Ming the Merciless

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, television series and film adaptation. Ming is depicted as a ruthless tyrant who rules the planet Mongo.

In Alex Raymond's comic strip, when the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the fictional planet Mongo, they find it ruled by an evil emperor, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy. He was not named at first, only being known as the Emperor until six weeks later, when his name was revealed to be "Ming".

The capital of his empire is named Mingo City in his honour. In addition to his army, Ming is shown to have 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.

Flash and his companions escape from Ming's clutches and find allies among the peoples of Mongo, including Barin, Prince Vultan, Prince Thun and Queen Fria. They organise a resistance movement against Ming's rule; the action of the resistance takes up much of the strip's story-lines. Ming was eventually overthrown, and Raymond pitted Flash against other enemies in the 1940s.

During Austin Briggs's run on the Flash Gordon strip, he introduced Ming's son, Kang the Cruel. Kang became Flash's main antagonist during Briggs' run.

In the 1956 story "Return to Mongo", Dan Barry introduced Ming's identical son, Ming II. This Ming behaved similarly to his father and became a semi-regular antagonist for Flash in Barry's strips. In the 1957 story "The Time Pendulum", a descendant of Ming from the future, Ming XIII, travels back in time to kill Flash and thus ensure the victory of his ancestor. Jim Keefe used Ming as Flash's main opponent during his run on the Flash Gordon comic strip.

In the 2011 Dynamite Comics Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, Ming is shown as attempting to invade Earth in the year 1934. As in the 1980 film, Ming's main henchman is the masked Klytus. In this version Klytus has the full name Klytus Ra Djaaran, and is described as Ming's Grand Vizier and head of Ming's secret police. Ming is also shown as working with the Third Reich to conquer the planet. The prequel, Merciless: The Rise of Ming depicts Ming's ascent to power over Mongo. Merciless depicts Ming as the son of Emperor Krang, and the husband of Auranae, who becomes Princess Aura's mother.

In the later Dynamite Flash Gordon comic, King's Watch (unconnected to the events in Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist) Ming uses a dimensional portal to send his troops to the planet Earth. Flash, Dale and Zarkov travel to Mongo to stop Ming's attack. In the sequel story, Flash Gordon:The Man from Earth, Dale Arden learns that Ming uses special "Quantum Crystals" to expand his lifespan, and to travel to and conquer other star systems. Ming also forces some of Prince Barin's subjects to be enslaved, brainwashed, and turned into "Beastmen" warriors for Ming's army. Flash also witnesses a Mongo propaganda video which reveals Ming's full title as "Ming Gorzon-Hydraxus of Seledarqu".