Nayland Smith

Nayland Smith is a British intelligence agent and longtime adversary of Fu Manchu, adapted from Sax Rohmer's novels. At Marvel, he serves as a mentor and ally to Shang-Chi, coordinating espionage operations alongside Doctor Petrie and Black Jack Tarr.

A fixture of Marvel's Bronze Age martial arts boom, Nayland Smith made his debut in Special Marvel Edition #15 in 1973 — the very issue that launched one of the era's most celebrated series — brought to comics by the legendary creative team of Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. He's most at home in the pages of Master of Kung Fu, where he shares adventures with Shang-Chi, Doctor Petrie, Black Jack Tarr, and the shadowy Fu Manchu, placing him at the heart of Marvel's most atmospheric espionage-and-intrigue corner of the Bronze Age. That debut issue carries genuine key-issue status, making Nayland Smith a name any serious collector of '70s Marvel should have on their radar. With appearances stretching all the way to 2019, he's a quietly enduring presence in one of the publisher's most beloved and distinctive runs.