List of Marvel Comics characters: Y

Professor Ho Yinsen is a supporting character of Iron Man in the Marvel Comics universe. The character, created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Don Heck, first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Original plotline

Professor Yinsen was a physicist, engineer and pacifist from the fictional nation of Timbetpal;[5] while Tony Stark was in college, Stark had greatly admiring the older man's work. In his old age, Yinsen was captured in Vietnam by the Communist warlord Wong-Chu before American arms manufacturer and engineer Tony Stark was also captured. Stark's US military convoy had tripped a land mine and he was injured with shrapnel that was slowly moving toward his heart. Yinsen builds a magnetic chest plate and affixes it to Stark's chest, thus preventing the shrapnel from reaching his heart, thereby saving Stark's life and keeping him alive. Wong-Chu then orders Yinsen and Stark to build weapons for him. Instead, Yinsen helps Stark secretly build the first Iron Man armor, which includes a device for Stark's heart to keep him alive. Yinsen sacrifices his life distracting Wong-Chu in order to buy time for Stark to power up his armor. Stark dons the armor, becoming Iron Man, and defeats Wong-Chu, apparently killing him in the explosion of a munitions shed, before freeing all other prisoners.[6]

Twelve of Wong-Chu's former prisoners were disciples of Yinsen; one of these disciples (Sun-Tao) leads them to establish a quasi-religious cult called the Sons of Yinsen. The Sons of Yinsen develop very advanced technology from notes in Yinsen's journal that he had written before his death; they use this technology to create the apparent utopia of New Timbetpal, a floating, ambulatory, usually-cloaked city in the sky. It is revealed that Wong-Chu survived the munitions shed explosion and that Yinsen's brain was preserved alive, salvaged by an interdimensional merchant called Doctor Midas. Midas sold Yinsen's brain in an auction to Wong-Chu. Iron Man, driven by his own guilt that he never looked for Yinsen himself, simply assuming that his friend had been killed while focusing on his own escape, helps the Sons of Yinsen defeat Wong-Chu, who is beheaded by one of the Sons of Yinsen, and recover Yinsen's brain.[7]

The Sons of Yinsen attempt to resurrect Professor Yinsen by placing his brain inside a sentient Iron Man armor, which is actually under Ultron's control. Falsely believing Ultron to be Yinsen resurrected, the Sons of Yinsen follow directives toward planning for a war; only Sun-Tao refuses to obey, for which he is displaced as leader of the Sons of Yinsen by a man named Tyger Minn. Ultron leads the Sons of Yinsen to reveal themselves to the public and establish the Church of Yinsen. Sun-Tao recovers Yinsen's brain, and then Iron Man, Sun-Tao, and Jocasta work together to defeat Ultron and the Sons of Yinsen and free Ultron's prisoner Antigone. Ultron attempts to blow up the floating city of the Sons of Yinsen to kill all of them as well as Iron Man; however, the sentient armor has apparently absorbed enough of the thoughts of Yinsen that part of it acts to save Iron Man and Sun-Tao from the destruction of the city.[8]

Retcon plotline

In the "Execute Program" story arc of Invincible Iron Man vol. 4, a retcon establishes that Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen had been captured not by Communists in Vietnam, but rather by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and that Yinsen was murdered under orders from five terrorists (Dennis Kellard, Ara Tanzerian, Zakim Karzai, Aftaab Lemar, and Kareem Mahwash Najeeb). Before he died, Yinsen had been coerced into implanting a "bio-magnetic receiving unit" inside Stark's brain. In a failed attempt to recover the control device for the implant, the terrorists send hitman Andrei Gorlovich to murder Yinsen's wife.[9] Years later, some of the five terrorists are now diplomats. Yinsen's grieving teenage son (whose name is never revealed) blamed Stark for his parents' deaths and takes control of the device in Stark's brain to mind-control into assassinating all five of the former terrorists. Stark confronts Yinsen's son in order to try to prove innocence, but the latter is sniped and killed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent acting on Nick Fury's orders.[9]

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, Yinsen is revealed to have a daughter: Toni Ho.[10]

Kagenobu Yoshioka is a character in Marvel Comics. The character, created by Akira Yoshida, first appeared in Elektra: The Hand #1 (November 2004). He is a ninja and founder of The Hand.

Yoshioka was the son of a samurai who lived with his single mother. When coming home from fishing, Yoshioka sees his mother about to be raped by a foreigner. Angered, he kills the foreigner, but his mother takes the blame. His mother is taken away, leaving behind a bloodied hand print on his shirt which would become his emblem. Saburo Ishiyama takes him in and becomes his sensei, training him in the ways of bushido. After training for ten years, Yoshioka leaves the school to start his adult life.[11] After three years of training, Yoshioka is asked to return to his sensei's school because of his mentor's death. He makes amends with his old rival Daisuke Sasaki and together decide to rebel against the government by forming with other Japanese school leaders.[12] The Hand is visited by a foreigner and his daughter Eliza Martinez who come to the school hoping to be trained. After turning the two down several times, Kagenobu finally accepts which angers Sasaki. Kagenobu personally trains Eliza and has Eliza kill another foreigner simply for not being Japanese. He informs Eliza of being full of anger and that is why Eliza chose to train with him, afterwards the two fall in love. Sasaki sends a member of the Hand to kill Eliza but fails. Kagenobu learns that the Hand has become a mercenaries for hire organization; realizing that his school is slowly getting out of his control, Kagenobu fights and kills Sasaki.[13] Kagenobu and Eliza fight the Hand's members but Kagenobu is slain by his once loyal students, and the grief-stricken Eliza kills herself as well.[14]

Yukon Jack (Yukotujakzurjimozoata) is a character in the Marvel Universe, a member of the superhero team Alpha Flight. The character, created by Scott Lobdell and Clayton Henry, first appeared in Alpha Flight vol. 3, #1 (May 2004). He views himself as a demi-god, making references to not being a normal human. When he was electrocuted by Hiro Takachiho, his skeleton showed few similarities to a normal human's. After the series' conclusion, he married Snowbird.[23]