The Mandarin is a collection of lies, stories, myths, and legends. But two things are true: He wears, upon each finger, an alien weapon of unimaginable power...and he's going to kill Tony Stark. Is he a violent street crook born in a brothel? The scion of an aristocratic dynasty? Was his father was a petty criminal or an ambassador? Was his mother a British noblewoman, or maybe a dragon-chasing wastrel lost in the underbelly of the world? He's a murderer, a businessman, an artist, a terrorist, a hero. And this is the story of his life.