Iron Fists

The mystic city of K’un-Lun is home to great warriors called the Iron Fist, a once-per-generation champion trained to best the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying to claim the mystical power within its heart. Over their long history, the Iron Fists sometimes journey to Earth for adventures and in modern times, those from Earth take up the mantle of the immortal weapon known as the Iron Fist.

Like Unto a Thing of Iron

The story of the Iron Fists begins roughly a million years ago when the extra-dimensional world known as K'un-Lun comes into being after a group of alien travelers become stranded there. Though they are able to begin building the main city with the remains of the ship, an explosion of the warp drive creates an oscillating connection to Earth, allowing the city to materialize in the Himalayas sporadically; though some have found alternate ways to travel between the two places. The aliens eventually make allies of the native Dragon Kings and develop their own monarch with Yu-Ti, the August Personage in Jade as the leader and Lei Kung, AKA Thunderer, as the main protector and master of the School of Thunder where students learn martial arts. 

Due to the machinations of the time-traveling sorcerer Master Khan, the dragon Shou-Lao  attacks Yu-Ti and is slain by Qu'an-Star who cut out the attacker's heart. However, Yu-Ti brings the dragon back to life and keeps his molten heart in a nearby cauldron, thus beginning a cycle of death, rebirth, and bestowing of power for the creature. A million years ago, a teenager named Fan Fei launches herself through the dragon in a rage and becomes the first Iron Fist, but she is quickly banished to Earth. 

During a time of great unrest in K'un-Lun, a warrior named Quan Yaozu finds Shou-Lao and defeats him, becoming the first publicly celebrated Iron Fist. Others follow Quan's same path for becoming the Iron Fist many times over the centuries. Along the way K'un-Lun allies with the other Celestial Cities, each with their own Immortal Weapon defender. Every 88 years, the realms link up at the Heart of Heaven and they have a tournament to see which place can stay connected to Earth for a longer period of time. 

Over time, more levels are added to the ritual. After a lifetime of training under the Thunderer, the young can test to see if they are worthy of becoming the Iron Fist. On their 16th birthday, they can attempt to snatch the crown off of the Serpent King's head. After further training, Yu-Ti sends the potentate against the dragon Shou-Lao. If they best the beast, they leave marked with the dragon's symbol and plunge their hands in the cauldron holding his molten heart.

From there, Yu-Ti oversees the Challenge of the Many and the Challenge of the One wherein the potential Iron Fist fights either Shu-Hu or the robot version of him. If the candidate wins both of those, Yu-Ti is taken to the Tree of Immortality where he decides to either eat of the tree and remain in K'un-Lun or take his powers out into the mortal world. Most choose to go out into the world and use their powers to help the Earth. The history of most of these individuals is kept in The Book of the Iron Fist, which only they can read. Danny Rand is the most well known of the Iron Fists in the modern era. Many Iron Fists are killed by agents of the Ch'i-Lin around their 33rd birthday.

Masters of Kung Fu

As a warrior of K'un-Lun and someone who can even try out to become the Iron Fist, anyone holding the title is already astonishing at hand-to-hand combat, defense and the ability to channel their chi, or spiritual energy. In becoming the Iron Fist, they prove themselves to be the best of the best and have the utmost control over their chi which can alter their physicality and even heal those who have been gravely injured. 

The process also gives them superhuman stamina and speed. Through meditation they can work past their own pain and injuries as well. Some Iron Fists utilize weapons that they can also extend their chi through, turning them into energy-like projectiles. 

Iron Fists can manifest their powers in a variety of ways, some of which remain a mystery even to their fellow Fists. The Iron Fist abilities can be given up by the wielder if they consider themselves no longer fit to serve. 

Allies and Adversaries

As one of the Heavenly Cities, K'un-Lun meets up with the other cities every 88 years. Each realm has its own Immortal Weapon like the Iron Fist and they battle in a tournament. K'un-Lun presents the Iron Fist, K'un-Zi the Crane champion, Tiger Island Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, Peng Lai's Fat Cobra, the Bride of Nine Spiders from the Kingdom of Spiders, Z'Gambo's John Aman, AKA Prince of Orphans, and Dog Brother #1 from Under City. In addition to the tournament, the Immortal Weapons occasionally come together to perform tasks and fight battles that just one of them could not handle. 

The Iron Fists tend to fight for the downtrodden on Earth and have become important parts of the burgeoning Super Hero communities over the centuries. The Ch'i-Lin are monsters who specifically want to kill Iron Fists on their 33rd birthdays, so they can use their bodies to get back to K'un-Lun to kill Shou-Lao in his egg form and end the cycle forever. To that end, the Ch'i-Lin use human agents like Zhou Cheng who killed the wild west Iron Fist Kwai Jun-Fan, but they fail to kill the dragon afterwards. Orson Randall, AKA Iron Fist, avoids him with drugs and Danny defeats him with the help of his friends.

