Iron Fist
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- This article is about the comic book superhero. For other uses of the name, see Iron Fist (disambiguation).
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Iron Fist (Daniel "Danny" Rand) is a fictional superhero martial artist in the Marvel Comics universe created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. He first appeared in Marvel Premiere #15 in May of 1974.
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[edit] Publication history
Iron Fist was created by Marvel Comics along with characters such as Shang Chi, to cash in on the sudden popularity of martial arts in the early 1970s. He appeared in nine issues of Marvel Premiere (#15-24) before receiving a solo title in November, 1975. As the martial arts craze died down, sales struggled and the solo title lasted 15 issues. The character then appeared in Power Man #48-50, where he was teamed with Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, aka Power Man. The Power Man title was renamed Power Man and Iron Fist with issue #50. The title ran another 75 issues, ending with issue #125 in September, 1986.
In the 1990s Iron Fist appeared again as a recurring guest character in John Byrne's Namor (in 1991-1992), he starred in an eponymous two-part 1996 series, a new version of Heroes for Hire that lasted for 19 issues (1997-1999) and a three-part miniseries in 1998.
In the 2000s, Iron Fist appeared in the four-part Iron Fist/Wolverine in 2000 and a six-part miniseries in 2004.
Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark's run on Daredevil reintroduced the character of Iron Fist in 2006, in the period leading up to and during Marvel's Civil War crossover. Shortly afterwards, Iron Fist appeared in a new series by Ed Brukabker, Matt Fraction and David Aja.
[edit] Fictionary character biography
[edit] Origin
Daniel Rand is the son of American businessman Wendell Rand, a wealthy entrepreneur who discovers the mystical city of K'un-L'un as a young boy. During his time in K'un L'un, Wendell saves the the life of the city's ruler, Lord Tuan, and is adopted as Tuan's son. However, Wendell eventually leaves K'un L'un and becomes a wealthy entrepreneur in the United States. He marries socialite Heather Duncan and has a child, Daniel. When Daniel is 9, Wendell organizes an expedition to again seek out K'un L'un, taking his wife Heather, his business partner Harold Meachum, and Daniel. During the journey up the mountain, Daniel slips off the path, his tie-rope taking his mother and father with him. Meachum, who also loved Heather, forces Wendell to plunge to his death but offers to rescue Heather and Daniel. She rejects his help, preferring to journey on their own or die.
As explained in Marvel Premiere #15, Heather and Daniel come across a makeshift bridge that appears out of nowhere and are attacked by a pack of wolves. Heather throws herself on the wolves to save Daniel and is killed even as archers from K'un L'un attempt to save her. The archers take the grieving Daniel to see Yü-Ti, the hooded ruler of K'un L'un. When Daniel expresses his desire for vengeance, Yü-Ti apprentices him to Lei Kung, the Thunderer, who teaches him the martial arts.
Daniel proves to be the most gifted of Lei Kung's students. Rand conditions his fists by plunging them into buckets of sand, gravel and rock to toughen them. At 19, Daniel is given the chance to attain the power of the Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon known as Shou-Lao the Undying, which guarded the molten heart that had been torn from its body. During the battle, Daniel throws himself against the scar of Shou-Lao, which burns a dragon tattoo into his chest. Having killed Shou-Lao, he enters its cave and plunges his fists into a brazier containing the creature's molten heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist.
When K'un L'un reappears after 10 years, Daniel decides to leave and find his father's killer. Returning to New York, Daniel Rand, dressed in the ceremonial garb of the Iron Fist, seeks out Harold Meachum, now head of Meachum Industries. Before Iron Fist can decide whether or not to kill him, Meachum is murdered by a mysterious ninja, and Iron Fist is blamed for the death. Eventually, Iron Fist clears his name and begins a career as a superhero, aided by his friends Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, the latter with whom he falls in love. Notable adversaries in his early career include the first appearance of the villain Sabretooth (who was not yet known to be connected to Wolverine), the mysterious Master Khan (whom the ninja that killed Meachum once served) and the Steel Serpent, the exiled son of Lei Kung, who coveted the Iron Fist power.
[edit] Heroes for Hire
Iron Fist (vol. 1) only lasted 15 issues before cancellation, and the Steel Serpent storyline was wrapped up in two issues of Marvel Team-Up. Just before Rand's battle with Steel Serpent, Misty Knight had been working undercover, infiltrating the organization of the crime lord John Bushmaster. When Bushmaster discovered Knight's treachery, he kidnapped Claire Temple and Noah Burstein, the closest associates of Luke Cage, better known as Power Man, holding them hostage to force Cage to eliminate Knight. Iron Fist was on hand to stop him, however, and after a battle, the truth came out. Rand then helped Cage rescue Temple and Burstein as well as obtain evidence that proved Cage's innocence on prior drug charges. The two decided to become partners, forming Heroes for Hire, Inc.
