Posted on: April 2nd, 2009 Hero/Villain of the week!

He was originally created in the 70’s to follow a pop-culture trend at the time.  The character’s face was even modeled after legendary ass-kicker Chuck Norris.  He is a master martial-artist, and as such he has even been known as the Living Weapon.  A relentless warrior and famed martial arts hero, he is Danny Rand, otherwise known as Iron Fist! 

Young Daniel Rand, son of wealthy entrepreneur/adventurist Wendell Rand, lost both his parents at the age of nine when they were all attempting to once again seek out the mystical city of K’un-L’un (Wedell Rand had discovered the city years earlier, before he went back to the U.S to become a very wealthy man).  Young Daniel’s parents were tied together as they ventured up a mountain, and Wendell’s business partner Harold Meachum (who secretly loved his partner’s wife) forced Wendell to his death.  Meachum saved Daniel and his mother, but they rejected him, preferring to journey on without him or die instead of going on with the man who’d caused Wendell’s death.  Shortly thereafter, the two encountered a pack of wolves outside the limits of K’un-L’un, and Daniel’s mother sacrificed herself to save her son. 

K’un-L’un archers took the grieving Daniel to see Yü-Ti, the hooded ruler of K’un L’un. Daniel expresses his desire for vengeance, Yü-Ti apprentices him to Lei Kung, the Thunderer, who teaches him the martial arts.  Under Lei Kung’s tutelage, young Danny trained his fists by thrusting them into sand and rocks to toughen them up; he would grow to be one of Kung’s most gifted apprentices.  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 threw himself against the scar of Shou-Lao, which burned a dragon tattoo into his chest. He killed Shou-Lao, and entered its cave to plunge his fists into a brazier containing the creature’s molten heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist!

Eventually, Danny Rand would go back to the U.S to seek out revenge on Harold Meachum, but found the man as somewhat of a pathetic, tragic figure (Meachum’s legs were amputated after he gained frostbite, shortly after abandoning Danny and his mother).  Rand would commit his first heroic act by overcoming his desire for revenge.  He would turn to heroism, fighting alongside some of Marvel’s heaviest hitters:  He helped Luke Cage form Heroes for Hire, and he would fight alongside the Avengers and the Secret Defenders.  Iron Fist is an unrelenting opponent, and a very skilled fighter.  He has even had to register himself as a lethal weapon!

Without the powers of Iron First, Rand is still one of the Earth’s most formidable combatants, as he has mastered all the techniques of  K’un Lun’s martial arts, as well as many of Earth’s other forms of martial arts.  He is an exceptional athlete, acrobat, and hand-to-hand combatant, and he has been trained in the use of all martial-arts related weapons.  But with the powers of Shou-Lao, he is nearly unstoppable!  With focus and extreme concentration, Iron Fist can harness his spiritual energy, or chi, to augment his physical and mental capabilities to peak human levels. By focusing his chi into his hand, he can tap the superhuman energy of Shou-Lao and temporarily render his fist superhumanly powerful, immune to pain and injury.   Iron Fist can heal himself of any injury or illness and project this power to heal others. Iron Fist also has complete control over his nervous system, and he can use that to numb himself to any pain. 

He can sense mystic energy, particularly that which is related to K’un-Lun. He is capable of fusing his consciousness with that of another person, enabling each to perceive the other’s emotions and memories.  His entire body is oriented to combat, enabling him to adapt to any environment with minimal exposure. At times, he has absorbed energy directed at himself and channeled it to augment his own power. Under certain circumstances, he can even focus his chi to create nexus points between dimensions.   There are limits to the power of Iron Fist, however, as they require serious concentration, which can be physically draining and requiring a day or two to recover from in the most extreme cases.

I’m a pretty big martial-arts fan, so it follows that I would like a martial-arts hero like Iron Fist.  But I don’t see how anyone COULDN’T like him!  I mean, come on!  His face was modeled after the mighty Chuck Norris!  Seriously though, Iron Fist appearances have always been pure fun from my perspective.  I don’t feel like they get overly serious or too dramatic, similar to the best martial-arts films from the height of the genre’s success.  They are exciting adventures and fun stories, and they feature a hero you can really root for.  A hero you could really believe in.  Depending on your line of thought, it is concievable that nearly everything Iron Fist is shown as doing could possibly happen in real life.  There is years and years of study on the effects of extreme concentration, and it was a well documented practice that is centuries old.  So there is an extra touch of realism in Iron Fist comics. 

Normally, I would recommend a couple of titles for the featured character I’m profiling, but as I looked through my own personal issues of Iron Fist, in addition to scouring the web for any wicked cool titles I actually don’t know about,  I found that it was nearly impossible for me to choose the Iron Fist required reading.  They are all that good.  A good place to start would be Iron Fist’s solo series, particularly the first 10 issues, and I’d recommend his team up issues with Power Man.    Ultimately though, I have to say that all Iron Fist comics are required reading for any fan of martial-arts, so I’d recommend all you martial-arts fans pick up “Essential Iron Fist”, which you can find at my new favorite online comic retailer, MyComicShop.Com for a mere $17!  Now there is something that you could add to any collection, and for a very small price, have a lifetime of entertainment featuring Marvel’s Martial-Arts Master!  So please, check out Iron Fist.  He’s a character fully deserving of all the fame that Spiderman and the Hulk receive, yet he goes practically unnoticed in the world of pop-culture.  With all these comic movies, animated films, animated series’, and superhero video games being so prevalent in society today, how come no one talks about Danny Rand?  Trust me, that will soon change, and Iron Fist WILL be receiving the big screen treatment, so check him out now.  That way you can tell everyone you were down with the Fist before they were.  Who doesn’t like having bragging rights?!?

2 Responses to “Hero/Villain of the week!”

1. Ryan Ferrier Says:
   April 2nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm

   Awesome. AWESOME. Great post, Jon. I can’t get behind Brubaker/Fraction/Aja’s run enough.

2. Jon Stephens Says:
   April 9th, 2009 at 10:39 am

   Interesting note for all you gamers out there:

   The Immortal Iron Fist, Danny Rand, was confirmed as a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2!!!

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