History
Daniel Rand was the son of businessman Wendell Rand, who had once lived in the fabled city of K'un-Lun, which exists in another dimensional realm. Wendell Rand-K'ai, as he was known there was the eldest son and heir of Lord Tuan, who ruled K'un-Lun, in the guise of the August Personage in Jade. However, Wendell was driven from K'un-Lun by his brother, who not only wanted to rule K'un-Lun himself, but who was Wendell's rival for the love of a woman named Shakirah. It was Wendell that Shakirah chose, and she bore him a daughter, Miranda. Wendell found refuge on Earth and became a successful businessman in the United States. In his absence, Tuan died and Wendell's brother succeeded him as Yu-Ti, the August Personage in Jade. Wendell married a woman named Heather, who bore him a son, Daniel.
Wendell sought to return to K'un-Lun, which ordinarily was only accessible from Earth through an interdimensional nexus that opened once every ten years. When Daniel was nine, his father traveled to Tibet along with Heather and his business partner Harold Meachum in search of the nexus to K'un-Lun. Toppling off a treacherous mountain passage, Daniel dragged his mother and father over the ice shelf with him. While he and his mother landed on a ledge below, his father dangled over the sheer drop of the mountainside and called to his partner for help. Hoping to take over Rand's share of the business, Meachum instead caused him to lose his grip and plunge to his death. Though Meachum offered to help Heather Rand and her son, they spurned him. Attempting to make it back to camp on their own, Heather and her son spied a long suspension bridge as a pack of wolves attacked. Heather tried to hold them off long enough for her son to get to safety and was killed in the effort[1].
Soon thereafter, denizens of K'un-Lun found the boy and took him to their city. There Daniel was brought before Yu-Ti, who had secretly plotted the murder of both Wendell and Heather. Yu-Ti apprenticed Daniel to the martial arts master Lei Kung the Thunderer[2].
Rand's training under Lei Kung was rigorous. At age sixteen Rand earned the Crown of Fu-Hsi, king of the vipers, vanquished four foes in the ritualistic Challenge of the Many, and defeated Shu-Hu, a mechanical being whose name means "Lightning"[1]. Rand diligently conditioned his hands by thrusting them into tubs of hot sand, then gravel, and finally rock.
At age nineteen Rand was given the opportunity to gain the power of the Iron Fist. He was sent to battle the enormous fire-breathing serpent called Shou-Lao the Undying which lived in a cave outside the city and which ferociously guarded a brazier containing its heart, which had mystically been removed from its body. In their battle Rand grabbed the serpent's body, which bore a scar which imprinted itself upon Rand's chest. Killing the serpent, Rand plunged his hands into the now unguarded brazier containing Shou-Lao's molten heart when his hands shone with a quasi-mystical force and he earned the title "Iron Fist," for he could now summon superhuman energy to reinforce the power of blows struck by his hands[2].
Danny Rand, Iron Fist
Declining to stay in K'un-Lun eternally, Rand returned to America when the nexus reopened in order to take vengeance on Meachum for his father’s death. While recovering from severe frostbite in the Himalayas, Meachum learned of Rand's training at K'un-Lun, and returned to America as an invalid to await Rand. Clad in the ceremonial garb of Iron Fist, Rand finally confronted Meachum but took pity on the invalid and spared him. Minutes later, however, a mysterious ninja murdered Meachum[3]. Blamed for the murder by Meachum's daughter Joy, Iron Fist undertook the mission of finding the ninja and clearing his own name. Eventually Iron Fist succeeded in both tasks. During the same time, he accompanied a woman named Jade to Feng-Tu, K'un-Lun's afterlife, where he met his mother, who had taken on the name Silver Dagon and been enslaved by the sorcerer Dhasha Khan. While in Feng-Tu, he was killed by the Bowman so he could fight Khan as a spirit. After defeating him, Rand was restored to life by Jade[4].
