Iron Fist has a history as unique and complex as any Marvel superhero. If there is anything that the past five decades have shown us, it is that Iron Fist is a timeless character.
As a fictional character in the ever-changing landscape of the comics medium, Danny Rand has gone through various trials, but he has managed to survive and stay relevant.
In Iron Fistory (a term I adopted from a promo piece for The Immortal Iron Fist from Wizard: The Guide to Comics Magazine #182), I summarized Iron Fist’s chronology divided into decades.
I also included the creative teams responsible for the comics mentioned and, in the case of his live-action TV series, the key people involved in Netflix’s live-action Iron Fist.
The 70s
Iron Fist first appeared in a Marvel comic in 1974. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, the character was a byproduct of America’s fascination with the martial arts but infused with superpowers.
In Iron Fist, Thomas and Kane gave us a superhero martial artist par excellence.His origin story was revealed in Marvel Premiere (1974) #15 and 16. The next few issues showed a revenge-filled, highly trained, and super-powered fighter, transformed into a true hero when he chose to do the right thing and spare the life of his parents’ killer.
Later writers and artists introduced us to two of the most important people in Danny Rand’s life—Colleen Wing, his longstanding friend, and Misty Knight, his longtime lover.
Chris Claremont and John Byrne carefully defined the Living Weapon in his first solo title, Iron Fist (1975). Among the duo’s notable contributions include “The Search for Colleen Wing” which covers Marvel Premiere (1974) #25, the last issue featuring Iron Fist in the title, and Iron Fist (1975) #1-6, the first appearance of Sabretooth (issue 14), and a battle with the X-Men (issue 15).
But despite having two of the best creators in comicdom telling some of the greatest stories in Iron Fist lore, the series floundered in sales. Claremont and Byrne had to finish off a dangling plot involving Davos the Steel Serpent in Marvel Team-Up (1972) #63-64.
Iron Fist’s title was soon merged with Power Man (1972), and the partnership of a lifetime was forged. Thus, was born Power Man and Iron Fist (1972), a series that would unusually combine Power Man’s grounded realism and Iron Fist’s mythical background to create one of the most enduring and beloved titles of the next decade.👊
The 80s
Early in the 80s, the tales of Power Man and Iron Fist were told by a number of incredible and legendary creators such as Mary Jo Duffy, Denny O’Neil, Carl Potts, Kerry Gammill, and Denys Cowan.
Danny regained his parents’ fortune as part-owner of Rand-Meachum, Inc. Known as the Heroes for Hire, Luke and Danny’s adventures take them from earth to K’un-Lun and back.
Many characters from Iron Fist’s mythology appear in the series just as Danny becomes more and more acclimated with city life through his friendships with Luke Cage, Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Bob Diamond, D.W. Griffith, and Jennie Royce.
Later, a young Kurt Busiek takes over the writing chores from Duffy to become the regular series writer. Archie Goodwin filled in for a few issues afterward until Jim Owsley, now known as Christopher Priest, took the title to the finish line.
Ernie Chan, Greg LaRocque, and Mark Bright would ably assist the distinguished writers by beautifully illustrating their stories.
Iron Fist contracted cancer later in the series, but he will eventually die at the hands of Captain Hero with Luke getting the blame for his partner’s death.
Priest would later explain that the decision to kill Iron Fist was an editorial decision from Marvel that angered the creative team, leading to the senseless death that Danny suffered.
But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for the Living Weapon.
The 90s
Iron Fist entered the decade six feet under. Or so it seemed. John Byrne brought Danny back to the land of the living in the pages of Namor, the Sub-Mariner in 1991.
Apparently, the “Iron Fist” who died was just a clone of the H’ylthri, plant creatures from K’un-Lun, who made a “copy” of the original. The real Iron Fist was a captive of the H’ylthri, but he broke free of them ultimately.
After several more appearances in the pages of Namor, The Sub-Mariner (1990), Iron Fist had solo and team-up adventures in more than a few Marvel Comics Presents (1988) issues, Luke Cage’s new solo series simply titled Cage (1992), and in Spider-Man (1990) a couple of times, most notably in issues 41-43 by Terry Kavanagh and Jae Lee.
In a two-part Iron Fist (1996) story by James Felder, Robert Brown, and Reynaldo Garcia, Danny faced off against his resurrected nemesis, Davos the Steel Serpent, who tried to conquer K’un-Lun.
Under the creative team of Roger Stern, John Ostrander, Pascual Ferry, and Jaime Mendoza, Danny formed a super team version of Heroes for Hire (1997) with Luke Cage, Hercules, the Black Knight and others. Namor’s Oracle Corporation funded the team, but he ultimately dissolved Oracle along with Heroes for Hire, Inc.
In keeping with the resurrections of the decade, Danny fought against his back-from-the-dead sister, Miranda Rand-K’ai, in a three-part Iron Fist (1998) story by Dan Jurgens, Jackson Guice, and Scott Koblish. Just as they did with Danny, the H’ylthri revived and used her. Now known as Death Sting, Miranda turned against the H’ylthri in the end.
As great as it was to see him back, the best was yet to come for Marvel’s young dragon!
The 2000s
The new century made Iron Fist more popular than ever.
Danny tried to bring K’un-Lun to Earth but ultimately realized that it was a mistake as he lost his iron fist powers to the Hand’s leader, Junzo Muto. In the Iron Fist/ Wolverine (2000) series by Jay Faerber and Jamal Igle, Danny kept Junzo from merging Japan with K’un-Lun.
