Ho Yinsen

Ho Yinsen
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Larry Lieber (scripter) Don Heck (artist)
In-story information
Supporting character of	Iron Man
Abilities	Genius-level intelligence

Professor Ho Yinsen is a supporting character of Iron Man in the Marvel Comics universe. The character, created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Don Heck, first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Original plotline

Professor Yinsen was a physicist, engineer and pacifist from the fictional nation of Timbetpal; while Tony Stark was in college, Stark had greatly admiring the older man's work. In his old age, Yinsen was captured in Vietnam by the Communist warlord Wong-Chu before American arms manufacturer and engineer Tony Stark was also captured. Stark's US military convoy had tripped a land mine and he was injured with shrapnel that was slowly moving toward his heart. Yinsen builds a magnetic chest plate and affixes it to Stark's chest, thus preventing the shrapnel from reaching his heart, thereby saving Stark's life and keeping him alive. Wong-Chu then orders Yinsen and Stark to build weapons for him. Instead, Yinsen helps Stark secretly build the first Iron Man armor, which includes a device for Stark's heart to keep him alive. Yinsen sacrifices his life distracting Wong-Chu in order to buy time for Stark to power up his armor. Stark dons the armor, becoming Iron Man, and defeats Wong-Chu, apparently killing him in the explosion of a munitions shed, before freeing all other prisoners.

Twelve of Wong-Chu's former prisoners were disciples of Yinsen; one of these disciples (Sun-Tao) leads them to establish a quasi-religious cult called the Sons of Yinsen. The Sons of Yinsen develop very advanced technology from notes in Yinsen's journal that he had written before his death; they use this technology to create the apparent utopia of New Timbetpal, a floating, ambulatory, usually-cloaked city in the sky. It is revealed that Wong-Chu survived the munitions shed explosion and that Yinsen's brain was preserved alive, salvaged by an interdimensional merchant called Doctor Midas. Midas sold Yinsen's brain in an auction to Wong-Chu. Iron Man, driven by his own guilt that he never looked for Yinsen himself, simply assuming that his friend had been killed while focusing on his own escape, helps the Sons of Yinsen defeat Wong-Chu, who is beheaded by one of the Sons of Yinsen, and recover Yinsen's brain.

The Sons of Yinsen attempt to resurrect Professor Yinsen by placing his brain inside a sentient Iron Man armor, which is actually under Ultron's control. Falsely believing Ultron to be Yinsen resurrected, the Sons of Yinsen follow directives toward planning for a war; only Sun-Tao refuses to obey, for which he is displaced as leader of the Sons of Yinsen by a man named Tyger Minn. Ultron leads the Sons of Yinsen to reveal themselves to the public and establish the Church of Yinsen. Sun-Tao recovers Yinsen's brain, and then Iron Man, Sun-Tao, and Jocasta work together to defeat Ultron and the Sons of Yinsen and free Ultron's prisoner Antigone. Ultron attempts to blow up the floating city of the Sons of Yinsen to kill all of them as well as Iron Man; however, the sentient armor has apparently absorbed enough of the thoughts of Yinsen that part of it acts to save Iron Man and Sun-Tao from the destruction of the city.

Retcon plotline

In the "Execute Program" story arc of Invincible Iron Man vol. 4, a retcon establishes that Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen had been captured not by Communists in Vietnam, but rather by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and that Yinsen was murdered under orders from five terrorists (Dennis Kellard, Ara Tanzerian, Zakim Karzai, Aftaab Lemar, and Kareem Mahwash Najeeb). Before he died, Yinsen had been coerced into implanting a "bio-magnetic receiving unit" inside Stark's brain. In a failed attempt to recover the control device for the implant, the terrorists send hitman Andrei Gorlovich to murder Yinsen's wife. Years later, some of the five terrorists are now diplomats. Yinsen's grieving teenage son (whose name is never revealed) blamed Stark for his parents' deaths and takes control of the device in Stark's brain to mind-control into assassinating all five of the former terrorists. Stark confronts Yinsen's son in order to try to prove innocence, but the latter is sniped and killed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent acting on Nick Fury's orders.

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, Yinsen is revealed to have a daughter: Toni Ho.

In other media

Television

• The character appeared in the 1994 Iron Man animated television series, voiced by Neil Ross. This version is named Wellington Yinsen. He works with Professor Arnold Brock before the man was the Mandarin. Mandarin later captures Yinsen and Tony Stark to build armor for minions. Instead, Yinsen helps Stark become Iron Man to help to escape. Yinsen is vaporized by Mandarin in the process while protecting Iron Man and the dummy of Stark.
• Professor Ho Yinsen appears in Marvel Anime: Iron Man, voiced by Hiroaki Hirata in the Japanese version and by Kyle Hebert in the English Dub. This version's early history is similar as his film version's as he helps install the initial electromagnet that keeps Tony Stark alive after he is shot down in his helicopter by terrorists and convinces his ally to reflect as a weapons manufacturer. However, Yinsen turns out alive albeit corrupted by Minister of Defense Kuroda of Zodiac and becomes Iron Man Dio after stealing the prototype armor.
• Dr. Yinsen appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures. He appears in the episode "The Invincible Iron Man Part 2: Reborn" as a Stark International medical specialist and the man who repaired Tony Stark's heart after Howard Stark's plane crashed. Yinsen is later seen in the episode "Iron Monger Lives" after Howard was attacked with a poison by Head of Security O'Brian (revealed to be Whitney Stane).

Film

• The character appears in the 2007 direct-to-video animated film The Invincible Iron Man, but the voice actor is uncredited. This version is Ho Yen and helps James "Rhodey" Rhodes treat Tony Stark's damaged heart after being captured for attempting to dig up an ancient city and tells of the legend of the Mandarin. He is subsequently killed by Wong-Chu.
• Professor Yinsen appeared in the 2008 film Iron Man, portrayed by Shaun Toub. He is a doctor and engineer from the small fictional Afghanistan village Gulmira and is captured by the local branch of an international terrorist group called the Ten Rings alongside Tony Stark. He assists Stark in creating the miniaturized arc reactor and the first Iron Man armor, subsequently sacrificing himself to buy time for Stark's armor to charge up. Dying, Yinsen reveals that his family is dead and he never intended to survive. After learning of a Ten Rings attack on Gulmira, Stark intervenes in for the first time as Iron Man to save his friend's home village.
• Shaun Toub reprised the role in a cameo appearance in the 2013 film Iron Man 3. He was seen briefly meeting Stark during a flashback set on New Year's Eve 1999 which was also attended by Aldrich Killian. This appearance established his full name as Ho Yinsen, to which Stark jokingly says "I finally met a man named Ho."

Video games

• Shaun Toub reprised his role as Ho Yinsen for the 2008 Iron Man video game adaptation. He is seen on the tutorial level walking Tony Stark through the Iron Man suit's various features and bringing its weapons online. Unlike in the movie, he is not killed by buying Tony Stark time to escape, but deliberately sacrifices himself to prevent the Ten Rings acquiring Tony's notes on the Iron Man armor and the ammunitions that were stored with them.
• Ho Yinsen is mentioned in Iron Man VR. Both him and Tony Stark were captured by terrorists in Afghanistan five years prior to the game's events. Yinsen helped Stark build his first Iron Man armor, but was unfortunately killed by the terrorists during Stark's escape.

External links

• Ho Yinsen at Marvel.com
• Ho Yinsen on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki