Daniel Rand

‘The Iron Fist’ is now an ally of the Inisfreeans, and because of this, through his crime-fighting work partnerships, so are Colleen Wing, Dare Devil, Jessica Jones, and many who work for Rand Enterprises.

 

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Table of Contents:

1. Spec’s
2. History
3. Powers and Abilities
4. Limited Interaction
5. 2022 Update

 

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Spec’s:

Full Name:	Daniel Thomas Rand-K’ai
First Appearance:	Marvel Premiere #15
Created by:	Roy Thomas, Gil Kane
Home Universe:	Earth-616
Alignment:	Good
Status:	Alive
Place of Birth:	New York City
Citizenship:	American, K’un-Lun
Base:	New York City
Affiliations:	Immortal Weapons, Defenders; formerly Heroes For Hire (Misty Knight), New Avengers, Thunderbolts (while brainwashed), Heroes for Hire, Inc., Secret Defenders, Luke Cage, Defenders for a Day
Powers/Abilities:	Chi-enhanced martial arts
Height:	5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Weight:	175 lbs (80 kg)
Hair Color:	Blond
Eye Color:	Blue
Unique Features:	Scar insignia on chest that resembles a dragon

 

Further details here, here, and here.

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History:

Early Life

Daniel Rand was the son of businessman Wendell Rand, who had once lived in the fabled city of K’un-Lun, which exists in another dimensional realm. Wendell Rand-K’ai, as he was known there was the adopted son and heir of Lord Tuan, who ruled K’un-Lun in the guise of Yu-Ti, the August Personage in Jade. However, Wendell was driven from K’un-Lun by his brother, Nu-An, who not only wanted to rule K’un-Lun himself, but who was Wendell’s rival for the love of a woman named Shakirah.^[7] It was Wendell that Shakirah chose, and she bore him a daughter, Miranda. Wendell found refuge on Earth and became a successful businessman in the United States. In his absence, Tuan died and Wendell’s brother succeeded him as Yu-Ti, the August Personage in Jade. Wendell married a woman named Heather, who bore him a son, Daniel.^[8]

Wendell sought to return to K’un-Lun, which ordinarily was only accessible from Earth through an inter-dimensional nexus that opened once every ten years. When Daniel was nine, his father traveled to Tibet along with Heather and his business partner Harold Meachum in search of the nexus to K’un-Lun. Toppling off a treacherous mountain passage, Daniel dragged his mother and father over the ice shelf with him. While he and his mother landed on a ledge below, his father dangled over the sheer drop of the mountainside and called to his partner for help. Hoping to take over Rand’s share of the business, Meachum instead caused him to lose his grip and plunge to his death. Though Meachum offered to help Heather Rand and her son, they spurned him. Attempting to make it back to camp on their own, Heather and her son spied a long suspension bridge as a pack of wolves attacked. Heather tried to hold them off long enough for her son to get to safety and was killed in the effort.^[9]

Soon thereafter, denizens of K’un-Lun found the boy and took him to their city. There Daniel was brought before Yu-Ti, who had secretly plotted the murder of both Wendell and Heather. Yu-Ti apprenticed Daniel to the martial arts master Lei Kung the Thunderer.^[10]

Rand’s training under Lei Kung was rigorous. At the age of sixteen, Rand earned the Crown of Fu-Hsi, king of the vipers, vanquished four foes in the ritualistic Challenge of the Many, and defeated Shu-Hu, a mechanical being whose name means “Lightning”.^[9] Rand diligently conditioned his hands by thrusting them into tubs of hot sand, then gravel, and finally rock.^[10]

Iron Fist

At age nineteen Rand was given the opportunity to gain the power of the Iron Fist. He was sent to battle the enormous fire-breathing serpent called Shou-Lao the Undying which lived in a cave outside the city and which ferociously guarded a brazier containing its heart, which had mystically been removed from its body. In their battle, Rand grabbed the serpent’s body, which bore a scar which imprinted itself upon Rand’s chest. Killing the serpent, Rand plunged his hands into the now unguarded brazier containing Shou-Lao’s molten heart when his hands shone with a quasi-mystical force and he earned the title “Iron Fist,” for he could now summon superhuman energy to reinforce the power of blows struck by his hands.^[10]