He regained the iron fist afterward through the resurrected Chiantang.In the six-part Iron Fist: Breathless (2004) by James Mullaney and Kevin Lau, Danny gives up crime-fighting due to a tragedy, but he was brought back to heroism when he had to save a young girl’s life.
In Daredevil (1998), Matt Murdock’s identity as a vigilante was exposed. Iron Fist was hired to put on the Daredevil costume to fool others into thinking that the two are different people.
As Daredevil, he allied himself with Captain America’s forces during Civil War (2006). After Cap surrendered to the government, Danny joined Luke Cage in The New Avengers (2005), but this time, back in his true identity as Iron Fist.
In the Eisner-nominated series, The Immortal Iron Fist (2006) by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Matt Hollingsworth, Danny was revealed to have been one of many Iron Fists in history.
He met his predecessor, Orson Randall, who told him about his heritage, the Book of the Iron Fist, the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities, and more.
The critically acclaimed series also introduced the Immortal Weapons and the champions of the other Captial Cities of Heaven.
Under the guidance of the new creative team of writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Travel Foreman, Danny discovered that the other Iron Fists lived only up to 33 years old, but he was able to defeat the Iron-Fist killer, Zhou Cheng.
He led the Immortal Weapons in searching for the Eighth City. Once they found it, the champions of the Heavenly Cities shockingly discovered the evil that lurked within it.
Unfortunately, despite the title’s earlier success, it was canceled after 27 issues. It was and still is, the longest run of any Iron Fist title ever.
Despite the abrupt ending to the well-loved series, the Living Weapon continued to work with the Avengers and other heroes in their own titles.
The 2010s
This decade was marked by some of the most visually stunning Iron Fist art ever produced.
Iron Fist became a member of The New Avengers (2010) team headed by his best buddy Cage. Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen gave Danny a new costume, a white and gold, magic-powered suit. Mike Deodato succeeded Immonen in the art chores, and he quickly showed that his style fits Iron Fist perfectly.
In the second Power Man and Iron Fist (2011) series, Danny was paired with a chi-powered, young Power Man by the name of Victor Alvarez. The creative team of Fred Van Lente and Wellinton Alves guided the duo in the five-part mini-series that spun off of Shadowland (2010).
After the Fear Itself (2011) series, The Defenders (2011) were reborn with Iron Fist joining the likes of Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner, Red She-Hulk, and others to protect the world. Fraction wrote the series with artists Terry and Rachel Dodson, Jamie Mckelvie, Mirco Pierfederici, and others.
The Defenders were on a mission to stop Nul, the Breaker of Worlds, from destroying the earth.
In Avengers vs. X-Men (2013), a connection between the Phoenix Force and the Iron Fist is revealed. Danny tells Hope Summers the story about Fongji Wu, a former Iron Fist who bonded with the Phoenix, to teach the young mutant how to control it when it comes back to earth.
A year later, Kaare Andrews wrote, illustrated, and colored Iron Fist: The Living Weapon (2014). As a one-man wrecking crew, Andrews broke Danny in ways he had never been broken before but he gave our hero a new costume as well. The series went for 12 issues.
Luke and Danny finally resumed their partnership in a brand-spanking-new Power Man and Iron Fist (2016) soon after. David Walker, Sanford Greene, and Lee Loughridge were at the helm of this hilarious take on the Heroes for Hire duo.
Marvel gave Iron Fist (2017) a new ongoing title a few months later with Ed Brisson and Mike Perkins leading the way. They introduced a number of new characters and added to the mythology with a twist to K’un-Lun’s history. Danny also renewed acquaintances with Shang-Chi and Sabretooth in this underrated run by Brisson and Perkins.
When Marvel Legacy hit, the issue numbering was changed to 73 after the seventh issue. It reflected the industry-wide initiative to chronologically number every character’s solo title over the years as though these built upon the numbering of the previous series.
As such, the new Iron Fist series concluded with issue 80.
With the variant-cover craze came tons of gorgeous Iron Fist artwork led by Gabriele Dell’Otto, Alex Ross, Mike McKone, Jerome Opeña, J.G. Jones, Tim Bradstreet, J. Scott Campbell, and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Iron Fist also found life on the small screen via Netflix in 2017. Danny was portrayed by actor Finn Jones, Colleen Wing by Jessica Henwick, and Misty Knight by Simone Missick.
Despite the hype surrounding the TV series, the first season was critically panned and was later followed by a subpar second season. Iron Fist also appeared in The Defenders series as he teamed with Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
Together with the airing of these shows, Marvel Comics released a new Defenders (2017) series featuring the four heroes along with a few guest stars by the middle of the year. The series by Bendis and David Marquez only lasted 10 issues.
Iron Fist has since bounced around the Marvel Universe, appearing in various titles (including a few mini-series) with other heroes.
Hopefully, Iron Fist fans will be treated to a new solo title before 2020 ends. Given the chance to choose my dream Iron Fist creative team (with creators who have never handled him before), I’d pick writer Jonathan Hickman, artist David Finch, inker Danny Miki, and color artist Rain Beredo.
If only Marvel would make this fanboy’s dream come true, 2020 will undoubtedly end on a high note for me.👊
I AM IRON FIST 