Danny Rand, businessman and freelance hero for hire, is also the current man to hold the title of Iron Fist.
Background[]
- Born to rich man Wendell Rand and his wife Heather Duncan Rand, Danny had the normal silver spoon in his mouth.
- Father spent more time bringing up his fininancial empire than he did with his own son, however that was changed when he decided to bring the family on a trip to China?
- Trip wasn't really to China though, it was to Tibet, to find the fabeled city of K'un Lun, Wendell studied there before and left, he decided to come back.
- Wendell's business partner, Harold Meachum was with the Rand's for the trip, betrayed Wendell and killed him while Danny and Heather watched.
- Danny and Heather managed to get away from Harold who then went back home, while Danny and Heather were chased by wolves. Heather sacrificed herself to save her son, who was then brought to K'un Lun.
- At K'un Lun he was trained in the Martial Arts, but because of his outworlder status, he had only two friends, Miranda and Conal.
- Trained more in Martial Arts, earned the right to challenge for the role of Iron Fist. Shortly before that learned that Miranda learned Martial Arts from Conal which was forbidden, so watched as only two friends left K'un Lun and were never seen again. (PS Miranda was his sister, Danny just didn't know it until the day she left.)
- Danny won the right to challenge Shou-Lao the Undying, and after defeating him and getting the dragon shaped burn in his chest, he plunged both hands into the dragon's molten heart and became Iron Fist!
- Around a year after that at the age of 19, Danny won the right to either become an Immortal of K'un Lun or to leave and return to Earth, he chose to go to Earth once more for his revenge on Harold Meachum.
- He came, beat all the traps that Harold set up for him, and approached Harold in his office. *Found out he could not kill the man, however someone else chose to and Danny was blamed.
- On the run he first met Colleen Wing and her grandfather, they helped to hide him for a bit, and he eventually cleared his name, proving it was the evil being known as The Ninja who killed Harold Meachum.
- Danny had some more adventures as Iron Fist, saving Colleen after she was kidnapped by Master Khan, and The Ninja. That was when he first met Misty Knight as well.
- Shortly after that he helped Misty who had someone named Bushman after her, that was his first time working with Luke Cage. Together they were able to beat Bushman who is thought to be dead.
- Luke and Danny worked together for a while after that, forming Heroes for Hire, no job too big, no price too big or small.
- Then Danny 'died'; actually it was a plant creature posing as Danny, but his friends thought it was him.
- He was shown to be alive though, after Luke and Misty found out and went to rescue him. After that Heroes for Hire kinda split up, but still work together from time to time, and Danny does his own thing.
Personality[]
Calm: Usual martial arts thing here, he is a calm individual. He tries not to let things get to him cause he knows if he does bad things will happen. So he works on trying to keep his emotions in check. Sure there are times he fails (see Temper) but for the most time he won't let things get to him.
Honor: There is that old saying; there is nothing if you don't have your honor. Danny does believe that one as well. He will go to great lengths to make sure his honor is intact, especially when it comes to the power of the Iron Fist. Even if it means fighting someone one on one when it looks like there is no chance for Danny to win.
Compassion: The man does care about others more than he does himself at times. It's the big reason that he decided to make his Thunder Dojo. Plus when one considers that he is a Hero for Hire he has a tendency to do a lot more work for free than he does for money. He cares about people, he always will, there is nothing that will change his mind about that.
Temper: Yeah to contradict his calm nature the boy does have a temper, hey he is still young after all. His temper doesn't just come for everything thing; it's just matters he views in a strong personal nature. The biggest example of such things are his friends and loved ones, if harm comes to them, Danny does have a tendency to get mad at things.
Heroic: Danny is your typical hero; he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good no questions asked. He has never questioned that aspect of him, and has never thought about questioning it. In his own way, he is something like Captain America, sure not as Iconic, but Danny has minor powers, but still goes out and faces foes much stronger than him, and he only does it because it's the right thing for him to do.
Friends: Danny keeps his friends exceptionally close to him for one major reason; he doesn't want to lose them. Danny lost a lot of people that have been close to him over the years, and doesn't want to risk losing any more. Because of this he does get a little annoying with his friends and loved ones as he tries to protect them.
Driven: One of those personality traits that aren't a constant for him, but when he really goes on a personal mission he can go days without sleeping. Heck there are even times he ignores all comforts if it gets in his way. He's needed others to tell him that it is time to get some sleep, and in some instances force it upon him. He just doesn't realize what he is doing at those times; he just goes out and does what he needs to do.
Powers[]
Iron Fist is able to manipulate his own Chi to a variety of effects. First amongst these is his ability to make his fist 'Like Unto A Thing Of Iron!'. When he does that he can punch through thinks like wood and even steel. On a few rare occasions when he hasn't used the ability in a while he has been able to punch through things like the tail of a helicopter. When using it, he is completely immune to pain in his fists. It needs to be noted that despite the name, he can actually channel the energy to both hands if he needs to, but usually does one at a time because it's easier.