Declining to stay in K’un-Lun eternally, Rand returned to America when the nexus reopened in order to take vengeance on Meachum for his father’s death. While recovering from severe frostbite in the Himalayas, Meachum learned of Rand’s training at K’un-Lun and returned to America as an invalid to await Rand. Clad in the ceremonial garb of Iron Fist, Rand finally confronted Meachum, but took pity on the invalid and spared him. Minutes later, however, a mysterious ninja murdered Meachum.^[11]Blamed for the murder by Meachum’s daughter Joy, Iron Fist undertook the mission of finding the ninja and clearing his own name. Eventually, Iron Fist succeeded in both tasks. During the same time, he accompanied a woman named Jade to Feng-Tu, K’un-Lun’s afterlife, where he met his mother, who had taken on the name Silver Dragon and been enslaved by the sorcerer Dhasha Khan. While in Feng-Tu, he was killed by the Bowman so he could fight Khan as a spirit. After defeating him, Rand was restored to life by Jade.^[12]

Heroes For Hire

Iron Fist was befriended by Professor Lee Wing and his daughter Colleen, a private investigator. When she was kidnapped by Master Khan, he and Colleen’s partner Misty Knight tracked leads about her whereabouts to England, where Iron Fist clashed with Radion^[13] and Scimitar.^[14] He finally discovered Colleen in Khan’s fortress in Halwan, where she attacked him under the influence of Angar the Screamer. Iron Fist managed to free her from the mental control by using his powers to bridge their minds.^[7] Together, they managed to defeat Angar and Khan, but not before Danny learned the truth about his adopted uncle Nu-An: that he had driven his father from K’un-Lun and that he was responsible for his mother’s death.^[15]

Iron Fist was then framed for the supposed death of Bill Hao by his brother, the crime-lord Chaka Khan.^[16] With the help of Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, he managed to clear his name and defeat Chaka.^[3]

Eventually Daniel Rand became the lover of Misty Knight. At the request of her friend Blackbyrd, he teamed up with Shang-Chi, Jack of Hearts and White Tiger to take down the Corporation.^[17]

Although Harold Meachum’s daughter Joy and his brother Ward long mistakenly sought vengeance on Iron Fist for Harold’s death, Daniel finally made peace with Joy Meachum. Daniel claimed his inheritance as a full partner in Rand-Meachum, Inc., thus becoming a millionaire.^[18]

However, Rand allowed Joy Meachum to manage the business. His activities as Iron Fist had led him to become a crime fighter, and eventually he chose to devote his time to acting as the partner of Luke Cage, alias Power Man, in their firm Heroes for Hire, Inc. Through this firm Cage and Rand accepted jobs as special bodyguards or detectives.^[19]

During a return visit to K’un-Lun, however, Rand was exposed to deadly radiation and was diagnosed with cancer. Almost immediately after, he was kidnapped by the H’ylthri, ancient alien enemies of K’un-Lun who planned an invasion of Earth. A plant-matter clone of Rand briefly took his place in the real world, unknown to his friends.^[20]

One day “Iron Fist” used his superhuman healing power to try to cure a young boy named Bobby Wright of his terminal disease. The disease was a side effect of the exposure to radiation that enabled Wright to transform himself into an adult superhuman being who called himself Captain Hero. Iron Fist went into a trance outside Wright’s hospital room in an attempt to rest after the effort of trying to heal him. In another attempt to help Wright, duplicates of Kree Nega-Bands were placed on his wrists. As a result Wright suffered intense pain. Transforming into Captain Hero, he struck Iron Fist repeatedly, desperately trying to bring him out of his trance. Misjudging his superhuman strength, Captain Hero instead seemingly killed Iron Fist before disappearing himself. Luke Cage was blamed for the murder, and went on the run instead of facing the law. The hero-for-hire business was effectively dismantled.^[21]

