Ming the Merciless

For other uses, see Ming (disambiguation).

Ming the Merciless
Publication information
Publisher	King Features Syndicate
Created by	Alex Raymond
In-story information
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Command of magic Access to advanced technology

Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, TV shows and film adaptation.

First appearance

When the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the planet Mongo, they find it ruled by the evil Emperor Ming, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy.^[1] He is not named at first, only being known as the Emperor until several issues later.

The capital of his empire is named "Mingo City" in his honour. In addition to his army, Ming has access to a wide variety of science fiction gadgets, ranging from rocket ships to death rays to robots. Though evil, he has his weaknesses, which include a desire to marry Flash's beautiful companion, Dale Arden. Ming's daughter Princess Aura is as evil as he is when the series begins, but is eventually reformed by her love for Flash, and later for Prince Barin of Arboria.

In the Flash Gordon serials of the late 1930s-era, Ming was portrayed by actor Charles B. Middleton. In the first serial he is apparently killed in a crematorium, in a possible suicide. He returns later in league with a Martian Queen, and using a Nitro Lamp to cause disasters on Earth. In Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe he is once again ruler of Mongo, but is killed when he is locked inside his tower and Flash crashes a ship into it.

Some later appearances

The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979)

In this 1979 animated version of Flash Gordon, Ming's voice was provided by Alan Oppenheimer, who would later go on to voice Skeletor. In this version, Ming's vast technological arsenal is vividly displayed in the form of his vast fleet of battleships, drone rockets, armored trains, Post-Modern oil painting collection, vintage wine, and his army of robots. He also employs Mongo's race of Lizard-Women as his enforcers in the mines of Mongo, as well as guards in his harem, and the primitive Beast-Men of Mongo not only serve him, but revere him as a god.

Flash Gordon film (1980)

In the 1980 theatrical film, Ming (Max von Sydow), complaining of boredom, discovers Earth, and unleashes various attacks on the planet. The film gives Ming a second-in-command, General Klytus, who is masked at all times, and has an attraction towards Ming's daughter, Princess Aura. As in most versions, he is infatuated with Dale, whom he plans to marry. Ming's cruelty extends to his own daughter: in an effort to find Flash, he allows Klytus to continue torturing her, since she knows of his whereabouts. When Klytus is killed in the Hawkman city, he orders it to be destroyed. He offers Flash a chance to join him, rule a kingdom, and save Earth. Flash declines when he finds the kingdom will be the devastated Earth, causing Ming to leave him there, but he escapes on a rocket cycle.

At the climax of the film, Ming is impaled by his own war rocket, Ajax, which Flash had taken control of. After a vain attempt to stop Flash attacking him, he ultimately points his ring at himself and he vanishes. However, just before the credits begin, his ring is retrieved by an unknown individual, and the words "The End?" appear, as his evil laughter plays in the background, hinting he is not dead.

Queen's soundtrack album includes "Ming's Theme".

For many fans, this portrayal of Ming the Merciless remains the best, and some film magazines and institutes have named him one of the greatest screen villains.

Defenders of the Earth animated series (1986–1987)

Ming served as the principal adversary in the 1980s Marvel animated series Defenders of the Earth, fighting against other King Features characters such as The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, and of course Flash Gordon. In the opening episode, Ming successfully captures Dale Arden Gordon and her son Rick, and tears Dale's mind from her body, prompting a vengeful Flash to pursue him back to Earth to avenge her and prevent Ming from enslaving his world. Ming's base on Earth is in the depths of Antarctica and is called Ice Station Earth; his allies in this series are Garax, leader of the "Men of Frost", Ming's army of Ice Men, and Octon, a large tentacled battle computer.

This version of Ming also includes a son rather than a daughter at his side, Prince Kro-Tan; unlike Aura, he holds no love for any of the Defenders and considers both them and his father hindrances to his enslavement of the galaxy. Kro-Tan comes the closest to defeating his father in a five-part story where he successfully entraps Ming and takes over his forces, before Ming is released by the Defenders and takes his vengeance. Ming has two carrier spacecraft in this series, one of which is his "Throne Room", his main vessel, which could launch itself from the Arctic Ocean. Ming is also portrayed as having green skin and pointed ears.

Flash Gordon animated series (1996)

In the 1996 animated series, Ming looks even more reptilian: he is a green, pointy-eared, sharp-toothed scaly alien, which cause the heroes to call him a "lizard". (Meanwhile, Aura has green skin, but is otherwise perfectly human.) In this version, Ming is more humane and even comical at times.

Flash Gordon TV series (2007–2008)

In the 2007 Flash Gordon Sci Fi Channel TV series, Ming is portrayed by John Ralston as a clean shaven blond caucasian. Executive producer David Hume has said that this interpretation of the character is modeled after Saddam Hussein.^[2]

This version of Ming the Merciless is a media-savvy tyrant, who controls the planet through his monopoly on the production of clean water. He uses this control to extort wealth and obedience from the populace. He dresses in a quasi-military garb and seems to have some sort of militaristic position in addition to his role as a Water Baron and emperor.

Although as evil as ever, Ming is known as and addressed as "Benevolent Father". However, his people call him Ming the Merciless, because of his harsh and often brutal leadership. Ming was also known as Ming the Merciless during his military career and rise to power.

Ming justifies everything he does as maintaining order and preventing a return to the chaos that occurred before he took power.

Ming is known to keep a large harem of willing and unwilling women that serve his needs. Princess Aura has said he treats them very well, but it is implied that she is biased. Those who attempt to escape his harem are sold as sex slaves to others as punishment.

