng Zu proceeded with the ritual using the Eyes to restore himself with the Shadow Council hoping to use him to secure a presence for them in China. The ritual itself was interrupted by the Secret Avengers with the Prince of Orphans saving the captured Shang-Ch and destroying the decaying Zu's body seemingly killing him once again. (Secret Avengers v1 #10) One of his daughters, Zheng Bao Yu would continue to operate where she took control of the Hai Dai and resurrected one of her fathers experiments that studied the alien Brood but the operation was disrupted by the intervention of the Fearless Defenders. (Fearless Defenders v1 #8) His other son Midnight Sun would seek to honor his father by seeking out the black magic book called the Chao-Siwang Shu. With it, he begin eliminating the Triad leaders and taking their heads for a mystical ritual designed to empower him. This would have given Midnight Sun all the power, control and influence over the clans that would allow him to rule over all of China whereby he would make it into the great dragon that Fu Manchu had long desired. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v2 #3)

Releasing the Jiangshi on London, Sister Hammer sought to prove herself to her deceased father by inheriting his empire. (Shang-Chi v1 #5)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, he was noted for being tall and almost feline with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan where he had long magnetic eyes of a true cat-green. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15) His followers referred to him as the Celestial One and as the Lord of the Si-Fan though his enemies sometimes called him the Devil Doctor. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1) He was known to had gone by many names over his life with this being believed as a means for him to protect himself. (Secret Avengers v1 #8) With regards to his name, he said that the name Fu Manchu was a silly title that Westerners had given to him which simply meant Man of the Manchu Dynasty. He stated that every century that he went under a different alias such as Han. (Black Panther v4 #11)

Denis Nayland Smith claimed that Manchu was the most evil man alive. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #18) Shang-Chi claimed that his father was always a terrorist in the way he operated. (Secret Avengers v1 #8) It was said that evil was the property of Fu Manchu and that he was the most infamous villain of all time. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1) He was noted to despise weakness and killed his servants that showed such traits. He claimed that the strong always devoured the weak and consumed their power. (Shang-Chi v1 #3)

It was said that the wisdom and power of the mandarin Fu Manchu was the source of legend. He had sought knowledge during his long life as he knew it as a source of power. Fu Manchu believed that knowledge was not difficult with the world only not being able to find such fonts of knowledge because they did not know where or how to search for them. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1)

He claimed to had followed fashion for 400 years and knew dresses that were elegant and which were inappropriate. (Black Panther v4 #11)

His brother was Zheng Yi where together they were known as the Sorcerer Brothers. (Shang-Chi v1 #1) He claimed that Yi was a gentle person but that this simply just marked him for being weak. (Shang-Chi v1 #3) However, it was shown that he genuinely cared for his younger brother who served as a balancing force in his life. (Shang-Chi v1 #4) In time, it was said that he came to be beyond normal love or fatherhood where instead he became a mythical giant. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #18)

Another of his wives was the beautiful Mara Ling who was born to a high born Chinese family with business links. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #114)

Over his centuries of existence, he was known to had fathered a number of offspring that included:

• Shang-Chi : In reality, he was trained in the House of the Deadly Hand and to be a champion in the Five Weapons Society. (Shang-Chi v1 #2)
• Moving Shadow : a son who was noted for being a skilled martial artist. (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu v1 #1)
• Zheng Bao Yu : a daughter who came to learn much of her fathers mystical secrets and experiments where she sought to continue his legacy. (Fearless Defenders v1 #8) used the aliases Fah Lo Suee and Cursed Lotus.
• Kwai Far : a daughter noted for her beauty who he once tried to marry off to the Black Panther T'Challa. (Black Panther v4 #11)
• Brother Staff :
• Sister Hammer : Shi-Hua was the younger direct sister of Shang-Chi who was banished from the Hunan Retreat for raising a weapon against her father. This saw her being sent to Russia where she rose to be the champion of the House of the Deadly Hammer. (Shang-Chi v1 #2)
• Brother Sabre : Takeshi was an older male who was skilled in swords where he became the deadly of the House of the Deadly Sabre in Japan. (Shang-Chi v1 #5)
• Sister Dagger : Esme was a young girl with short dark hair who was skilled in small blades where she became the head of the House of the Deadly Dagger in France. (Shang-Chi v1 #5)
• Zhilan : a dark haired female who was born a Mutant with the power to manipulate sound where she was intended to head the House of the Deadly Staff but upon her powers manifestation she came to be sentenced to death though one of her brothers helped her escape leading her to live in exile. (Shang-Chi v2 #3)
• Midnight Sun :

Fu Manchu stated that he knew many things but he did not truly know his son Shang-Chi. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1)

By his side, he kept a monkey as a pet who he named Peko where they had been together for many years and whose instincts had served Fu Manchu well. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #18)

Powers and abilities

Zheng Zu and his brother were known to have casted longevity spells that allowed them to live across many years beyond their natural lifespan. (Shang-Chi v1 #4) The basis for his near immortality was by draining the life force of those of his bloodline be they siblings or children who were sacrificed to him for Zheng Zu to live longer. (Secret Avengers v1 #8)

Among his creations included:

• Mimosa : a drug that completely destroyed the will of a person and could be mixed with other smells to hide it from his enemies. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #18)
• Elixir Vitae : the Oil of Life was a chemical that was able to preserve a person's vitality across centuries. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15) It was also known as the Water of Life and was an immortality serum. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #100)

Manchu once created a new chemical where drops of it imparted superhuman speed on a person. However, it resulted in excruciating agony to the individual as their entire nervous system became inflamed which resulted in death in nine minutes. As time passed, the person became more erratic and uncontrollable until they wished to die to end the pain. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #18)

He had a number of priests that served him who were all masters of the martial arts. In addition, he managed his own Cult of Assassins that operated as an extension of his will. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1) These made up his Si-Fan who were held as among the most sinister secret societies in the world where among the adherents at his command included Dacoits, Phansigars, Thugees, hashishin and other terrible cults. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15) A position among the Si-Fan was that of the lodge master. (Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu v1 #4) He brought these organizations and other cults together into Order of the Golden Dawn(Master of Kung Fu v1 #83) (Master of Kung Fu v1 #118)

One of the organizations under his control was the Five Weapons Society whose five heads were based on one weapon fighting style. Originally, the Sorcerer Brothers headed the group and served as their trainers until the death of Zheng Yi and the original founders. Afterwards, the Five Weapons Society were completely under Zheng Zu's control where each head was one of his many children. (Shang-Chi v1 #1) It was known by many names that included the Celestial Order of the Hai-Dai and the Si-Fan. (Shang-Chi v1 #2)

Among his most elite followers was the silent Council of Seven who oversaw the operations of the Si-Fan. The death of any on the council saw their spot open for new membership. (Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu v1 #1)

Han's was known to make use of dragons as among the creatures in his service. (Black Panther v4 #11)

Dragon Ships were flying vessels that were used by the followers of Fu Manchu. (Black Panther v4 #11)

The Hunan Retreat was really the House of the Deadly Hand and meant to be the headquarters of its champion. (Shang-Chi v1 #2) One of his strongholds was a mountain located deep within China. (Black Panther v4 #11)

Notes

• Fu Manchu was adapted by Steve Englehart, Al Milgrom and Jim Starlin where he made his first appearance in Special Marvel Edition v1 #15 (December, 1973).
• Dr. Fu Manchu was originally created for a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer. After the loss of the license, Marvel stopped calling him by name, other names and pseudonyms were used such as Han, Comte de Saint Germain and Ghost, until it was revealed that his name is Zheng Zu.

Alternate Versions

• In Masters of Kung-Fu (2015), a version of the character was shown to reside on Battleworld where he was the ruling baron of K'un Lun. When the Beyonders destroyed all of reality, Doctor Doom created a safe haven where he lived as a god-king with this world being known as Battleworld. On this planet, there was a realm known as K'un Lun where a version of Zheng Zu had arisen to become the emperor of this land and ruler of the Ten Rings. Under his rule came a hundred year old reign of prosperity through terror until the doors of the Thirteen Chambers opened for the next trial that determined the new ruler. In this time, his son Shang-Chi was a vagrant and a drunk who resented his fathers rule. (Master of Kung Fu v2 #1)
• Marvel Book - Expand Your Knowledge Of A Vast Comics Universe (2019) by Stephen Wiacek says that Zheng Zu, like Yellow Claw and the Mandarin, descend from Genghis Khan.

In other media

Films

• In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Xu Wenwu appeared in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai. This version was an amalgam of Zheng Zu and the Mandarin from Marvel Comics. Long ago, he was said to had uncovered a set of 10 mystical rings that imparted him immortality and incredible power that he could wield in battle. He used this to become a fearsome warlord where he formed an army of followers called the Ten Rings and ruled the world from the shadows. This was until the 1980s when he came to learn of a mystical realm called Ta Lo and sought its power. He hired guides where he came to be the only survivor of the moving forest that protected the entrance into the land. Whilst there, he was confronted by the protector of the city with this being a woman named Ying Li (called Jiang Li in promotional materials). She possessed incredible fighting skill and despite his own power he was unable to best her. The two eventually came to fall in love but the people of Ta Lo could not accept him into their realm due to the evils of his past. To be with her love, Ying Li left for Earth and left much of her powers behind to be truly mortal with Wenwu. He similarly stopped using the mystical rings and ended the path of violence as he became a father as Ying Li bore him a son named Shang-Chi and a daughter named Xialing (inspired by Zheng Bao Yu). One day, he was away from home when his old enemies the Iron Gang want revenge on him and decided to take it on his wife who died before her young son. This convinced Wenwu that the path of peace was weak and he resumed wearing the rings where he killed much of the gang and restarted his criminal empire. Wenwu reformed the Ten Rings and became a crueller man as he had his son trained as an assassin whilst his daughter was forbidden from learning martial arts as she reminded him too much of his late wife.

Video games

• In Marvel: Future Fight, Wenwu appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Super War, Wenwu appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Special Marvel Edition v1: (1973)
• Master of Kung-Fu v1:
• Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu v1:
• Black Panther v4:
• Secret Avengers v1:
• Shang-Chi v1: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Fu Manchu's Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry
• The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Fu Manchu (the greatest fiend the world has ever known)

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