Heroes For Hire
Iron Fist was befriended by Professor Lee Wing and his daughter Colleen, a private investigator. Eventually Daniel Rand became the lover of her partner; Misty Knight. At the request of her friend Blackbyrd, he teamed up with Shang-Chi, Jack of Hearts and White Tiger to take down the Corporation[5].
Although Harold Meachum's daughter Joy and brother Ward long mistakenly sought vengeance on Iron Fist for Harold's death, Daniel finally made peace with Joy Meachum. Daniel claimed his inheritance as a full partner in Rand-Meachum, Inc., thus becoming a millionaire.
However, Rand allowed Joy Meachum to manage the business. His activities as Iron Fist had led him to become a crime fighter, and eventually he chose to devote his time to acting as the partner of Luke Cage, alias Power Man, in their firm Heroes for Hire, Inc. Through this firm Cage and Rand accepted jobs as special bodyguards or detectives.
One day Iron Fist used his superhuman healing power to try to cure a young boy named Bobby Wright of his terminal disease. The disease was a side effect of the exposure to radiation that enabled Wright to transform himself into an adult superhuman being who called himself Captain Hero. Iron Fist went into a trance outside Wright's hospital room in an attempt to rest after the effort of trying to heal him. In another attempt to help Wright, duplicates of Kree "nega-bands" were placed on his wrists. As a result Wright suffered intense pain. Transforming into Captain Hero, he struck Iron Fist repeatedly, desperately trying to bring him out of his trance. Misjudging his superhuman strength, Captain Hero instead seemingly killed Iron Fist before disappearing himself.
During a return visit to K'un-Lun, however, Rand was exposed to deadly radiation and was diagnosed with cancer. Almost immediately after, he was kidnapped by the H'ylthri, ancient alien enemies of K'un-Lun who planned an invasion of Earth. A plant-matter clone of Rand briefly took his place in the real world, unknown to his friends. When the clone was killed during a particular mission, Luke Cage was blamed for the murder. Cage was soon exonerated, but their hero-for-hire business was effectively dismantled.
The Immortal Iron Fist
Some time after this, the alien Super-Skrull duplicated Rand's likeness, fully assuming his identity in order to use the Rand Corporation and gain economic control of the Antarctic paradise known as the Savage Land. This conflicted with the plans of another company, Oracle Inc., owned by Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor, Namorita, and Misty Knight confronted Super-Skrull, who, his plans ruined, abandoned Rand's identity and fled. The assembled heroes set out on a search for the real Danny Rand, eventually freeing him from the H'ylthri with the help of Namor and the sorcerer Dr. Strange. Rand had found himself cured of his cancer due to his chi meditations when in stasis with the H'ylthri.
Following the seeming deaths of most of Earth's heroes at the hands of the sentient psionic menace known as Onslaught, the duo decided to expand the membership of Heroes for Hire. The agency merged with Oracle Inc. - the corporation owned by Prince Namor, the Atlantean Sub-Mariner - to protect the world from danger, for a price. The original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, lined up the jobs; Iron Fist acted as field commander. The team rarely collected its fee, however, and eventually disbanded when Namor saw fit to diffuse Oracle Inc.
Hoping to share the wisdom of his other-dimensional homeworld with humanity, Iron Fist initiated a summoning spell to call K'un-Lun to Earth. Tied to his heartbeat, the kingdom eventually would materialize - merging with whatever city he occupied at the time. But Junzo Muto, teenage leader of the secret cult of martial artists called the Hand, forcibly seized the power of the Iron Fist prior to K'un-L’un's arrival. He then drew the hero to Japan so the kingdom would materialize in the midst of modern-day Tokyo. Aided by the feral X-Man known as Wolverine and a number of the planet's mightiest heroes, Iron Fist put down Junzo's plan and halted the amalgamation of the two cities. However, he was unable to reclaim the power of the Iron Fist.