From the Stone Age

One million years ago, a 15-year-old K'un-Lun native named Fan Fei got in trouble for sneaking out of the city and teaching kung fu to cavemen. After the Thunderer fed her human students to Shou-Lao, Fan Fei launched herself through the dragon's head and found herself bristling with the power of the Iron Fist. For this she was immediately exiled and began exploring her new home, Earth. She came across every manner of being including the Hell-Lord Mephisto and a Power Stone-wielding Gorgilla king, who she defeated. After a decade, Thunderer offered her the ability to return home, but she declined. Eventually, Fan Fei teamed up with the Ancient Avengers—Odin, Lady Phoenix, Vnn, AKA Starbrand, Black Panther, Ghost Rider, and Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto—to save the planet from rogue Celestials. 

To Hell And Back

Some time after Fan Fei stumbled into becoming the first Iron Fist, the city itself tumbled into decadence and dark magic. Changming, a dark sorcerer, used Shou-Lao to take over the mystical city and overran the place with demons. To defeat the dragon, they needed their greatest champion, which came down to Quan Yazou and Shu-Hu. Quan Yazou defeated Shou-Lao and became the Iron Fist.

Around that time, K'un-Lun explorers had discovered the dark, brutal place called the Eighth City that could not be escaped. Yu-Ti decided to use it as a kind of jail. Quan Yazou agreed to lead the Immortal Weapons—Fat Cobra, the Bride, the Daughter, the Dog, the Crane and the Orphan—in an effort to help rid K'un-Lun of Changming's monsters. Together, the realms built a  gate that could only be opened by a quorum of Immortal Weapons. However, when the gates would not fully close, Quan dove through the gate hoping that it would shut the doorway forever. He was then tortured for centuries by Changming and finally broke when he learned that the leaders of K'un-Lun continued using the gate for those they wanted to punish. 

Quan took over and ruled there until the modern era when the secret of the Eighth City was revealed and the current Immortal Weapons went in to bring the innocents home. There, Danny Rand fought Yazou and sprung the prisoners, all of which fit into his predecessor's plans for escape and revenge. After crossing through, Davos shot Quan Yazou, but he survived and— thanks to Rand's intervention—was allowed to discuss his various points of contention with K'un-Lun's new leader. 

The Park Department

In 730 A.D. a young man named Li Park was enrolled at the School of Thunder mostly to please his father and look after his younger brother. He was not a great student of the martial arts, often letting his imagination distract him. When a plague hit the mystical city and killed thousands, Li became the only viable option to become the new Iron Fist. After getting sliced by the dragon, Park used his imagination to trick Shou-Lao into coming close enough so the boy could grab onto the beast and take on the mark. He was then the first Iron Fist to pass out after sticking his hands in the dragon's heart.

He woke up in time to go to Earth and try to stop marauders in Northern China led by An Lushan. Li Park used his ability to harness and channel his chi to make the invaders experience his vision for a peaceful world, but it was all an illusion. Though it did not last, the distraction gave half the villagers time to escape, but the other half were killed. Trying to make up for his lack of action, Li found the survivors and led them on a long journey to K'un-Lun, which helped repopulate the city as well. In 736 A.D., Li Park fought Cyttorak alongside the sorcerer Xun. A statue of Li Park was erected in the hub of X'un-Lun, honoring his important role in the city's history. 

Fists Through Time

After a young Thor became worthy of Mjolnir circa the 11th century, he put together a team that included an unnamed Atlantean princess who managed to become the Iron Fist under unknown circumstances. She was followed in 1227 A.D. by Bei-Ming Tian, who defended 300 villages near the K'un-Lun mountain range against the armies of the Khan. Tian eventually killed the Khan in a furious battle.

In the late 15th or early 16th century, Yu-Ti had a vision of the Phoenix Force coming to Earth and the young woman who would either fend it off or join with the dangerous cosmic force. He acquired the child, Fongji Wu, by buying her from her mother after her westerner father ran off. Meanwhile, Yu-Ti sent an agent to Leonardo da Vinci to help prepare for its coming. Da Vinci witnessed a flare-up of Phoenix powers in the young woman and began working on a Phoenix-detecting device. After further training, Fongji faced the dragon and came out the Iron Fist two days later. When the Phoenix did appear, they merged and she ultimately left so it would not destroy the Earth.

The Legendary Pirate Queen

As a child, Wu Ao-Shi was considered a "difficult woman." Lei Kung saw a merchant beating her in the street after she was caught trying to steal from him. The Thunderer stepped in to save her and began training her. She soon met and fell in love with a fisherman just before she bested Shou-Lao faster than anyone before her. However, the fisherman could not deal with her new world and left K'un-Lun altogether. 

Wu Ao-Shi decided to follow him, but they exited the Celestial City to different parts of Earth thanks to its mystical nature. She began looking for her love, taking money to protect the oppressed along the way. Eventually, she heard of the Pirate King attacking Pinghai Bay which turned out to be the home of her fisherman. She was overwhelmed by minions and captured, but spotted by the love of her life. He freed her, so she hopped in a boat and in 1545 focused her efforts on dismantling the Pinghai Wokou pirates. Wu and the fisherman got back together and had several children while she established herself as the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay. For undisclosed reasons, she was the last female Iron Fist for centuries.

