Origin
John Aman better known as The Prince of Orphans, was one on of the world’s greatest martial artists. John Aman was raised by benevolent monks in Tibet known as the “The Council of Seven” for the first 25 years of his life. He was trained by the Council to reach physical and mental capabilities beyond those of normal humans. The monks also gave him a chemical solution that would allow him to disappear into a cloud of green mist, earning his first nickname the Green Mist.
After he completed his final tests, he was allowed to travel the world to use his skills and abilities for good. He would eventually travel to the one of the Capital Cites of Heaven known as Z’Gambo in darkest Africa and become it’s Immortal Weapon. The Great Question, a disgruntled member of the Council of Seven was a long time foe of John Aman. He is a long time friend of Orson Randall the last Iron Fist and his replacement Daniel Rand. He proved himself a very dangerous opponent, and even stronger ally to the heroes. He once rescued his friend the first Iron Fist from of Frankenstein’s Monster and Dr. Frankenstein’s son, who was later revealed to be Frankenstein himself in a newly transplanted body.
Aman was appointed to kill Orson Randall, but decided to assist the Iron Fist after learning the true purpose of the Seven Cities of Heaven tournament. Aman assisted Rand against Xao’s plot.
Creation
Based on the golden age hero Amazing Man, The Prince of Orphans was created by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja in 2007 and first appeared in The Immortal Iron Fist # 8.
Major Story Arcs
Immortal Weapons
In present day Yunnon Province, China, John Aman stumbles upon the body of a dead villager. He summons Danny Rand in knowledge that the body is portent of things to come. If Danny does not hurry millions of people may die. Two thousand years ago China was ruled by the emperor Qin Shi Huang. A brutal tyrant , he also united the country. When he died his son Qin Er Shi ascended. However Er Shi was weak and timid, easily manipulated by greedy men who convinced him to turn on the very warriors who helped his father unite China.
The Loyal Ten Thousand, they were called. Each was worth a hundred lesser men in battle. Er Shi lured the warriors to a temple to ready for a campaign and when The Loyal Ten Thousand least suspected it, he imprisoned them with magics. Er Shi then went about making the temple impenetrable by giving it a guardian, a giant 200 foot long red serpentine-dragon. However in recent years the dragon has grown old and feeble, slowly losing its sight and its mind. The dragon had begun to stray from her duties and let loose some of the imprisoned warriors, hence the nearby village of three dozen murder victims. Aman warns Danny that if the dragon fails and the Ten Thousand were to be set free the damage they would inflict would be incomprehensible.
Danny assumes that the Prince of Orphans wants him to fight the deceased warriors. However, John Aman reveals that only his Jade Mist form can harm the warriors. What is required of Danny is to slay the dragon guardian who is revealed to have hailed from the mystical city of K’un-Lun and is also twice as long as Shou-Lao the Undying in addition to being a fire breather. John Aman breaks into the impenetrable temple using his “Mountain Strength Blow”.
As the Prince of Orphans it is John Aman’s job to lead spirits bound to Earth into the next world. Hoping that their leader, General Sheng will lead his legion into the next world, Aman proceeds to awaken the leader of the Loyal Ten Thousand. However, having spent two millenia wrongfully imprisoned General Sheng proceeds to awaken his 10,000 troops in an effort to wreak vengeance on the descendants of the traitorous Qin Er Shi. Aman does battle with the leader of the Loyal Ten Thousand, ascending to the ethereal plane via his Jade Mist. The general, who had long gone insane from his years of imprisonment leads his troops to nearby Kunming City but Aman ends up impaling Sheng on his own spear and convinces the rest of The Loyall Ten Thousand to crossover to Heaven.
Secret Avengers
In the second storyline in the 2010 volume “Secret Avengers”, Prince of Orphans serves as a temporary member of the team, on behalf of Steve Rogers who had recruited Prince of Orphans at some unrevealed point, as a special operative to deal with and report back on threats in his homeland. He assists the Secret Avengers in their battle against Zheng Zu, defending Shang-Chi from being sacrificed in a ritual that would restore Zheng Zu to life and full power. Whether Prince of Orphans will remain on the team, as well as what, if any, past he has with Steve Rogers, remain to be seen.