Some time after this, the alien Super-Skrull duplicated Rand’s likeness and fully assumed his identity so as to use the Rand Corporation as well as gain economic control of the Antarctic paradise known as the Savage Land. This conflicted with the plans of another company, Oracle Inc., owned by Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor, Namorita, and Misty Knight then confronted Super-Skrull, who, with his plans ruined, abandoned Rand’s identity and fled. The assembled heroes soon set out on a search for the real Danny Rand, eventually freeing him from the H’ylthri with the help of Namor and the sorcerer Dr. Strange. Rand then found himself cured of his cancer on account of his chi meditations while in stasis with the H’ylthri.^[22]

Following the seeming deaths of most of Earth’s heroes at the hands of the sentient psionic menace known as Onslaught, the duo decided to expand the membership of Heroes for Hire. The agency merged with Oracle Inc. – the corporation owned by Prince Namor, the Atlantean Sub-Mariner – to protect the world from danger, for a price. The original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, lined up the jobs; Iron Fist acted as field commander. The team rarely collected its fee, however, and eventually disbanded when Namor saw fit to diffuse Oracle Inc.^[23]

Hoping to share the wisdom of his other-dimensional homeworld with humanity, Iron Fist initiated a summoning spell to call K’un-Lun to Earth. Tied to his heartbeat, the kingdom eventually would materialize – merging with whatever city he occupied at the time. But Junzo Muto, teenage leader of the secret cult of martial artists called the Hand, forcibly seized the power of the Iron Fist prior to K’un-L’un’s arrival. He then drew the hero to Japan so the kingdom would materialize in the midst of modern-day Tokyo. Aided by the feral X-Man known as Wolverineand a number of the planet’s mightiest heroes, Iron Fist put down Junzo’s plan and halted the amalgamation of the two cities. However, he was unable to reclaim the power of the Iron Fist.^[24]

Black Dragon

Later, one of Iron Fist’s and the Black Panther‘s enemies, Nightshade, resurrected the Black Dragon in the hope that they could control and use it against the Black Panther. She set the dragon on a mission to capture Panther’s U.S. State Department handler, Everett K. Ross. However, the Black Dragon had plans of his own. Instead of capturing Ross, he switched bodies with Ross, for his own purposes. When this was discovered by the Black Panther, the Panther set out to destroy the Dragon’s eggs. Not wishing to engage the Panther directly, the Dragon confronted Iron Fist, restored the power of his iron fist by using a small favor borrowed from the Dragon’s gods and creating an imbalance in his psyche that would brainwash Iron Fist into fighting the Panther. By a narrow margin, the Panther was able to render him unconscious, which helped restore him to his right mind. The Dragon then battled both heroes directly and was ultimately defeated.^[25]

Iron Fist continued to work with Luke Cage. The two investigated a virus attack on the Rand Corporation, leading to a confrontation with the BAD Girls, Cable, and Deadpool.^[26]

New Avengers and Daredevil

The existence of Orson Randall, the previous Iron Fist, was revealed, and Danny and Orson were mysteriously able to share the power of the Iron Fist. Randall taught Danny how to use his powers in different ways than how he has previously.^[27]

Rand disguised himself as Daredevil to convince the media and the public that Matt Murdock was not the masked vigilante. Rand believed that he had been hired to pose as Daredevil by Foggy Nelson. In reality, Nelson had faked being murdered and was in witness protection.^[28]

He was opposed to the Superhuman Registration Act, and joined Captain America while still pretending to be Daredevil. While posing as Daredevil, Rand was apprehended by Pro-Registration forces, calling Tony Stark‘Judas’ and giving him a silver dollar. He was later freed from the Negative Zone Prison, joining Captain America’s team for the final battle with Iron Man’s forces.^[29]