Later, one of Iron Fist's and the Black Panther’s enemies, Nightshade, resurrected the Black Dragon in hopes to control it against the Black Panther. She set the dragon on a mission to capture Panther's U.S. State Department handler, Everett K. Ross. However, the Black Dragon had plans of his own. Instead of capturing Ross, he switched bodies with Ross, for his own purposes. When this was discovered by the Black Panther, the Panther set out to destroy the Dragon's eggs. Not wishing to engage the Panther directly, the Dragon confronted Iron First, restoring the power of his iron fist by using a small favor borrowed from the Dragon's gods and creating an imbalance in his psyche that would brainwash Iron First into fighting the Panther. By a narrow margin, the Panther was able to render him unconscious, which helped restore him to his right mind. The Dragon battled both heroes directly and was ultimately defeated.
Iron Fist continued to work with Luke Cage. The two investigated a virus attack on the Rand Corporation, leading to a confrontation with the BAD Girls, Cable, and Deadpool.
New Avengers and Daredevil
Iron Fist is a legacy power, and that to date there have been sixty-six Iron Fists. The existence of Orson Randall, the previous Iron Fist, has also been revealed, and the two are mysteriously able to share the power of the Iron Fist. Randall is also teaching Danny how to use his powers in different ways than how he has previously.
Rand disguised himself as Daredevil to convince the media and the public that Matt Murdock was not the masked vigilante. Rand believed that he had been hired to pose as Daredevil by Foggy Nelson. In reality Nelson had faked being murdered and was in witness protection.
He opposed to the Super-human Registration Act, and joined Captain America while still pretending to be Daredevil. While posing as Daredevil, Rand was apprehended by Pro-Registration forces, calling Tony Stark 'Judas' and giving him a silver dollar. He was later freed from the Negative Zone Prison, joining Captain America's team for the final battle with Iron Man's forces.
After the final battle, Rand returned his role as Iron Fist and joined the underground New Avengers alongside fellow former Hero for Hire Luke Cage. In World War Hulk, he, alongside his teammates Echo and Ronin, tried to protect Rick Jones from Elloe and Hiroim of the Hulk's Warbound. They were briefly defeated and imprisoned. During Secret Invasion, Iron Fist, along with the reunited Avengers and a myriad of other heroes, took a final stand against the Skrulls in an all out battle in New York City.
Thunderbolts
With Power Man..joining the Thunderbolts?
Later, as Danny attended a meeting concerning Rand Corp's. crumbling state, he was ambushed by Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts. After a short lived battle, Danny was defeated, drugged and kidnapped. He found himself somewhere in the Thunderbolts base being brainwashed by Ghost and the Iron Patriot to be a member of the Thunderbolts. Osborn used new technology to brainwash Danny, using mentally-induced simulations in which Rand would kill nearly all the New Avengers but couldn't bring himself to kill Luke Cage. Ghost suggested completely mind-wiping Rand, but Osborn did not want him to lose his skills so he forced Danny to undergo a dangerous procedure where his mind was further tampered with. Iron Fist assisted in capturing Luke Cage, who later escaped thanks to the Ghost's tampering. Iron Fist attacked Luke (who had been assisted in his escape by Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), whom he had previously swallowed), and Danny made it appear that he had killed Cage, allowing the two to escape by surprise.[6] Danny's chi, as well as profound statements made by Luke Cage, repaired his warped mind.
Heroic Age & New Avengers
At the start of the Heroic Age Danny becomes part of Steve Roger's Avenger's Initiative and joins Luke Cage's team of New Avengers. On the first day the team is attacked by a possessed Doctor Strange looking for the Eye of Agamatto. The possession shifts to Luke Cage, then to Danny who gets teleported away while a horde of demons attack New York. He ends up in a white void, free of his possession and begins communicating with two voices. They tell him a normal person would have been destroyed by the teleportation and the only reason he survived was the power of the Iron Fist protected him. The voices take the form of the Ancient One and claims Doctor Strange is behind everything that is happening. Danny gets sent back to earth in a new, white costume to confront Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange calms Danny down and realizes that the spirit of Agamotto is behind the attacks. All the New Avengers lend their powers to Wolverine to repel Agamotto.
