- "You got a family?"
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"
"No."
"So you're a man who has everything, and nothing." - ―Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen[src]
Ho Yinsen was a renowned scientist and surgeon, hailing from the village of Gulmira. Yinsen was held captive, alongside Tony Stark, by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, where he was charged with attending to Stark's medical needs when Stark was brought in injured from an explosive. Having lost his family to local terrorist activity, Yinsen helped Stark escape the cave, but willingly sacrificed himself in the process.
Biography
Meeting Stark
- "Mr. Stark, Ho Yinsen."
"Ah, I finally met a man called 'Ho'." - ―Ho Yinsen and Tony Stark[src]
Yinsen was an Afghan man from the small village of Gulmira. Eventually, he became a scientist after graduating from Cambridge University and started to work in Europe.[1]
Meeting Tony Stark
Ho Yinsen met Tony Stark on New Year's Eve in 1999 at a party in Bern, Switzerland, after Stark delivered a lecture, while very drunk, on integrated circuits. Yinsen tried to introduce Stark and Maya Hansen to Dr. Wu, but Stark drunkenly brushed him off to focus his attention of Hansen.[2] However, Stark would not even remember this encounter when he met Yinsen again years later.[1]
In Captivity
Yinsen works as translator for Stark and the Ten Rings
- "If you do this for them, he will let you go free."
"No he won't."
"No he won't." - ―Ho Yinsen and Tony Stark[src]
Ten years later, Yinsen was captured by the Ten Rings, a terrorist group in Afghanistan. When the Ten Rings brought in Tony Stark, injured from an explosive used in their ambush, they charged Yinsen with keeping Stark alive. A skilled and resourceful field surgeon, Yinsen removed much of the shrapnel from Stark's body, and helped keep him alive long enough to build an electromagnet piece in his chest to keep the remaining shrapnel from entering his heart.
Building Mk I with Tony Stark
Under captivity, Stark and Yinsen were ordered by the terrorists to build a Jericho Missile similar to the one Stark demonstrated to the US military, or they would be killed. However, Stark refused and was tortured. Yinsen managed to motivate him and both men acknowledged that they would be murdered either way and instead focused on an escape plan. Stark revealed to Yinsen that he would use the parts that the Ten Rings gave them and build a weaponised suit of armor which he would use to kill the terrorists and return Yinsen to his family.
Escape and Death
Yinsen fits Stark into the Mk I Armor
- "This was always the plan, Stark."
- ―Ho Yinsen[src]
Yinsen helped Stark keep the Iron Man Mark I suit he was making a secret from their captor, Raza, and assisted in its creation. When Tony asked about Yinsen's family, Yinsen merely noted, "I will see them when I leave this place." Yinsen also pointed out the damage wreaked upon the region by the terrorists, using Stark's own weapons, and asked if this is what he wished "the legacy of the great Tony Stark" to be.
Yinsen's death
During the escape the terrorists were alerted to their plan, seeing there was not enough time to power up the suit, Yinsen took a gun and chased the terrorists away. He was shot and mortally wounded when he ran round a corner to be caught by dozens of terrorists. When Stark found Yinsen, mortally wounded, he reassured Stark, revealing that this had always been the plan as his family was dead and that he wished to be reunited with them. With his dying breath, Yinsen asked Stark not to waste his life.[1]
Abilties
- "Why do you think you're still alive, huh?"
- ―Ho Yinsen to Tony Stark[src]
- Master Engineer: Yinsen managed to help Tony Stark create the first Iron Man armor.
- Expert Physician: Yinsen is considered a renown surgeon and was able to keep Tony Stark alive when he had shrapnel digging into his heart.
Relationships
Allies
- Tony Stark/Iron Man - Fellow Captive and Friend
- Maya Hansen †
- Wu - Associate
Enemies
Trivia
- In the comics, Ho Yinsen is a Chinese physicist and engineer greatly admired by a young Tony Stark.
- Yinsen's relationship with Stark mirrors Captain America's with Abraham Erskine, although Yinsen is more of a moral example to the then somewhat decadent Stark, whereas Erskine instead supports and affirms Rogers' pre-existing values.