After the final battle, Rand returned to his role as Iron Fist and joined the underground New Avengers alongside fellow former Hero for Hire Luke Cage. He remained in the public eye and in control of Rand-Meachum while, at the same time, in defiance of the Superhuman Registration Act. When Iron Man’s registered Avengers had a confrontation with the underground team, they attempted to arrest Danny at work. Jeryn Hogarth defended his client, challenging Stark to produce evidence that Danny was under the Iron Fist mask when they saw him. He also challenged Danny’s need to register under the law, claiming he had already registered his hands as deadly weapons due to his kung fu training, and the Superhuman Registration Act was therefore redundant. Legally outmaneuvered, the Avengers initiative were forced to leave Danny alone unless they caught him in the act of breaking the law.^[30]

During World War Hulk, he, alongside his teammates Echo and Ronin, tried to protect Rick Jones from Elloe and Hiroim of the Hulk‘s Warbound. They were briefly defeated and imprisoned.^[31]

During the Secret Invasion, Iron Fist, along with the reunited Avengers and a myriad of other heroes, took a final stand against the Skrulls in an all out battle in New York City.^[32]

Thunderbolts

Later, as Danny attended a meeting concerning Rand Corp’s crumbling state, he was ambushed by Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts. After a short lived battle, Danny was defeated, drugged and kidnapped. He found himself somewhere in the Thunderbolts base being brainwashed by Ghost and the Iron Patriot to be a member of the Thunderbolts. Osborn used new technology to brainwash Danny, using mentally-induced simulations in which Rand would kill nearly all the New Avengers but couldn’t bring himself to kill Luke Cage. Ghost then suggested completely mind-wiping Rand, but Osborn did not want him to lose his skills so he forced Danny to undergo a dangerous procedure in which his mind was further tampered with. Iron Fist assisted in capturing Luke Cage, who later escaped thanks to the Ghost’s tampering. Iron Fist soon attacked Luke (who had been assisted in his escape by Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), whom he had previously swallowed) and then made it appear that he had killed Cage, allowing the two to escape by surprise.^[33]

Immortal Weapons

Davos‘ powers were restored by the Crane Mother, in which he then started working with Hydra while planning to stop Rand-Meachum Inc.’s plan to build a Randrapid train tunnel through the K’un-Lun mountains. Davos then found Orson Randall in Bangkok.^[34] He escaped to New York and sent agents disguised as N.Y.P.D. to pick him up from the airport, but Randall was able to determine the truth and broke free. ^[35] Davos sent another group after Danny and Orson. ^[36][37] Davos then attacked Danny and Orson at the Rand Building.^[38] However, during the fight, Orson gave his Chi to Danny increasing his powers against Davos. But Lei-Kung and Yu-Ti appeared before them saying that it was time for the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities.^[39]

At the Heart of Heaven, the Immortal Weapons are the champions of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. The warriors consisted of the Prince of Orphans, Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter and Dog Brother #1 Each would face each other in various arenas.^[40] Davos revealed that he was now known as the Steel Phoenix.^{[41] [42][43]} Rand then joined the other Immortal Weapons in defending the cities from Hydra.^[44] Working together, they easily defeated the invading forces.^[45]

Later, after saving the Celestial Cities from Hydra’s plot to destroy them, Rand came to New York in order to fight against Ch’i-Lin, a mystic beast that kills the Iron Fist on his 33rd birthday and uses his heart to gain access to the dragon’s egg, which he attempted to consume at the Rand Corporation. Danny then looked into Xaos and learned that he was descended from the Lightning Lords of Nepal.^[46] The other Immortal Weapons soon arrived to help Iron Fist against Zhou Cheng, the host of Ch’i-Lin.^[47] At Cheng’s penthouse apartment, they found a partial map to the Eighth City, but were nearly killed by a bomb.^[48] At the gates of the Eighth City, the Weapons focused their chi energies to open the gateway. Due to being weakened by the process, they were unable to fight off a group of monstrous creatures. The Weapons were then brought before their master Changming. There, they were forced into gladiatorial combat and were rescued only when they were on the brink of death.^[49] The only way they could communicate with each other is through Morse code.^[50] While the Immortal Weapons witnessed a fight between Danny and Changming, who claimed he was the first Iron Fist Quan Yaozu, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter escaped and freed the others. The Weapons then attempted to escape.^[51] Working together they opened the gateway, but that was Changming’s plan all along. By teaming up, the Immortal Weapons were able to escape while trapping the creatures in the Eighth City.^[52]

