Temujin

Origin

Temujin was brought to a monastery in Tibet as a small child. His only memories of his father are of The Mandarin carrying him and shielding him from the cold winds of the mountains of Tibet. Temujin was raised by the monks of the monastery. He excelled at the study of martial arts, demonstrating a talent for channeling his Chi that rivaled his father. As a young man, Temujin was sent to kill Anthony Stark, also known as Iron Man. Despite his skill and power, Temujin lacked the brutality and bloodthirstiness of his father, and failed at this mission. During this assassination attempt, Temujin learned that Anthony Stark was also Iron Man. However, his father wiped his memories in a rage over his failure, and thus unknowing protected Anthony Stark’s secret identity for several years.

One day servants brought the Dragon Rings to Temujin and informed him that his father had died in battle with Iron Man. Feeling obligated to avenge his father’s death, he forced Iron Man to duel him. Temujin defeated Iron Man using only his skill and Chi channeling powers, refusing to use the rings out of a sense of fair-play. However, a third party caused an explosion that allowed Iron Man to escape moments before Temujin could deliver the killing blow on his defeated opponent.

Creation

Temujin was created by Ryan Odagawa and Mike Grell and first appeared in Iron Man #53 .

Character Evolution

Beginning life as an Iron Man villain, Temujin was brought back in Agents of Atlas where the character was developed into more of a hero as a member of the titular team.

Major Story Arcs

Rematch

Months later, Temujin again battled Iron Man, and was on the verge of defeating him when a rogue member of Temujin’s organization stabbed him in the back. Iron Man then defeated the traitor. Feeling that Iron Man had payed his debt to Temujin’s family with this act, Temujin abandoned plans of revenge.

Months later Temujin was involved with a scheme to steal a source of great power. Temujin now displayed the brutality and bloodthirsty characteristic of his father. It is unknown what caused this personality shift, though it has been theorized that the Dragon Rings may have affected his personality.

Dark Reign

When Jimmy Woo‘s Agents of Atlas began deviating from Mr. Lao‘s desires for the Atlas Foundation and using the evil Atlas Foundations resources for good, Lao recruited Temujin to act as Woo’s successor in the event that Woo should die. Initially, Temujin appeared antagonistic towards the rest of the team, and in their first meeting even fought the team to prove his superiority to them.

Pretending to be villains, Atlas negotiated an arms deal with H.A.M.M.E.R. director Norman Osborn and would provide him with several Frequency Cannons. When Osborn arrived for an inspection with Sentry, Temujin felt dishonored by their punctuality and attempted to attack them. Temujin was hastily defeated by Sentry who simply grabbed his leg mid-kick and threw him several miles away into the sea.

Despite the rest of the team not particularly liking him, and Temujin outspokenly disapproving of their farces and inaction, they needed his aid when the New Avengers became aware of their arms deal with Osborn. The two teams fought each other and Temujin battled Ronin, and was again defeated.

Monster Makers

When the Agents of Atlas travelled to Nevada to investigate a biological weapons factory which was experimenting on drifters, the team encountered the Hulk whom, in his human form, was abducted to be experimented on. Atlas battled the rampaging Hulk and, to everyone’s surprise, Temujin leapt into action and fought the Hulk single-handedly by attacking each of his nerve-endings. Despite putting up a decent fight against the green goliath, Temujin was overpowered and swatted away once again by a superior opponent.

The team were able to overcome the Hulk eventually with the help from Venus‘ soothing song, and he reverted to Bruce Banner while Gorilla-Man took care of the abductees.

Terror of the Jade Claw

While with the Agents of Atlas, Temujin began to notice the atrocities that the Atlas Foundation was responsible for prior to Woo’s command. After two instances wherein members of the team saved his life while battling the rival Great Wall empire, Temujin begun to feel honored to be working alongside Woo and his fellow Agents.

When the Jade Claw was pursuing Jimmy Woo through the Dragon’s Corridor, in a burst of nobility, Temujin opted to help Woo by acting as a distraction. Jade Claw shot Temujin with a rifle in the chest, despite his attempts to catch the bullet. Woo and the wounded Temujin escaped to fight another day.

After re-coperating, Temujin joined the Agents of Atlas in their final assault on the Great Wall. After they had defeated Jade Claw, rather than dismantle the Great Wall, Jimmy Woo placed Temujin in charge of it’s operations – hoping he would do the same for the Great Wall as Woo had done for Atlas.

Powers and Abilities

Temujin possesses immense ability to channel his Chi into superhuman physical abilities. By channeling his Chi, he can increase his strength sufficiently to destroy Iron Man’s armor with a few blows, and increase his speed sufficiently to dodge highly advanced computer-guided energy-blasting weaponry at close range. He also possesses the ability to channel Chi into superhuman durability against blunt damage and energy attacks on a level rivaling such characters as Iron Man and the Thing. However, his durability against edged weapons appears to remain at a normal human level. Additionally, Temujin is a highly skilled martial artist.

Temujin formerly wore the rings of The Mandarin, but these have since been returned to his father.

In Other Media

Television

Iron Man: Armored Adventures (2009)

Temujin appears in the animated television show Iron Man: Armored Adventures and is voiced by Vincent Tong.