Episode #7 - The Origin Of The Mandarin
Original Airdate 05th November 1994

Spider-Woman, Century and The Scarlet Witch find a black box containing a holographic video of The Mandarin's origin, and The Mandarin finally finds The Hall Of Armour.

Credits
Screenplay By: Ron Friedman
Music By: Keith Ammerson
Animation By: Rainbow Animation Group
Guest Starring: Robert Hayes as Iron Man, Dorian Harewood asWar Machine/Jim Rhodes/Backlash, Casey Defranco as Julia Carpenter/Spider-Woman, John Reilly as Hawkeye/Clint Barton, James Warwick as Century, Katherine Moffat as Scarlet Witch, Ed Gilbert as The Mandarin, Jim Cummings as Modok, Neil Dickson as Dreadknight, Dorian Harewood as Whirlwind, Chuck McCann as Blizzard, and Tony Steedman as Justin Hammer

Review: Another origin episode, another above average episode. It was cool seeing how The Mandarin became The Mandarin, and where he got his rings.

It was interesting to see how his and Iron Man’s origin interact, with Yin Seng acting as his guide. Ying Seng originally helped Tony create his Iron Man armour, as shown in the 2 part Iron Man origin episodes. I think this series would’ve worked a hell of a lot better if they had shown the origin episode first, like Fantastic Four did.It would’ve helped prevent the show contradicting itself, and would’ve allowed use to see the characters developed earlier.

The Mandarins arrogance shows throughout the episode, and clearly he was evil before he got his rings. I thought the Mandarin worked far better without his goons. Here, he is shown to have power, and act ruthless. So why did they insist on having his goons continually do everything for him, especially when all they seemed to do was trip over each other? I still have no idea how they made him so threatening in the second season after seeing him defeated week after week in season one. The loser side of the goons was obviously rubbing of on ol’ green skin.

The animation was a cut above the usual standards, but unfortunately was filled with sloppy mistakes throughout. The designs for both Yin Seng and Arnold Brock were pretty dodgy. The Mandarin’s origin itself wasn’t anything original; he fell down a whole and discovered a few gems, which gave him his powers, and ran into Fin Fang Foom, who was coloured incorrectly throughout the episode. Once again, the editors dare not watch the show sober!

The ending was undoubtedly the highlight, with The Mandarin finally getting his hands on Iron Man’s armour. The fight scene between them had great music, and a pretty good build up. It turned into a comedy fest once again, but it was above average as said above. Overall, better than most season one Iron Man’s but nothing brilliant.

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