Defenders
In Danny’s Harlem apartment, he is attempting to reconnect with Misty Knight over a candlelit dinner when Fat Cobra staggers in, near death, and exclaims, “He’s killing us all.. and it’s your fault!” As Fat Cobra lies dying on Danny’s doorstep, he gasps out “A man..” and goes into cardiac arrest. Danny uses the Iron Fist to save his life while Misty Knight calls an ambulance. Unfortunately, a quick survey by Danny reveals that the Immortal Weapons are indeed being murdered.
With the aid of the Silver Surfer, Danny searches his own library for references to the Concordance Engines. They find a series of accounts written by Ernst Erskine, one of Wendell Rand’s teammates with a group called the Confederates of the Curious. Their interest is piqued by two tidbits in particular: that this group of heroes once met Captain Nemo on the Nautilus, and that they have disappeared almost completely from living memory. Before they can ponder further, John Aman, the Prince of Orphans, arrives. He is dead-convinced of two things: that Danny and “his gang” are going to shut the Engines down and that he must be killed. Iron Fist tries to ask whether Aman murdered the other Immortal Weapons by mistake, but cannot get a clear answer before the Silver Surfer intervenes, inhaling Prince of Orphans’ mist form and carries him off, depositing him in the caldera of an active volcano.
When the Surfer returns, Danny calls his attention to another passage in his book of the Confederates of the Curious. They found an Engine in Z’Gambo, guarded by John Aman, Captain Nemo, Leonard McKenzie, Princess Fen, and others; moreover, they also found evidence of more Engines all over the world. Danny resolves to shut the Engines down.
Meanwhile, the Defenders arrive in the neighboring state of Wakanda to meet with T’Challa and his sister Princess Shuri. Iron Fist is eager to pursue the connection between Z’Gambo, the Concordance Engines, and Prince of Orphans. T’Challa and Shuri inform them that Wakanda and Z’Gambo have a ceasefire agreement because of a long and painful history of war between the two nations, and that no one crosses the border from one to the other. They invite the Defenders to a dreamscape where they can consult with the spirits of the former Panthers. However, as soon as T’Challa mentions John Aman’s name, the man himself appears and attacks him with poisonous mist. Doctor Strange struggles to save his life.
Black Cat is also on her way to infiltrate Z’Gambo from a modified air-ship in low-Earth orbit. As she falls from 83,000 feet, she muses that it doesn’t sound too difficult. But when we see Z’Gambo — nothing but bones for miles in all directions, and Prince of Orphans himself holding the Brass Frog she is coming to steal.The Defenders, particularly Iron Fist, are alarmed to see that Z’Gambo is nothing but bones. Aman appears and confronts them. Cursing the Defenders for their ignorance, Aman holds off their attacks with ease. Black Cat intervenes to rescue Doctor Strange, but she quickly falls as Aman uses a poisonous attack intended to murder them all. Silver Surfer, who does not need to breathe, is immune, and he fires a cosmic blast which temporarily incapacitates Aman.
The three Frogs, united, reveal the power of a Concordance Engine. Aman, seeing it, smiles and remembers his time with a special band of nine people who devoted their lives to protecting the Engines. Once, on the run from a Death Celestial, he hid an Engine in the form of three Frogs, modeled after those in a terrarium he used to enjoy on Captain Nemo’s ship. Now reassembled, the Engine’s power frees Aman from his bubble and bursts the heads of the Council of Antiquarians. Aman tells the Defenders and Black Cat that he must guard the Engines in order to save the universe. He then apologizes and erases them from existence.
Powers
The Council of Seven trained Aman to reach physical and mental capabilities beyond those of normal humans. He is highly skilled in various martial arts, his abilities rivaling and in fact surpassing those of the other Immortal Weapons (Iron Fist, Fat Cobra, Dog Brother #1, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter, Bride of Nine Spiders, Steel Serpent (Davos)).
Green Mist Form: Aman is able to turn himself into mist. In this form he can enter almost any location. He is highly skilled at attacking opponents in mist form, even within their body. He can strike opponents while in this form, but remains intangible and unable to be harmed.
Teleportation: He can teleport in his mist form. He can 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.
Trivia
Both he and Iron Fist are based on the Golden Age character John Aman, the Amazing-Man. The Prince of Orphans is actually an updated version of the Centaur comics’ version. Although Iron Fist’s connection is to a lesser extent, Roy Thomas once commented how Iron Fist’s K’un L’un origin reflects Amazing-Man’s own Tibetan origin.