Ming often expresses disappointment in Aura, such as when she shows interest in a person he views as beneath her station or when she refrains from seizing power after his apparent death. He has also used her as a political tool, such as when he arranges for her to marry Barin of the Verdan in an attempt to create an alliance and further his own power.

He has his scientist, Rankol, keep Flash's father hostage and stole the Imex (an alien computing device found in an Incan temple in Nazca, Peru, it had been discovered that it's a molecular computer, containing a schematic for the genetic code of the universe) to perfect his Rift Generator and steal water from the Earth, as his own supply is running out.

It has recently been revealed that Ming has a son named Terek, whom he had ordered to be killed at birth for being a Deviate. He also banished his wife (Aura's mother). When it becomes apparent that his son is alive and attempting to overthrow him, Ming captures Aura's mother and poisons her with Grey Water to make her a Deviate as well. Since Aura knows her mother's bloodline is pure, it has been revealed that Ming is the source of Terek's deviation.

When Flash Gordon releases Ming's stolen water, Ming has it poisoned and places the blame upon Terek. It is later revealed to his people that Ming had poisoned the water. This begins the spark of revolution against him. It is prophesied by monks that Ming will fall. Terek gathers an army of the various races of Mongo to battle Ming while his forces are weakened because of a war in the north.

Ming forms an alliance with Azura and her warriors in exchange for making her his queen, her army would battle against the rebels. She gives him an amulet. Ming is captured after a battle with Flash Gordon and Aura. Terek orders his execution. When Aura coldly tells her father 'good-bye', Ming finally admits he is proud of his daughter. Ming is placed inside a gas chamber. As the chamber filled with gas, Ming vanishes, having been teleported to safety by Azura's amulet.

In popular culture

• Many parodies of Ming the Merciless have appeared in popular culture, including:
  • "Mung the Mirthless" in Wally Wood's comic strip Sally Forth
  • "Wang the Perverted" in the porn movie Flesh Gordon
  • "Gorzo the Mighty", a columnist for The Onion^[3]
  • "Doctor Chaotica" of the "Captain Proton" holodeck program in Star Trek: Voyager
  • "Emperor Ming – Stinky Galactic Dictator" in a one-off comic strip in Viz magazine, where Ming has extremely bad personal hygiene and pronounced body odour. (This is a play on the British slang term 'minging', meaning extremely unpleasant and/or malodorous.)
  • "Emperor Tod Spengo" in the comedy movie Mom and Dad Save the World
  • "Ding the Merciless", an opponent of Trash Gordon in one segment on Sesame Street
  • "Supreme Overlord Maximus IQ", the main villain in the animated series Atomic Betty
  • The British sketch comedy series Big Train contained a trio of sketches involving the mundane adventures of the despotic ruler of a far-off planet. The character was dressed as Ming the Merciless.
  • An episode^[4] of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy was titled "Mandy the Merciless", though the episode was an homage to Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune.
  • Ping the Pitiless in the 2000 AD parody strip Dash Decent
  • Evil Emperor Zurg from Toy Story 2 seems to be a parody of Ming himself and Darth Vader.
  • A robot named Ming was entered in Robot Wars and Nickelodeon Robot Wars.
  • In an episode of Top Gear, Ming the Merciless drove a car around the track against a variety of other evil characters, including Darth Vader and a Cyberman.
• Scottish politician Menzies Campbell^[5] (pronounced /ˈmɪŋɪs/) and Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies^{[citation needed]} are sometimes nicknamed (with significant irony) "Ming the Merciless".
• George Lucas has cited Ming as a basis for Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader from the Star Wars series^[6]
• In 2007, Ming was ranked number 2 on the Forbes Fictional 15.^[7]
• The Ming library software for creating Adobe Flash (.swf) files was named after the character.
• Mentioned as one of the "brilliant legal minds who approved the torture [of terror suspects]" by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report, April 21, 2009.
• Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, the Irish politician and cannabis legalisation campaigner, takes his name from his resemblance to the fictional Ming the Merciless
• Father Ted featured Ming the Merciless in a slide show used by main character Ted Crilly to try and show that he was not racist against Chinese people in the episode "Are You Right There, Father Ted?" (Ming is often criticised as a negative Chinese stereotype).
• Muppets Tonight did a parody called Lash Holstein, where the characters were all cows, in which the title character fought Mooing the Merciless (portrayed by Jerry Nelson) of the planet Lactosia.
• In the Belgian novels portraying Bob Morane's adventures, the character of Monsieur Ming, L'Ombre jaune (The yellow shadow) seems directly inspired from Ming the Merciless and Fu Manchu, he first appears in La Couronne de Golconde (1959).
• In the USA Network show Psych, Shawn Spencer calls Carlton Lassiter "Ming the Merciless" in the season three episode "Earth, Wind, And...Wait For It.."

Notes

1. ^ "Superheroes: The power list". The Independent (London). June 21, 2006. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/superheroes-the-power-list-404909.html. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
2. ^ AMC - Blogs - SciFi Scanner - Executive Producer Says Ming The Merciless Is Saddam
3. ^ http://www.theonion.com/content/columnists/view/gorzo
4. ^ Season 2, episode 11
5. ^ Assinder, Nick (January 9, 2006). "What to call Ming's backers?". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4594508.stm. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
6. ^ Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas (New York: Da Capo Press, 1999), p. 142, ISBN 0-306-80904-4.
7. ^ Forbes Fictional 15 2007