Many superheroes and villains like Magneto, Thanos, and Fu Manchu were introduced within the comic world. Comic Books were first introduced back in the 80s. And these colorful stories brought up a new revolution in the book business.

Comics just brought an interesting way for people to read and submerge into the stories. The popularity of comics went way high after many superhero stories were introduced.

Not only superheroes but even supervillains play an important role to get the story going. However, the concept of bringing a first supervillain was brought back in the 90s when comics introduced the villain named, Fu Manchu who is considered to be the first supervillain with a racist ugly history in the past.

Was Fu Manchu the First Supervillain?

Fu Manchu's Image from Comic
Fu Manchu’s Image from Comic

Many believe that the first superhero was Superman and his supervillain, Ultra-Humanite was considered among the first supervillains in the world of comics.

Many other villain characters were introduced let it be from the Flash’s villain, Ming The Merciless to Detective Comic’s Ching Lung, many fans loved the concept of bringing supervillains and superheroes together.

Many fans had a wrong assumption where many thought that Ultra-Humanite is among the first supervillain, but the reality is that Fu Manchu was among the first supervillains. Manchu didn’t only become the first supervillain but in fact he was also known for his ugly history of spreading racist fears in the West after the Boxer Rebellion happened in China.

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About FU Manchu

Poster of The Mask of Fu Manchu by Wally Woddy
Poster of The Mask of Fu Manchu by Wally Woddy

Manchu wasn’t introduced with Superman as well but the supervillain was first introduced in a 1912 comic story named, The Zyat Kiss by Arthur Sarsfield Ward.

Manchu created by Ward appeared as an evil doctor who had lost his family and also he has become the head of a criminal society named Si-Fan. The supervillain also gained powers to control minds.

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To remember the first ever supervillain and his evil powers, Manchu didn’t leave the comic world and was also introduced either under a different name or under other aliases. There was also a dedicated story worked by Wally Woddy, The Mask of Fu Manchu which was released back in 1951.

Fu Manchu’s Journey with Marvel

Marvel's Shang Chi comic showing Fu Manchu
Marvel’s Shang Chi comic showing Fu Manchu

Marvel also showed interest to bring the character back to life through their comics where once there were talks about making the character Shang Chi, the son of a rebellious, and first supervillain. In fact, the ideas were brought in comic books, and even the Manchu’s villains including Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie were introduced in the comic.

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However, Marvel couldn’t take forward having Manchu on their franchise as the company lost the legal rights to use the supervillain in their comic, and also their new Kung-Fu-themed comic, Shang Chi wasn’t performing well in the market.

After losing the rights, the company had no other option but they had to include the villains with new names like Mister Hand and Zheng Zu. In today’s date, Marvel seems not to show any interest in Manchu from his original name, and also the company seems to distance itself from introducing racist characters.

Source: CBR

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