Iron Fist (Daniel "Danny" Rand) is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He is one of the most popular martial arts characters in comics. He first appeared in Marvel Premiere #14.

Publication history

Iron Fist first appeared in a 12-issue run of Marvel Premiere, #14-25. His early adventures were written by Tony Isabella, but the final issue of the run was written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne - Byrne's first major work for Marvel. His early adventures are all slightly peculiar for the superhero genre in that they are told in the second person, the narrator telling the story as if he were speaking directly to Iron Fist.

Iron Fist then graduated to his own series, by Claremont and Byrne, which lasted 15 issues before cancellation. The remaining plot threads were tied up in Marvel Team-Up #63 and 64, by the same pair.

Iron Fist then moved to join Luke Cage in his series Power Man with #48, the title then being renamed Power Man and Iron Fist with #50. This series lasted until #125, at which point in the story the Fist was believed to have been killed in action. The final year of the series was written by Jim Owsley and drawn by Mark Bright , to some critical acclaim.

Byrne revived the Fist in his series Namor, and Iron Fist has appeared in several self-titled mini-series since then.

Fictional biography

As a boy, Daniel Rand saw his parents killed on a trip to Asia, but he was rescued by the priests of K'un Lun , a mystical city which generally exists in a parallel world. Raised and trained to tap the full potential of his body, Rand became an expert at the martial arts, and passed a difficult test to acquire the power of the iron fist, making him even more formidable.

Rand emerged into Earth and sought the killer of his parents, and then took up a career as a superhero, taking the name Iron Fist.

Fist became the partner and friend of Luke Cage, forming the partnership Heroes for Hire , which lasted for several years. He also fell in love with Misty Knight .

Some years later, Iron Fist found himself losing control of his karmic balance, and felt unworthy of the power of the Fist. A trip to K'un Lun did little but exacerbate this problem, and Cage's efforts to help his friend came to naught, driving Fist deeper within himself. Then, unexpected, Fist was accidentally killed by a fellow superhero (Captain Hero, in reality a boy whom Cage and Fist had befriended, and whose powers were killing him), and Cage was blamed for his death.

It was later revealed that the Fist who died was a duplicate created by plant creatures who can conquered K'un Lun. Rescued by Namor and his allies, Fist returned to Earth and picked up the pieces of his life.

Powers and abilities

Iron Fist is an expert at martial arts fighting. Moreover he can channel his life energy into his fist, causing it to become "like unto a thing of iron" In this state, he can unleash a single blow capable of toppling many of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, and shattering all but the strongest physical objects. However, use of the iron fist tends to leave him weak for a time afterwards.