Fear Itself

During the Serpent’s War, the doors to the Eighth City were on the verge of being opened again forcing Danny Rand, Fat Cobra, and the other Immortal Weapons to reunite once again in Beijing with the addition of War Machine, who had accompanied the Prince of Orphans from Washington D.C. in order to close the gate.^[53]However, after being defeated by Titania and Absorbing Man, when the Immortal Weapons started the ceremony, Iron Fist had come under the possession of Agamotto which was creating a mystical interference that prevented the Immortal Weapons from closing the gate.^[54] After Iron Fist overpowered the other Immortal Weapons, a reluctant War Machine fought him and, due to Doctor Strange infusing some magic to War Machine’s gun, defeated Iron Fist by knocking him out, thus ensuring that the ceremony was completed.^[55]

Iron Fist was part of the team of Avengers that attempted to escort Norman Osborn to a new prison. Norman escaped and re-organized his Dark Avengers. Together with Spider-Man, Danny battled and defeated Ragnarok, the clone of Thor.^[56]

Avengers vs X-Men

Danny sided with the Avengers and was part of the team sent to attack Utopia and extract Hope Summers. He later traveled to Wakanda to search for Hope after she fled. After the Phoenix Force split into five pieces Danny was confronted by Lei Kung the Thunderer and Master Yu Ti about the role of the Phoenix in the history of the Iron Fist. Danny decides to bring Hope to K’un Lun as a safe place to train for her role as the Phoenix. He told her the story of a red haired Earth girl who became the Iron Fist and mastered the power of the Phoenix centuries prior. Iron Fist participated in every major battle against the Phoenix Five. After the Phoenix Five were defeated, Luke Cage disbanded the New Avengers.^[57]

Iron Fist: The Living Weapon

After the events of the Avengers/X-Men War, Danny entered into a relationship with Brenda Swanson, a reporter who interviewed him about his family. After having sex with Brenda in the Rand Building, Danny was attacked by a cadre of undead ninjas. Moments later, a young monk named Pei stumbled into his apartment and collapsed before telling Danny to return to K’un-Lun.^[58]

Danny later found a portal to K’un-Lun under one of the elevators in the Rand Building. As he made his way back to K’un Lun, he found the city engulfed in flames, destroyed by a mysterious hooded figure.^[59]

One of the survivors blamed him for not being there as K’un-Lun’s champion to defend it from invasion. Danny later grabbed the man and angrily demanded to be taken to Lei-Kung. Another survivor lead him to the Tree of Immortality, where Danny finds the Prince of Orphans waiting for him. He warned Danny not to go near Lei-Kung, but Danny ignored his pleas and found Lei-Kung decapitated. The Prince of Orphans later offered him the choice of life or death, but Danny angrily destroyed the Tree and engaged him in combat. He later recovered and was shocked to learn that the mysterious hooded figure was his own father.^[60]

Danny was forced to use the Iron Fist against his father, but this didn’t stagger him and the force broke his hands. He later realized that the mysterious figure wasn’t his father and that his identity is the One.^[61] The undead ninjas later surrounded him, but a mysterious man arrived on a sled and pulled him to safety.^[62]

Danny awoke in a cave, where he met Fooh, a monk from K’un-Lun, and his old friend Sparrow. She tells Danny to stop Davos and the One as they have declared New York City as the New K’un Lun.^[63]

