As the archenemy of Flash Gordon, Ming the Merciless is one of the crueler comic character villains to ever grace a comic strip or film serial.

And here's our take on why: not only was Ming the kind of guy who would takeover your planet, topple your government and establish himself as the reigning and indisputable tyrant in an endgame that will stop at nothing less than intergalactic domination, but he was also a love hater of Shakespearean proportions.

Did you know that Ming didn't just steal the planet Mongo from its rightful owner, one Prince Barin. But he also banished him and his followers to the incarcerating forest of Arboria, despite the fact that Ming's own daughter was Barin's bride?

If that's not the Capulet calling the Montague "Ming," we don't know what is.

Ming the Merciless first appeared alongside Flash Gordon in a 1934 King Features Syndicate full-page strip. He continued tormenting the "puny" protagonists through decade after decade of film serials and reinvented strips and comic books. He was last seen in the early 1990s and though not much changed about his villainy over the years, a few things did change about his appearance. More recent artists strived to retain the essence of the Alex Raymond original character, while toning down Ming's cultural stereotypes.

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