The two characters' comics merged, with Power Man renamed Power Man and Iron Fist with #50. Although they supposedly were only heroes for money, the running plot device of the series (which lasted for over sixty issues after the merger) was that they were always doing the right thing, which usually left them with less money rather than more. Iron Fist, in his secret identity of Daniel Rand, had reassumed control of his parents' fortune as half of Rand-Meachum, and was actually quite wealthy. This caused a lot of tension between him and Cage, who was raised poor in the ghetto.
Power Man and Iron Fist ended in 1986 with Rand contracting cancer from radiation poisoning and inadvertently dying at the hands of Captain Hero, and Cage becoming a fugitive as the prime suspect in Rand's death.
[edit] Resurrection
The storyline would not be resolved until years later, in the 1990s in Namor. Rand apparently returned from the dead, but was revealed instead to be the Super-Skrull, who admitted that he had been Captain Hero, and that the plot to destroy Rand and Cage's lives had been masterminded by Master Khan. It was also discovered that the "Iron Fist" that had died was actually a doppelgänger created by the H'ylthri. Rand had, in fact, been kidnapped and replaced by the H'ylthri just after he had left K'un L'un for the last time. While in stasis with the H'ylthri, Rand had managed to focus his chi and cure the cancer. After the Onslaught incident, Rand and Cage decided to reform Heroes for Hire, Inc. with an expanded team, working for Namor's Oracle Corporation. This was chronicled in a new Heroes For Hire series, but the title was eventually cancelled due to low sales, ending with Namor dissolving Oracle as well as Heroes for Hire, Inc.
In the Iron Fist miniseries, Miranda Rand-K'ai also returned from the dead. The H'ylthri had revived her and promised to restore her to full life if she retrieved the extradimensional artifact known as the Zodiac Key for them. To this end, she took the identity of Death Sting, and this brought her into conflict with Iron Fist as well as the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D.. When the H'ylthri tried to kill Iron Fist, Miranda turned the power of the Zodiac Key on them, apparently killing herself in the process. However, exposure to chemicals from the H'ylthri pods had been enough to restore her completely.
In New Warriors, a ninja named Junzo Muto stole the Iron Fist powers and subsequently appeared in the Iron Fist and Wolverine miniseries. Later, in Black Panther, Chiantang the Black Dragon returned, mentally controlled Daniel Rand and restored his Iron Fist powers to use him against the Black Panther. Chiantang was eventually defeated by both heroes.
[edit] Civil War
Rand disguises himself as Daredevil to convince the media and the public that Matt Murdock is not the masked vigilante (Daredevil #87). Rand believes that he had been hired to pose as Daredevil by Foggy Nelson, who, unknown to Rand, had apparently been murdered.
He is opposed to the Super-human Registration Act which is the focus of Marvel's 2006 summer crossover event, Civil War, and joins Captain America while still pretending to be Daredevil.
In Civil War #5, while posing as Daredevil, Rand appears to have been apprehended by the Pro-Registration forces.
[edit] The Immortal Iron Fist
In 2006, Iron Fist appears in an ongoing series, The Immortal Iron Fist, co-written by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction with art by David Aja.[1]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Plunging his fists into the molten heart of Shou-Lao the Undying gave Rand the power of the Iron Fist, allowing him to focus his chi and enhance his natural abilities to extraordinary levels. His strength, speed, reflexes and senses can all be intensified, making his already formidable martial arts skills even more so. The ultimate expression of this focus is the ability to concentrate his body's natural energies into his hand, manifesting as a supernatural glow around his clenched fist, making his fist "like unto a thing of iron." So concentrated, this "iron fist" can smash into its target with superhuman hardness and impact. However, the feat of summoning the power required leaves Rand physically and mentally drained, unable to repeat the act for a time.
Other applications of the Iron Fist power include the ability to focus the energy inward to heal himself or outward to heal others of injury, as well as being able to telepathically meld with another person's mind. Even without the Iron Fist, Rand is an accomplished martial artist, and is easily one of the most skilled practitioners of unarmed combat in the Marvel Universe.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Ultimate Iron Fist
Daniel Rand has appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man. He appeared in the Warriors story-arc (issues #79-85) along with Shang Chi, Moon Knight and others. He also appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #1/2.
[edit] In other media
- An Iron Fist movie has been announced and is due sometime in 2008. It will star Ray Park in the title role.[1]
[edit] Parodies
- In The Simpsons comics, Lenny Leonard is Iron Foot of Heroes for Rent.
[edit] Trivia
According to the letters page of Marvel Premiere #15, Iron' Fist's origin and creation owe much to the 1940's Bill Everett character, Amazing Man.[2]