Sparrow and Fooh nursed Danny back to health, and Fooh used some of K’un-Lun’s forbidden technologies to forge metallic fists to compensate for the loss of his chi, and sent him to confront the spirit of his mother.^[64] The two of them reconciled and together with Sparrow and Fooh, the three of them went back to New York to finally confront the One.^[65]

They arrived at the Rand Building, where Sparrow faced against Davos and Danny faced the One once again, but was defeated. To counter this, the dead spirit of Fooh told Danny to use the chi of the citizens of K’un-Lun, thus empowering him once again.^[66] Danny again fought the One, but the One utilized the chi to break the barriers of life and death to bring Heather Rand back into the living, but something else came out.^[67]

The mysterious figure was revealed to be Zhu-Kong, the God of Fire and Universal Order. Zhu-Kong tried to punish everyone within New York but the One convinced Danny to merge with him, creating a giant robot. Zhu-Kong and the merged Danny battled it out through the streets of New York. Meanwhile, Davos killed the last incarnation of Shao-Lao and Danny’s chi once again was depleted. However, the One gave him his last remaining ounce of chi and Rand once again engaged in combat against Zhu-Kong and defeated him as well.^[68]

All-New All-Different

After dealing with former Heroes for Hire employee Jennifer Royce turned evil, Luke and Iron Fist reverted to crime-fighting as the Heroes for Hire.^[69]

 

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Powers and Abilities

Powers

Chi Enhanced Physiology: Danny Rand defeated the dragon Shou-Lao in combat, thus branding himself with the dragon’s mark on his chest. He then plunged his fists into the dragon’s molten heart, absorbing its chi which he can wield for various purposes in his role as the immortal weapon, the Iron Fist.^[9]Each Iron Fist throughout history has utilized the chi of Shou-Lao in different ways. Danny Rand has learned new techniques and new depths to his abilities over time by learning from his predecessor, Orson Randall, as well as from reading the Book of the Iron Fist.^[40]

