IRON FIST

 

IRON FIST

Real Name: Daniel Thomas Rand'Kai

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere (Vol. 1) #15, May 1974

Powers: Danny Rand developed the power of the Iron Fist by plunging his hand into the molten heart of a dragon named Shou-Lao the Undying. Having spent half his life training himself in the martial arts discipline of his adopted home, the extradimensional city of K'un-Lun, Iron Fist possesses peak human physical capabilities and fighting skills. The power of Shou-Lao's chi runs through him, and Danny is capable of summoning his chi energy to boost his natural abilities even further, augmenting his strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes to near-superhuman levels. He can also direct his chi for healing purposes. Through intense concentration, he can "will" himself or another person he touches to recover more rapidly from physical injuries, poisons, viruses or disease. Iron Fist has a little used power called "the mindmeld", in which he can enter into a link with another person that causes them to completely share their thoughts, memories, and emotions with each other. This act is considered extremely violating, and one of his best friends, Colleen Wing, likened it to being mentally raped. He only used the power on her in order to break through intense brainwashing she had been subjected to. 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. Finally, Danny has the ability to concentrate his chi into his fist, hardening it so that it becomes 'like onto a thing of iron'. The iron fist is tremendously resistant to pain and injury, and allows him to strike blows with the force of a cannon shell. Any excessive use of his chi can drain Iron Fist, and he must rest for a time before exerting it again.

Danny's chi used to deplete much faster than it does now, leaving him exhausted after no more than two or three uses of the Iron Fist. However, after his power was mystically stolen from him, and then returned through the power of the Black Dragon, Danny's chi recuperates at a much faster rate than before. He can charge either or both his fists with the chi of Shou-Lao for extended periods of time.

Later, Iron Fist learned more about his 66 predecessors through Orson Randall and the Book of the Iron Fist. The chi of Shou-Lao has been used in many variety of ways over time by different Immortal Weapons, and Danny has started learning some of these methods. He has developed enhanced levels of awareness that allow him to sense the presence of people from a distance and identify them. The mechanism is unclear: Either his natural senses have been enhanced or he has developed a psychic perception like the ability to sense chi. His overall speed and reflexes have been greatly enhanced, so much so that he can grab a speeding bullet out of mid-air using the power of the Iron Fist. His healing abilities have increased as well -- he can fight off pain or poison through mild concentration, and can enter a light meditative trance to rapidly accelerate his recuperative powers. A few minutes concentration can leave him fully rested and refreshed with all his injuries, where previously he would have required several hours. Danny can cast his hands in a hypnotic gesture that makes people susceptible to his influence, and can infuse physical objects with his chi, increasing their destructive power.

 

Iron Fist is an exceptional athlete, acrobat, and hand-to-hand combatant. He is a master of all of K'un-Lun's martial arts and many of Earth's, and has trained in the use of all martial arts weapons. His fighting maneuvers include the burning chi thunderfoot, burning dove chop, drunken wasp sting, golden star gouge, good fortune thunder kick, gouge of the forlorn, palm of forty sorrows, screaming eagle slap, strike of the silkworm's tooth and tiger scratch. He has near-complete control over his nervous system, enabling him to deaden himself to pain.