Daniel was born in New York City and is the son of Heather Duncan and businessman Wendell Rand. Wendell had previously lived in the magical city of K’un-Lun, a city that is in another dimension but reappears on Earth every 10 years. During Wendell’s time in of K’un-Lun he saved the life of the city’s ruler and was adopted as the ruler’s son. Wendell left K’un-Lun when he was older to become a wealthy businessman in the United States.
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When Daniel was nine-years-old, his father decided to try and find the city of K’un- Lun once again. He took his wife, Daniel and his business partner Harold Meachum, who was in love with Wendell’s wife. While traveling up a mountain, Daniel slipped and the rope he was attached to causes his mother and father to fall with him. Taking advantage of the situation, Harold forces Wendell to fall to his death and he attempts to rescues Heather and Daniel. Heather saw what Harold did to her husband so she refuses his help and continues on the journey alone with Daniel. Eventually the two come across the bridge to K’un-Lun, but are attacked by wolves. In order to save her son, Heather throws herself in front of the wolves and she is killed. Daniel is then rescued by archers of K’un-Lun and is taken into the city.
Daniel is taken to see Yu-Ti, the ruler of K’un-Lun. Yu-Ti decides to teach Daniel martial arts when Daniel expresses to him that he wants vengeance against Harold. Daniel is appointed to Lei Kung and is taught the ways of martial arts.
Daniel continues to train and is one of Lei Kung’s most talented students. He trains his fists to be as tough as they can possibly be by training on buckets of rock, sand and gravel. When Daniel turns 19, Lei Kung approaches him with the opportunity to gain the power of the Iron Fist. To gain this power, he must defeat the dragon Shou-Lao, who guards the very heart that was torn from his body. Daniel fights and wins against the dragon, giving him the power of the Iron Fist. However, Daniel leaves the battle with a dragon tattoo on his chest as a battle scar.
Ten years after Daniel first arrived, K’un-Lun appears on Earth once again. Daniel leaves the magical city and returns to New York where he seeks out Harold Meachum. He finds him and discovers that Harold is head of Meachum Industries and lost his legs during his expedition from the mountains of K’un-Lun to New York. Harold asks Iron Fist to kill him, but Daniel just walks away. Minutes later, Harold is killed by a mysterious ninja and Daniel has to set out to clear his name and find the real killer.
Daniel ultimately begins his superhero career as a hero for hire. His Iron Fist power allows him to summon energy to make his punches and kicks even stronger. He can also use his energy to increase his normal physical and mental abilities as well as make himself immune to pain and injury, but then needs time to recover. Iron Fist can also heal himself and others and is an expert at martial arts, handling multiple weapons and hand to hand combat.
Iron Fist has been known to team up with Luke Cage to be the “Heroes for Hire.” Together they offer their powers for security and investigation, but for a fee.
This could be a possible storyline for the upcoming IRON FIST series staring Finn Jones. Heroes for Hire may also be introduced in the upcoming LUKE CAGE series staring Mike Colter. Either way, Netflix's IRON FIST will bring a new depth of mythical powers grounded in reality into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will be a great addition to Netflix's THE DEFENDERS ensemble mini-series evern alongside Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Daredevil.
Written by James Philbrick, Character Profiles -- Click here to read James' posts
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