The Best Laid Plans 

Very intelligent going back to his childhood, Bei Bang-Wen began using his Iron Fist abilities in a different manner than his predecessors. He would meditate, let his chi flow and use his head for strategy to plan out battles. At the time—1860 to be exact—the British were attacking China to force them to honor the trading treaties from two years prior. Later known as the Second Opium War, one of these battles took place at the Taku Forts on the Hai River. Bei orchestrated 10,000 warriors and trained them each in their part, but the plan simply failed and he was cut off from his power. 

Bei was the only survivor and he was taken to the Chapra Jail in Bihar, India. Beaten regularly and forced into labor, he met fellow prisoner Vivatma Visvajit who had a connection to Shiva like Bang-Wen did to the Iron Fist. The two worked together to free their fellow prisoners and then took off to save the poet emperor of Burma. This turned out to be a trap set up by Tiger Jani, a local mystical entity. Visvajit managed to tap back into his power and fought Tiger Jani. Bei got in on the action too, but did not have his own powers. Having been gravely injured, the Iron Fist would have died had his ally not tapped into his chi to save Bang-Wen. After this, Bei Bang-Wen returned to K'un-Lun, gave up his powers to restart the cycle and started a family. 

Fists of the New World

Kwai Jun-Fan traveled to the United States and made his way through the wild west defending the horribly treated Chinese train track builders. In 1878 he made his way to a small West Texas town and was immediately attacked by Ch'i-Lin's minion, Zhou Cheng, who punched a hole through his chest and ripped his heart out. Kwai Jun-Fan's corpse appeared outside the Sacred Cave of Shou-Lao as a gateway for Zhou Cheng to attempt to kill the dragon in its rejuvenating egg form. The Ch'i-Lin got its jaws on the egg, but Thunderer arrived just in time to stop him.

In the mid-to-late 1800s, Phineas Randall crashed his airship in K'un-Lun. His wife was pregnant at the time and gave birth there. The boy, Orson, was accepted by Yu-Ti and trained by Lei Kung. When he was 17, Randall proved himself worthy and became the new Iron Fist. He fought alongside other super-powered beings during World War I, but the horrors of those conflicts deeply scarred Orson and he turned to opium to quiet his mind. In '33, he was forced to participate in the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities and killed one of his fellow Immortal Weapons. Running for his life afterwards, Orson grabbed The Book of the Iron Fist and went back to Earth. 

Still dealing with his opium addiction, Orson put together a group of adventurers calling themselves the Confederates of the Curious, who encountered a variety of foes, many of whom were supernatural in nature. Along the way he adopted young Wendell Rand and began training him and telling him all about K'un-Lun. More than halfway through the 20th century, Randall really fell into his addiction and was presumed dead. Around the time of the next Tournament of the Heavenly Cities—which took place after Danny Rand had been Iron Fist for a while—Orson was alive and met Danny.

Orson's ward Wendell would eventually make his way to K'un-Lun where he trained with and developed a rivalry with Davos, AKA Steel Phoenix. The two fought one another for the honor of facing the dragon. Wendell won, but Davos still attempted to defeat Shou-Lao and failed. Wendell lost his nerve, decided to return to Earth and wound up having his own son, Danny. While young, Danny was taken on an expedition by his parents to see K'un-Lun, but the adults died on the journey. Eventually the boy found his way to the city on his own. He was taken in and proved a quick study of kung fu under Lei Kung. Danny became the Iron Fist and returned to Earth, intent on avenging his parents' deaths, which were orchestrated by Wendell's business partner Harold Meachum. 

Since then, Danny Rand has become known as one of the best fighters in the world and an honorable hero. He often teams up with his friend and partner Luke Cage as well as Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Over the years, he has also been an Avenger and team-ed up with his fellow Immortal Weapons. In these various capacities, he has been instrumental in saving the universe on more than a few occasions. 

Eventually, Shou-Lao returned to its egg form. A young girl named Pei took the egg with her to deliver a message to Danny that he was needed in K'un-Lun. While chased by Davos, she slipped and the egg hatched under the streets of New York City, but was only slightly larger than she was. When Davos killed the small dragon, Pei clutched its body, which passed on the mark of the Iron Fist to her. After that, Pei lived with Danny who gave her The Book Of The Iron Fist to read. In doing so, she found a way to return every incarnation of Shou-Lao to life.

In addition to training with Rand, Pei also went to high school where she learned to control her temper and make friends while also dealing with possessed classmates trying to kill her, saving her master and fighting in an extra-dimensional gladiatorial contest. Since then she's helped heroes stop The Urchin from K'un-Lun, stumbled into a robbery by Felicia Hardy, AKA Black Cat, and Beetle and helped Danny protect the Seven Cities with plenty of more adventures in her future.