• Chi Augmentation: Through concentration, Rand can harness his mystical chi to augment his physical and mental capabilities to increased levels. He initially could augment his physical prowess to the non-superhuman level of the finest possible human specimen.^[70] After further study with the Book of the Iron Fist, he has since reached truly superhuman levels of physical activity.^[71]
  • Iron Fist Punch: By summoning his chi and focusing it into his hand, he can draw upon the superhuman energy derived from the heart of the mystic serpent Shou-Lao and make his fist inhumanly powerful and super humanly resistant to injury and pain on a superhuman scale. This “iron fist” technique does not involve a physical transformation of any kind, simply a psychic channeling of concentrated natural energy. With his fist in this state, Rand can shatter wood and brick, rip through steel, and punch his opponents with extraordinary concussive force without sustaining injury to himself. The force of this technique has rendered incredibly durable Super humans such as the Colossus unconscious,^[72] as well as, punch through Ch’i Lin, who was barely affected by punches to the head from Luke Cage.^[48] His fist is strong enough to destroy the entire Helicarrier,^[73] and he also destroyed a nuclear train with one punch.^[45]
  • Nervous System Control: Rand has complete control over his nervous system enabling him to deaden himself to pain, resist the effects of drugs or poisons, and slow down the rate at which he bleeds. He also is able pass lie detector tests.
  • Hypnotism: After obtaining The Book of the Iron Fist from Orson Randall, Rand has learned how to create various illusions and make his foes see what he wants them to see.^[71]
  • Mind Fusion: He can use his power to temporarily fuse his consciousness with another person, resulting in a sharing of knowledge, emotions, and memories.
  • Energy Absorption: At times, Rand has absorbed energy directed at himself and channeled it to augment his own power.^[15]
  • Energy Generation: Iron Fist can project his Chi into a ranged attack, sort of like an energy blast. Rand can also transfer his Chi into other objects to accelerate them or give them more power.
  • Energy Detection: Capable of detecting energy signatures.
  • Dimensional Travel: Under certain circumstances, his chi can be focused to create nexus points between dimensions.^[74]
  • Heightened Awareness: Demonstrated the ability to detect a threat to his well-being in his immediate vicinity before they commit the action; such as (Iron Fist Killer)^[75] and possesses enhanced intuition.
  • Enhanced Senses: Rand has unusually keen eyesight, but it is unclear if it extends to superhuman level. He can focus his hearing so intensely that he can hear sweat rolling down someones face.^[71]
  • Empathy: Rand has the ability to sense and read the emotions/feelings/intentions of people and animals, can broadcast his own feelings in order to influence other people and/or animals emotions psionically.^[76]
  • Enhanced Speed: He can increase his speed allowing him to dodge or catch bullets. Without the use of chi, he can run up to 35 mph.^[71]
  • Enhanced Reflexes: Rand’s reflexes is enhanced to greater levels than normal humans. He can react fast enough to catch bullets.^[71]
  • Enhanced Durability: Rand can generate a chi-based “aura” radiating from his body to protect himself from energy based attacks to a varied degree, and make himself more resilient against physical damage.^[77]
  • Enhanced Healing: If he sustains injury or illness, Rand can focus his chi for the purposes of healing his injuries.^[14] On the brink of death after a battle with Radion the Atomic Man, Daniel received a vision of Yu-Ti revealing that “the Iron Fist is not a weapon but a force of will which could perform miracles including healing,” saving his life. By focusing enough he can even purge his own body of poison, however Rand experienced great pain in the process.^[16] Recently he has proven capable of healing himself almost unconsciously and does not feel drained in doing so.^[40] Rand can also channel this energy into other people.
  • Superhuman Longevity: Possibility of a slowed aging process much like his predecessor Orson Randall.
  • Environmental Adaptation: Through focus and meditation, Danny can sustain himself for extended periods of time in extreme temperature environments.^[78]
• Magic Immunity: When he was transported to another dimension together with the Eye of Agamotto, Doctor Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One appeared to him. Iron Fist was sent back to Earth, with a new outfit. The new outfit provided by the Ancient One gave Iron Fist immunity to magic.

Abilities

Peak Human Physical Conditioning: Rand is an Olympic-level athlete and gymnast.

Meditation: Rand is a master of meditation and relaxation techniques. He can enter a trance-like state to ignore pain and slow his heart rate.

Master Martial Artist: Rand is a master of K’un-Lun’s martial arts and is proficient in many of Earth’s martial arts, including but not limited to: Kunlunquan, Shaolinquan, Fujian White Crane, Judo, Aikido, Wing Chun, Ninjutsu, Muay Thai, Karate, Boxing and even loose street fighting tactics. Recently, he has gained access to the knowledge, experience and skills of all the Iron Fists before him. When temporarily blinded by Sabretooth, he was able to still defeat the lethal mutant, without even using his chi powers. He is also skilled in unique chi based techniques, such as the “Drunken style” that masks him from such things as Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense and Mister X’s telepathic reflexes. He is one of the greatest martial artists on Earth; having held his own against Wolverine and Captain America. Rand also fought and holds notable victories over Gorgon (Tomi Shishido), Sabretooth, Batroc, Black Dragon, Black Panther,^[79] Nightshade, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. He also possesses infinite ways to kill a man, such as the Black-Black Poison Touch which uses his chi to kill anyone in the close vicinity.

Weapons Master: He has been trained in the use of almost all martial arts weapons.

Pressure Point Locator: Rand can locate different pressure points on a human’s body; incapacitate, paralyze, severely injure, or kill a person. He has shown himself to be capable of landing pressure point attacks on the likes of Spider-Man.

Master Acrobat: Rand is an extremely skilled acrobat capable of many difficult feats.

Multilingual: He can speak fluently in K’un-Lun, English, Chinese and has a limited vocabulary in Japanese.

