Shiwan Khan
Shiwan Khan is a male literary villain who features in The Shadow.
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Biography
Shiwan Khan was the last living direct descendant of Ghenghis Khan. During his youth, he would travel Lhasa, Tibet and studied with the monks there where he became a student of Tulku. While learning to use his knowledge to help the people of Mongolia, the psychic powers he learnt gave him a lust to rule the world as the new Khan.
After being defeated by The Shadow, Shiwan Khan had become a known menace. Every factory that turned out military equipment was keeping close watch on its workers, to see that none developed peculiar mental symptoms. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Similar to his ancestor Genghis Khan, he had a desire to rule the world. It was said that he was the kind of person who when suffering from the taste of failure came to whet his appetite for success. Ultimately, Shiwan Khan would never lose his urge to acquire mighty power. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
His ways were said to be unfathomable, even to those persons that he controlled. When Shiwan Khan plotted evil, innocent persons became his tools. Shiwan Khan knew how to rule people and make them useful to his plans. It was all part of Shiwan Khan's craft; his game of turning people against the very ones they sought to aid. All these moves were part of a gigantic game, gauged to a final purpose that would eventually be revealed. During the process, Shiwan Khan intended to deal with human beings as puny pawns, discarding them when he was through with them. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
Khan was said to not fear opposition from anyone. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
Powers and abilities
He had been trained by the Tibetan monks to use telepathic powers - "the power of the distant mind." He can also appear invisible to most people by staying completely still and suspending his "action of thought."
The secret of his strange ability was his power of thought transference, or telepathy, which he had learned while living in Tibet. Knowledge of the principles of hypnotism was not enough to accomplish the gigantic marvels of which Shiwan Khan was capable. It was said that Khan had devoted that years to a system of continued mental concentration that enhanced his powers. Shiwan Khan could thrust his mighty will into remote and guarded spots, forcing persons to follow his commands, even to their own destruction. Provided only that he could attune the victim's mind to his, through some vibratory influence that would produce the same mental wave. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
Khan was noted to have had access to the treasures of Kublai Khan.
It was noted that he was a devious mastermind who had many followers under his control. (Shiwan Khan Returns)
He operated from the lost underground city of Xanadu that was located beneath Sinkiang.
Notes
- Shiwan Khan was created by Walter B. Gibson where he made his first appearance in Shadow Magazine v1 #182 (September, 1939).
Alternate Versions
- In The Shadow/Batman v1 (2017), Shiwan Khan appeared as an antagonist in the alternate continuity cross over story. He was said to be one of the many children of Genghis Khan but he found Sham-La where he was trained in their ways to cloud the minds of others. Shiwan became a foe of the Shadow but operated secretly where he joined forces with Ra's al Ghul with the pair forming the Silent Seven which manipulated the world. He used his powers to create followers that were known as the Dead Men who did their masters bidding.
In other media
Films
- In The Shadow, Shiwan Khan appeared as the antagonist in the 1994 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor John Lone. He was a man that was a descendant of Ghenghis Khan and became a student of the Tulku alongside Lamont Cranston until Shiwan became a rogue protégé who sought to conquer the world. After leaving his masters service, he went into the criminal underworld and used his newly acquired powers to build an empire for himself. Khan was smuggled into the United States of America in the time after World War I where he abducted Reinhardt who was the father of Margo Lane. Reinhardt was a scientist which Shiwan wanted to use to transform a cache of bronzium into an atomic bomb for his use. The Shadow confronted Khan at his base in the Monolith Hotel that Shiwan had rendered invisible with his powers but during his battle with Cranston who had to focus his powers thus removing the mind control he had on Reinhardt along with the illusion over the building. In the battle, the Shadow defeated Khan by telekinetically hurling a shard of mirror into the frontal lobe of Shiwan's skull. When Shiwan awakened, he discovered that he was in a padded cell and that he had lost his powers after the doctor who was an ally of the Shadow had removed a portion of Khan's brain that he claimed no one used which was where his powers originated from thus defeating him.
Appearances
- The Shadow: "The Golden Master" (1939)
- Shadow Magazine v1:
External Links
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