Iron Fist (Daniel Thomas "Danny" Rand-K'ai) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane and inspired by kung fu films, Iron Fist first appeared in Marvel Premiere #15 (May 1974). The character is a practitioner of martial arts and the wielder of a mystical force known as the Iron Fist, which allows him to summon and focus his chi. This ability is obtained from the city of K'un-L'un, which appears on Earth every 10 years. According to his co-creator Thomas, the creators of Iron Fist used some story elements from Bill Everett's 1939 hero Amazing-Man, which itself had borrowed heavily from James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon and its 1937 film adaptation by the director Frank Capra.
Iron Fist starred in his own solo series in the 1970s, and shared the title Power Man and Iron Fist for several years with Luke Cage, partnering with Cage to form the superhero team Heroes for Hire. Rand frequently appeared with the Daughters of the Dragon duo Misty Knight and Colleen Wing – with Rand often seen in a relationship with the former, marking the first interracial romance in Marvel Comics history. Danny Rand has starred in numerous solo titles since, including The Immortal Iron Fist, which expanded on his origin story and the history of the Iron Fist. This series establishes that there is a long tradition of Iron Fist incarnations in the Marvel Universe, and that Danny Rand is only the most recent.
In later years, Iron Fist occasionally assumes the role of the Thunderer, becoming a mentor to several young heroes and martial artists, including the new Power Man Victor Alvarez and the young monk Pei. Rand eventually relinquishes his title and powers, which are later passed on to his successor Lin Lie. Rand meets his untimely death at the hands of the Ch'i-Lin, a longtime foe of the Iron Fists, but is resurrected and bestowed with new powers as the Ghost Fist in the series The Undead Iron Fist.
Iron Fist has been adapted to appear in several animated television series and video games. Finn Jones portrayed the character in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Netflix television series Iron Fist (2017–2018), The Defenders (2017), the second season of Luke Cage (2018), and will appear in the third season of the Disney+ Marvel Studios series Daredevil: Born Again (2027). Other incarnations of Iron Fist have appeared in the Marvel Studios Animation series What If...? and Eyes of Wakanda.
Publication history
Creation
Iron Fist, along with the previously created martial artist Shang-Chi, came from Marvel Comics during an American pop culture trend in the early to mid-1970s of martial arts heroes. Writer/co-creator Roy Thomas wrote in a text piece in Marvel Premiere #15 that Iron Fist's origin and creation owe much to the Bill Everett character, John Aman, the Amazing-Man, created in 1939. Thomas later wrote that he and artist/co-creator Gil Kane had
...started "Iron Fist" because I'd seen my first kung fu movie, even before a Bruce Lee one came out, and it had a thing called "the ceremony of the Iron Fist" in it. I thought that was a good name, and we already had Master of Kung Fu going, but I thought, "Maybe a superhero called Iron Fist, even though we had Iron Man, would be a good idea." [Publisher] Stan [Lee] liked the name, so I got hold of Gil and he brought in his Amazing Man influences, and we designed the character together...
The film mentioned by Thomas is King Boxer, aka Five Fingers of Death (1972), which presents the Iron Fist technique. Thomas further discussed the character's creation stating, "When Stan Lee gave me a verbal approval to star him in a series, I contacted Gil Kane and we worked out the costume and story. I had Gil give him a dragon brand on his chest, inspired by the one branded into Bullseye, a great western character created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. At Gil's urging, we took some story elements from Bill Everett's 1939 hero Amazing-Man, which itself had borrowed heavily from James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon and the first movie made from it, which introduced "Shangri-La" to the world."
1970s
Debuting in a story written by Thomas and pencilled by Kane in the umbrella title Marvel Premiere #15–25 (May 1974 – October 1975), he was then written successively by Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, and Chris Claremont, with art by successive pencillers Larry Hama, Arvell Jones, Pat Broderick, and, in some of his earliest professional work, John Byrne. As the Marvel Premiere issues had successfully established a considerable readership for the character, following this run, Iron Fist was immediately spun off into the solo series Iron Fist, which ran 15 issues (November 1975 – September 1977). The solo series was written by Claremont and pencilled by Byrne. A subplot involving the Steel Serpent left unresolved by the cancellation of the series was wrapped up in issues #63–64 of Marvel Team-Up, the latter of which featured Rand kiss Misty Knight, marking the first interracial kiss and first long-term interracial couple in Marvel Comics history, as well as the first depiction of an age gap between a couple since Knight was significantly older than Rand.
Iron Fist's appearances outside his own title include three Iron Fist stories in Marvel's black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #10 (March 1975), an additional story co-starring the Sons of the Tiger in issue #18 (November 1975), and a six-part serial, "The Living Weapon", in #19–24 (December 1975 – May 1976). He made guest appearances in such titles as Marvel Two-in-One, Marvel Team-Up, the Submariner series Namor, Black Panther, and Daredevil.
