Ming the Merciless

Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming in Flash Gordon (1980)

Ming the Merciless is a fictional character appearing in the Flash Gordon comic strip. 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.

The capital of his empire is named "Mingo" 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.

Though he is technically an extraterrestrial, Ming strongly resembles a stereotypical Asian supervillain, and his resemblance to Dr. Fu Manchu is especially strong. ("Ming" was the name of several historical Chinese emperors, and later of an entire dynasty, and the name has clear Chinese associations even for people not versed in the details of Chinese history). In later adaptations of the story, his Oriental nature has been downplayed out of sensitivity to criticisms of racial stereotyping. (In fact, in DC Comics' nine-issue Flash Gordon mini-series, Ming and most of the human-like denizens of Mongo [with some exceptions] were given grey skin.)

In the Flash Gordon film serials, Ming was played by Charles Middleton.

In the 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, and his army of robots, the Metal Men. 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.

In the 1980 theatrical film, he was played by Max von Sydow.

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, Lothar, and of course Flash Gordon. In the opening episode Ming successfully captured Dale Arden Gordon and her son Rick, and tore 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 was in the depths of Antarctica and was called Ice Station Earth; his allies in this series were 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 included a son rather than a daughter at his side, Prince Kro-Tan; unlike Aura, he held no love for any of the Defenders and considered both them and his father hindrances to his enslavement of the galaxy. Kro-Tan came the closest to defeating his father in a five-part story where he successfully entrapped Ming and took over his forces, before Ming was released by the Defenders and took his vengeance. Ming had two carrier spacecraft in this series, one of which was his "Throne Room", his main vessel, which could launch itself from the Arctic Ocean. Ming is also portrayed as having green skin (the change to green skin was not an uncommon treatment for Asian villains to receive, and was shared by Doctor No in James Bond Jr and The Mandarin in Iron Man).

In the late 1990s Flash Gordon 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". (Aura, meanwhile, has green skin, but is otherwise perfectly human.) In this version, Ming is more humane and even comical at times.

Ming the Merciless as a nickname

British Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell is sometimes called "Ming" for short, because his name (of Scots origin) is pronounced "MING-iss" rather than the phonetic "MEN-zees". As a consequence, the Scottish politician has also earned the nickname "Ming the Merciless" from many tabloid newspapers in the UK. The satirical radio series The Now Show has pointed out that the next General Election might be "Ming versus Gordon" (i.e. Gordon Brown).

Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister, was also known as "Ming the Merciless".

In popular culture

The American science fiction author Gene Wolfe wrote a story entitled "When I Was Ming the Merciless", about a social science experiment in which the narrator assumes a role similar to the original character. The story is included in the collection Endangered Species.

In the Father Ted episode, "Are you right there, Father Ted?", Ming the Merciless is identified as one of a series of celebrities from a Chinese background.

In the adult spoof Flesh Gordon, Ming is portrayed as Emperor Wang the Perverted, ruler of planet Porno.

In the DuckTales episode "The Right Duck", Ming was spoofed as Ping the Pitiless, and was the ruler of Mars.

In the Jedi Mind Tricks song "On The Eve Of War" rapper Vinny Paz makes reference to Ming the Merciless in the line

"...I brought a four with me, we can capture the ring

And now we more merciless than the Statue of Ming

And ya'll are more purposeless than a pacifist king..."

In the British comedy, DuckTales Ming the Merciless is once used to refer to Manny by Bernard Black.

In the comedy series Big Train, a recurring sketch in the third series chronicled the private life of Ming, including going back to his home and watching him vacuum, watch television and enjoy the Teletubbies. Further instalments involved Ming being hospitalised for a minor accident and, upon being visited by a minion and presented with a card from the people of a whole star system, responding "They only sent it because they are scared."