Iron Fist is part of the team of Avengers that attempt to escort Norman Osborn to a new prison. Norman escapes and re-organizes his Dark Avengers. Together with Spider-Man, Danny battles and defeats Ragnorok, the clone of Thor.
Avengers vs X-Men
Danny sides with the Avengers and is part of the team to attack Utopia and extract Hope Summers. He later travels to Wakanda to search for Hope after she flees. After the Phoenix force splits into five pieces Danny gets confronted by Lei Kung the Thunderer and Master Yu Ti about the role of the Phoenix in the history of the Iron Fist. Danny decides to bring Hope to K'un Lun as a safe place to train for her role as the Phoenix. He tells her the story of a red haired Earth girl who became the Iron Fist and mastered the power of the Phoenix centuries prior. Danny and Lei Kung begin training her before the prophecy tells Spider-man to train her. Iron Fist participates in every major battle against the Phoenix Five. After the Phoenix Five are defeated Luke Cage disbands the New Avengers.Attributes
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Powers
Recently his powers, skill, and awareness have been all augmented to vastly higher levels; while the extent is unknown, it was stated his sense of self has grown ten thousand fold and his capabilities now posses infinite depth. He no longer tires from using his chi and is capable of using his powers for greater tasks. Examples include destroying a train with the iron fist punch as it collided with his attack at full speed, healing himself from several external injuries, and detoxifying unwittingly ingested poison in his body with his Chi.
Chi Augmentation: Through concentration, Rand can harness his mystical chi to augment his physical and mental capabilities to superhuman levels.
Chi Manipulation: The Iron Fist grants Rand with many abilities that he has possibly not yet learned, such as channeling the Shou-Lao chi into a ranged weapon, such as a gun or bow, to increase its striking capabilities; this technique is used both by Orson Randall and Wu Ao-Shi.
- Iron Fist Punch: By summoning his chi and focusing it into his hand, he can draw upon the superhuman energy derived from the heart of the mystic serpent Shou-Lao and make his fist inhumanly powerful and super humanly resistant to injury and pain on a superhuman scale. This "iron fist" technique does not involve a physical transformation of any kind, simply a psychic channeling of concentrated natural energy. With his fist in this state, Rand can shatter wood and brick, rip through steel, and punch his opponents with extraordinary concussive force without sustaining injury to himself. The force of this technique has rendered incredibly durable Super humans such as the Colossus unconscious [7].
- Meditation: master of meditation and relaxation techniques, enter trance like state to ignore pain, and slow heart rate down. Complete control his over emotions and thoughts.
- Hypnotism: After obtaining The Book of the Iron Fist from Orson Randal, Rand has learned how to create various illusions and make his foes see what they want them to see. [citation needed]
- Mind Fusion: He can use his power to temporarily fuse his consciousness with another person, resulting in a sharing of knowledge, emotions, and memories.
- Energy Absorption: At times, Rand has absorbed energy directed at himself and channeled it to augment his own power. [citation needed]
- Energy Manipulation: Ability to psionically tap and manipulate energy fields, most notable the electromagnetic field. [citation needed]
- Energy Generation: Iron Fist can project his Chi into a ranged attack, sort of like an energy blast. Rand can also transfer his Chi into other objects to accelerate them or give them more power..
- Energy Detection: Capable of detecting energy signatures.
- Dimensional Travel: Under certain circumstances, he can even focus his chi to create nexus points between dimensions. [citation needed]
- Heightened Awareness: Demonstrated the ability to detect a threat to his well-being in his immediate vicinity before they commit the action; such as (Iron Fist Killer) [8].