Strength level

Danny possesses the strength of an Olympic-level athlete with intensive and regular exercise. He is able to lift (press) approximately 300 pounds.^[80] However, by harnessing the chi of Shou-Lao, Iron Fist could initially increase his strength to a maximum of lifting 800 lbs.^[70]

Because of further training and study he has undergone with the Book of the Iron Fist, it’s possible Danny Rand can now achieve even greater levels of strength.^[40][71]

(This measure refers specifically to Iron Fist’s strength level when it comes to lifting weight above one’s head with arms fully extended. The force he can deliver with a blow from his “Iron Fist” is the equivalent of a blow by someone with significantly greater strength than Danny Rand has in all other traditional measurements of strength.)

 

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Limited Interaction:

Daniel is a talented and successful human with a good mindset, and so it was that he was one of the six million chosen to survive the Rapture and rebuild 39 of humanity’s erased cities.  Many of his employees were allowed to survive for this purpose, as well; they rode together on one of the six Leviathan ships until the oceans and flood-plains calmed back down.  He met Auz years after that world-changing event; the Rand company back in full swing, Auz helped with some of Daniel’s I.T. concerns (unbeknownst to Daniel, actually using the endless brilliance of his remote supercomputer and ICVs to do much of the I.T. problem-solving for him) during one of his expeditions out that way to check on how things had been going since 2013.  As far as Daniel knew, Auz was just a researcher stationed somewhere on vast Antarctica; he didn’t know he was the man who’d masterminded the entire Earth‘s mandatory and unexpected 3-day clean-up.

The Rand conglomerate, also known as Rand Enterprises, is a multi-million-dollar company specializing in global humanitarian aid, chemicals, cybernetics, pharmaceutics, and other industries.  Because it is one of only a handful of business ventures that reminds Auz so much of his own first major dream-project (the proto-S.E.D. with its squadrons of cargo aircraft retrofitted for the carpet-bombing equivalent of relief-supplies operations), he has taken a special interest in keeping it Hand-free and going strong.  Auz has allocated some of the Grid Mind and his ICVs to keep an eye on all Rand and Hand activity for this purpose; he clandestinely prevents the Rand corporation from ever becoming infiltrated and corrupted again.

Meanwhile, Daniel manages it as CEO, and continues his own secretive work of monitoring and policing both his company and much of the rest of the world.  He has become like Bruce Wayne (Batman), except on a bigger scale than just city-wide.  Daniel can also focus his chi better than Bruce, resulting in his Iron Fist abilities and code-name.

One day, the two had a speechless moment and a good laugh when Daniel entered Colleen Wing’s dojo, saw Auz already sparring with her, and realized they shared another good-hearted fighter and friend.  Auz was professional about admitting he was out of his league when it came to their kind of fighting skills, and could only hope to learn a few things and watch.  Daniel then taught him some of what he had learned while away during his youth.

Today, Rand Enterprises has a backup corporate office in downtown Inisfree; Sotu.  The most beautiful women, as per Inisfreean law, who work for Daniel Rand now represent him and his conglomerate there.  They work with WGI & ABD‘s executives to trade useful business resources.  Daniel is the only male in his company allowed to visit Inisfree with them.

Auz has let on that some of his own work involves ancient cities and powerful beings such as those of the other-dimensional realm his father tried to return to.  Now a much calmer man than in his youth, Daniel has accepted this with patient curiosity.  The two have business meetings, on average, once a season, sometimes in Inisfree, sometimes in rebuilt New York at Rand Enterprises’ rebuilt headquarters there.  (*Daniel is glad his headquarters got deleted and rebuilt, as that was the only real way to know for sure if it was completely debugged/purged of the devices and presence of those who had infiltrated it.)

 

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2022 Update:

Note the “el” suffix of his forename; this is some kind of a connection to Elohim and Iluvatar (“el-oo-vuh-tar”).  Angelic names often include this suffix, such as in Azarel, Gabriel, Michael, Rachel, and Zerachiel.  Is Daniel here, like Clary and others, part Angel, perhaps descended from one/some of them?

 

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