While attempting to unearth an ancient Chinese city using his company''s resources - while also diverting money into a project that will put Stark Enterprises on the cutting edge of technology - Tony Stark''s ambitions are thwarted when the Jade Dragons attack the excavation site, killing almost everyone and kidnapping his friend James Rhodey Rhodes. Traveling to the site to investigate, Tony is captured and injured by the Jade Dragons, his life saved by a Chinese shaman and Rhodes'' skills as an army medic after a piece of shrapnel damages his heart. The shaman tells Tony that the Dragons seek to prevent the return of the Mandarin, an evil ruler of great power who ruled China three thousand years ago, and who the city commemorates. Should four rings created by the Mandarin - their purpose being to grant him power over death - be brought together after the city rises, the Mandarin will awaken.