On top of the iron fist, Danny has the ability to use his own chi to heal himself and others. However this is can be extremely painful when doing it, so rarely gets used. But when he does use it, broken bones, gun shots, even poison, all things like that are just healed in a matter of seconds. When using it on someone else, it takes longer, a few hours and would require Danny to keep constant contact with them.
Normally Danny is very athletic, however he can use his own Chi to push his abilities to well beyond their normal levels. Everything, his strength, speed, agility, etc all get pushed to the peak of human perfection. Basically his chi is it's own version of the super soldier serum, however it's not on all the time.
The most seldom used power is his ability to do a Mind Meld. When doing this, Iron Fist merges mind with a person, knowing all of their memories, thoughts, dark little secrets, everything. However the downside of this power is that the person he uses it on also learns all of Danny's little secrets. So this is why it is the most seldom used powers, since it runs the risk of revealing his identity to others.
Skills[]
Danny spent 10 years studying from the best martial artist in the city of K'un Lun, a city that prides itself on making some kick ass fighters. Danny earned the reputation as the best fighter in the city, and was given the honor the becoming the iron fist. So best fighter in a city of kick butt martial artists means that Danny can kick butt as well, one of the best fighters in the world actually. His martial arts style is mostly Kung Fu, but he has a few other disciplines mixed in with it, such as weapons. The biggest one being it's not knowing how to hit, more importantly is why. The Philosophies of the Martial Arts was a big part of his learning, not just fighting for the sake of fighting, but fighting to defend things when needed.
On top of that he learned a few more things, such as the strike points on the human body, knowing how to hit, isn't as important as knowing where after all. A weaker move in a well placed nerve cluster can do more damage in a fight than a full strength punch to the face. He also studied moves of the Ninja, which makes Danny stealthy when he needs to be. Stealthy enough that he can eve sneak up on those with enhanced senses.
Danny is also a business man, while not the best in the world, he's still good after all. He runs a billion dollar company, and keeps in running, kinda he has people below him that help. Since he is one of the few to have seen the city, Iron Fist is also the world's foremost expert on K'un Lun, not that the need ever really comes up for that knowledge.
Boons[]
Danny rand is rich, very rich, he's a billionare, after all. So he has all of the cool stuff that goes with being a billionare, cars, homes, and all sorts of nifty stuff! He didn't get his money by sitting on his laurels though, his dad gave it to him, on top of giving him the controlling interest in Rand Meachum. Rand Meachum is a diverse company, doing things in transportation, real estate and other areas. Since it is diverse the money just keeps on flowing. On top of Rand Meachum, Danny also has access to K'un Lun, when it is in link with Earth's dimension for it's decade visit.
Thanks to being a hero for a while, Iron Fist also has friends. Principle among these is his long time partner Luke Cage. Luke and Danny are close enough that they would be there for each other through thick and thin. Then there are the Daughters of the Dragon, Colleen Wing, the person that first befriended Danny when he came to New York, and Misty Knight his on and off girlfriend. There are other heroes that know him as well, or at least know of him.
Iron Fist also has access to the Thunder Dojo, his charitable place in Harlem. It offers tutoring for kids, free meals, and him teaching kung fu as well, what more could a kid want? The training in K'un Lun has also given Danny peak human senses, they are not superhuman, but he has trained to do things as fight without being able to see. Plus he can dodge bullets and do all sorts of wire fighting moves!
Flaws[]
Exhaustion: Some people seem to believe that Danny can only use his Chi based abilities once a day, that is actually inaccurate, it is just tiring as hell to use it rapidly. Now cause of that Danny does try to use it only once, but on certain occasions can use it twice if needed. But the real thing, even if Danny hasn't used the Iron Fist in a while and he's tired as all hell, he still can't use it. So he does need to be careful about tiredness and using the Iron Fist.
Enemies: Danny has made a few enemies, such folks as Master Khan, the Ninja, and even Chaka a leader of gangs in Chinatown and the Steel Serpent. Any one of them could easily come after Danny at any time they want. Plus there could be inherited enemies from the Iron Fist roll, that he doesn't even know about yet.
Recharging Time: As mentioned in the exhaustion entry, Danny's Chi powers do need to recharge after time. Certain things are pretty standard, he can only heal his body once per day, and after that he is pretty tired, almost barely able to stand usually, but has been known to force himself to do so, even fight after it. But for the rest there is no standard, just how he feels and his own energy levels. But well it doesn't change the fact that he does need to let his chi rest after using his own abilities.
Family: Danny watched as his parents died, and later saw his own sister head out to her death, to say that family means something to him is saying to little. He still feels that there is some type of family out there, and well they can easily be used against him. But until he finds his family, Danny still thinks that he's alone in the world, not realizing that his friends are in their own way his surrogate family.