- Enhanced Senses: Rand has unusually keen eyesight, but it is unclear if it extends to superhuman level. He can focus his hearing so intensely that he can hear sweat rolling down someones face. [citation needed]
- Empathy: Rand has the ability to sense the emotions/feelings of people and animals, can broadcast his own feelings in order to influence other people and/or animals emotions psionically. [citation needed]
- Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: He can increase his speed allowing him to dodge or catch bullets. Without the use of chi, he can run up to 35 mph. [citation needed]
- Enhanced Durability: Rand can generate a chi-based "aura" radiating from his body to protect himself from energy based attacks to a varied degree, and make himself more resilient against physical damage. [citation needed]
- Enhanced Healing: If he sustains injury or illness, Rand can focus his chi for the purposes of healing his injuries.[9] On the brink of death after a battle with Radion the Atomic Man, Daniel received a vision of Yu-Ti revealing that "the Iron Fist is not a weapon but a force of will which could perform miracles including healing," saving his life. By focusing enough he can even purge his own body of poison, however Rand experienced great pain in the process.[10] Recently he has proven capable of healing himself almost unconsciously and does not feel drained in doing so.[11] Rand can also channel this energy into other people.
- Superhuman Longevity: Possibility of a slowed aging process much like his predecessor Orson Randall.
- Environmental Adaptation: His entire body is oriented to combat, enabling him to adapt to any environment with minimal exposure. [citation needed]
Abilities
Peak Human Physical Conditioning: Rand is an Olympic-level athlete and gymnast.
Master Martial Artist: Rand is a master of K'un-Lun's martial arts and is proficient in many of Earth's, including but not limited to: Kunlunquan, Shaolinquan, Judo, Aikido, Ninjutsu, Karate, Boxing and even loose street fighting tactics. Recently, he has gained access to the knowledge, experience and skills of all the Iron Fists before him. When temporarily blinded by Sabretooth, he was able to still defeat the lethal mutant, without even using his chi powers. He is also skilled in unique chi based techniques, such as the "Drunken style" that masks him from such things as Spider-Man's Spider-Sense and Mister X's telepathic reflexes. He is one of the greatest martial artists on Earth; having held his own against Wolverine and Captain America. Rand also holds notable victories over Gorgon (Tomi Shishido), Sabretooth, Batroc, Black Dragon, Nightshade, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. He also possesses infinite ways to kill a man, such as the Black-Black Poison Touch which uses his chi to kill anyone in the close vicinity.
Weapons Master: He has been trained in the use of almost all martial arts weapons.
Nervous System Control: Rand has complete control over his nervous system enabling him to; deaden himself to pain, resist the effects of drugs or poisons, limit the spread of toxins in his blood stream, and even slow down his bleeding rate. He also is able pass lie detector tests.
Pressure point locator: Rand can locate different pressure points on a human's body; incapacitate, paralyze, severely injure, or kill a person. He has shown himself to be capable of landing pressure point attacks on the likes of Spider-Man.
Skilled Acrobat: Rand is a skilled acrobat capable of many difficult feats.
Multilingual: He can speak fluent American English, Chinese and has a limited vocabulary in Japanese.Trivia
- According to Namor the Sub-Mariner #22, Iron Fist is a Bill Everett concept.
- Iron Fist was the first Marvel superhero to face Sabretooth, and subsequently defeat him (even without the use of his "Iron Fist" ability), at least in publication history.[12]
See Also
- 821 appearance(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 23 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 93 minor appearance(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 117 mention(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 19 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 852 image(s) of Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 72 quotation(s) by or about Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 7 victim(s) killed by Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
- 4 item(s) used/owned by Daniel Rand (Earth-616)
Links and References
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202406/ Iron Fist movie entry on the Internet Movie Database
- http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/randkaiwendellif.htm A profile of his father Wendell Rand-K'ai
- http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/silvdrag.htm A profile of his mother Heather Duncan Rand, Silver Dragon
- https://www.facebook.com/IronFistDragon A dedicated Iron Fist Facebook fan page
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marvel Premiere #15
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Marvel Premiere #16
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #18
- ↑ Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19–24
- ↑ Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #31
- ↑ Thunderbolts #137
- ↑ Contest of Champions II #3
- ↑ Immortal Iron Fist #17
- ↑ Iron Fist #5
- ↑ Iron Fist #9
- ↑ Immortal Iron Fist #8
- ↑ Iron Fist #14
- ↑ Defenders: Strange Heroes #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5
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