Danny Rand was born in New York City to Wendell and Heather Rand. His father was particularly wealthy as an entrepreneur but he was also one of the few human beings to discover the mystical city of K’un L’un. While still a child, Daniel journeyed with his parents to once again seek out the heavenly city. While on the expedition, his father died due to the betrayal of one of his business partners. Then day later his mother also passed as she sacrificed herself to save Daniel from a pack of wolves as they approached the gates of K’un L’un. Grieving, Danny was taken to see Yu-Ti, the leader of K’un L’un. He placed Danny under the tutelage of the city’s grandmaster Lei Kung, the Thunderer.

Danny showed great promise as the Thunderer’s apprentice and eventually at the age of 19, he was granted the honor of challenging the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying. During their fight, Danny pressed his chest against the scar of Shou-Lao which burned the symbolic dragon tattoo on him. He would go on to defeat Shou-Lao which gave him the right to plunge his hands into the dragon’s molten heart granting him the power of the Iron Fist. When K’un L’un reappeared on Earth at the end of its 10 year cycle, Danny left the city with both the power and title of Iron Fist. He became a costumed hero firstly looking to find his father’s killer. Throughout his career, Danny met many of Earth’s heroes but he formed his closest friendships with Luke Cage, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight. He and Misty became on-again/off-again lovers while Luke Cage was his partner in starting the Heroes-for-Hire business.

Recently Danny has come to find that he is one of sixty-six men and women who have carried the mantle of the Iron Fist dating back at least as far as the thirteenth century. He has also learned that K’un L’un is also only one of seven mystical cities, each with their own living weapon. During the Civil War, Danny set aside his role as Iron Fist and took on the guise of Daredevil. He posed as Daredevil in order to help convince the media and the public that Matt Murdock was not Daredevil. Murdock’s secret had been revealed by the Kingpin. During the Civil War, Danny was apprehended and sent to the Negative Zone prison. However he was freed by Captain America’s anti-registration forces and fought alongside them in the final battle.

By plunging his hands into the heart of Shou-Lao the Undying, his hands became “like unto a thing of iron”. Generally this speaks to his ability to manipulate his inner chi for different purposes. Primarily, Iron Fist channels his power through his hands allowing him to strike with superhuman force. When using his chi in this manner, his hands will glow to the point of almost burning. This is the strongest of his abilities and when using it, Danny becomes both mentally and physically drained, thus he must use it sparingly. Iron Fist can also manipulate his chi in various other ways. He is capable of focusing it inwards to boost his ability to heal from wounds or outwards to heal others. His chi has also been used to hypnotize others similar to the Jedi Mind Trick. Though Danny has not used this ability himself, some of his predecessors such as Orson Randall and Wu Ao-Shi the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay, have been able to channel their chi into projectile weapons. As such this technique is capable of turning ordinary bullets, arrows, etc. into far more destructive projectiles.

Along with the ability to manipulate his chi, the dragon’s heart also infused Iron Fist with superhuman physical attributes. His strength, speed, agility, durability, stamina have all been heightened somewhat. With the use of his chi, Iron Fist is capable of raising even these level to heights on par with low-level superhuman capabilities. Lastly, Danny is an incredibly skilled martial artist. As the Iron Fist, he has mastered all of K’un L’un’s martial arts, as well as many of Earth’s. Recently he has come into possession of the Book of the Iron Fist. Written on pages made from the scales of Shou-Lao, this book contains all the secrets to the fighting techniques of K’un L’un and each of the Iron Fist’s that have come before Danny. Studying this book has greatly increased his arsenal of martial arts skills.

In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, Iron Fist will be making his second video game appearance as a playable character. This first was in 2007’s Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. Judging from the trailer that was released several months ago, Iron Fist will be using his martial arts skills as many of his special attacks. One would imagine that some of these will have special attributes. Certain attacks may deal energy damage rather that straight physical damage. Others may have higher percentages for critical hits or knockouts, multiple strikes and so forth. It’s difficult to tell what his part in a fusion attack would be, but his singular ultra attack looks to be an energy attack where he swirls his chi around him in the form of a dragon and then unleashes it outwards in a radial attack. Regardless, I’ve become a huge Iron Fist fan since the reading The Immortal Iron Fist and he’s definitely one character that’s going to be in my staring lineup. He has all the potential to be just as effective of a striker as Spider-Man, Captain America, or even Wolverine.