Wong-Chu

Wong-Chu is a fictional warlord and a minor antagonist featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is associated with the Iron Man line of titles and first appeared in the "Iron Man is Born!" story from Tales of Suspense #39 in March, 1963.

Biography
Wong-Chu was a Communist warlord who presided over a village in South Vietnam. He enjoyed tormenting prisoners of the village and used them in various games for his own amusement. He would often challenge smaller and weaker villagers to wrestling matches, knowing that his own prodigious strength would easily overpower them.

Wong-Chu learned about American industrialist Tony Stark, when Stark was gravely injured after setting off a booby trap while on a visit to the country with the U.S. military. When Stark's unconscious body was brought before him, Wong-Chu saw this as a great opportunity.

Wong-Chu instructed Stark to use his scientific genius to create a weapon for him that would give him a decisive victory over his opponents. If he agreed, Wong-Chu would have a surgeon remove the shrapnel from his heart before it killed him. He was locked inside of a small laboratory with an assistant named Ho Yinsen. Stark and Yinsen labored to build a suit of armor that would enable them to escape from Wong-Chu's clutches. Yinsen was shot and killed, but Stark was able to use the clunky iron armor to escape.

Wong-Chu and his men battered down the door, and the Iron Man used his air-pressure jets to fly through the roof to the outside. He overheard Wong-Chu mention that he was going to engage in his favorite sport and followed him to an open area of the village. He challenged Wong-Chu to a wrestling match and easily defeated him by hoisting the warlord's body above his head and spinning him around in circles before finally tossing him unceremoniously into the bushes.

Wong-Chu's men began to open fire on Iron Man, but he reversed the polarity of his magnetized gauntlets, creating a repulsion effect that pushed his enemies' guns from their hands.

Wong-Chu ran up the stairs of one of the taller huts and appropriated a loudspeaker. He began to issue orders to his men, offering ten thousand yen to any who could destroy Iron Man. Tony used his armor's radio system to override the loudspeaker and instructed the other warriors to flee or else the Iron Man would kill them all.

Wong-Chu tried to flee to a nearby building, but Iron Man projected a stream of oil in his direction and ignited it. The trail of flame reached an ammunition dump and it exploded just as Wong-Chu raced by it, seemingly killing him.

Notes & Trivia



 * Wong-Chu's counterpart in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Raza, who is of Muslim descent. He was played by actor Faran Tahir in the film.


 * Originally, Wong-Chu was from Vietnam. Later stories establish that he is from the fictional country of Sin-Cong, which first appeared in Avengers #18 in July, 1965.

Appearances

 * Iron Man 144
 * Tales of Suspense 39