To rescue the character from cancellation, Marvel paired Iron Fist with another character who was no longer popular enough to sustain his own series, Luke Cage. The two characters were partnered in a three-part story in Cage's series Power Man #48–50. The title of the series changed to Power Man and Iron Fist with issue #50 (April 1978), although the indicia did not reflect this change until issue #67. Iron Fist co-starred in the series until the final issue (#125, September 1986), when the character was killed off. Writer Jim Owsley (subsequently known as Christopher Priest) later commented, "Fist's death was senseless and shocking and completely unforeseen. It took the readers' heads clean off. And, to this day, people are mad about it. Forgetting, it seems, that (a) you were supposed to be mad, that death is senseless and Fist's death was supposed to be senseless, or that (b) this is a comic book."
1990s
Iron Fist was revived half a decade later in Namor, the Sub-Mariner #21–25 (December 1991 – April 1992), a story which revealed that the character killed in Power Man and Iron Fist #125 was a doppelgänger. The story was both written and drawn by Byrne, who found the manner of Iron Fist's death objectionable and later commented, "In one of those amazing examples of Marvel serendipity, it turned out to be fairly easy not only to resurrect Danny, but to make it seem like that was the plan all along." Iron Fist then became a frequently starring character in the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents, featuring in three multi-part story arcs and four one-shot stories in 1992 and 1993. Two solo miniseries followed: Iron Fist (vol. 2) #1–2 (September–October 1996), by writer James Felder and penciller Robert Brown; and Iron Fist (vol. 3) #1–3 (July–September 1998), by writer Dan Jurgens and penciller Jackson Guice. Also around this time, he was among the ensemble of the group series Heroes for Hire which ran 19 issues (July 1997 – January 1999).
2000s
Following a four-issue miniseries by writer Jay Faerber and penciller Jamal Igle, Iron Fist: Wolverine (November 2000 – February 2001), co-starring the X-Men character Wolverine and cover-billed as Iron Fist/Wolverine: The Return of K'un-Lun, came another solo miniseries, Iron Fist vol. 4 #1–6 (May–October 2004), by writer Jim Mullaney and penciller Kevin Lau. Subsequently, a new Iron Fist series premiered called The Immortal Iron Fist. The series was written jointly by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction from issues #1–14 (January 2007 – June 2008) with artists David Aja and Travel Foreman. Fraction wrote issues #15 and 16 alone. From issue #17 (September 2008) to the series' cancellation at issue #27 (August 2009), the series was written by Duane Swierczynski and largely drawn by a returning Travel Foreman.
2010s
Iron Fist appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010–2013 New Avengers series, from issue #1 (August 2010) through its final issue, #34 (January 2013). In 2014, Iron Fist was given new life and set to star in a new 12-issue comic book series written and drawn by Kaare Andrews titled Iron Fist: The Living Weapon as part of the All-New Marvel NOW! event.
2020s
In January 2021, Iron Fist starred in the series Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon, written by Larry Hama with art by David Wachter. In October 2021, Marvel announced that Danny Rand will retire as Iron Fist and pass the mantle to a successor. The five-issue limited series, written by Alyssa Wong and art by Michael YG, was released in February 2022, which revealed Lin Lie as the new Iron Fist and Rand appearing in a supporting role.
Iron Fist's 50th anniversary was commemorated in the one-shot Iron Fist 50th Anniversary Special #1. Released in August 2024, the one-shot featured Danny Rand in several short stories set throughout his life that included Wolverine, Lin Lie, the Daughters of the Dragon and Heroes for Hire in supporting roles. The anniversary special featured the return of previous Iron Fist writers which included Claremont and Wong. The one-shot concluded with Rand being killed off in the final story, which was written by Jason Loo and illustrated by Whilce Portacio. Similar to the X-Men line of comics featured in the 2024 "X-Men: From the Ashes" relaunch, the special included a QR code leading to an extra digital stinger page, in which case teased a possible resurrection for Rand.
In September 2025, Rand was resurrected and made his debut as Ghost Fist in the four issue limited series The Undead Iron Fist, with Loo returning as writer and Fran Galán on art. Artist Von Randal designed Ghost Fist's costume, which included arnis sticks, armor encasing his right arm (which had been severed in the Anniversary Special) and a full cowl mask inspired by the Wildstorm and DC Comics character Grifter. Initially, Randal incorporated a dragon motif on the armor's spaulder, but editor Danny Khazem requested it be replaced. Randal ultimately settled on an eagle, which he felt better aligned with the themes of The Undead Iron Fist.
In November 2025, it was announced that The Undead Iron Fist would be followed with Deadly Hands of K'un-Lun, a five issue limited series written by Yifan Jiang and illustrated by Paco Medina, which began publishing in February 2026.
Fictional character biography
Background
Danny Rand was born in New York City. His father, Wendell Rand, discovered the city of K'un-L'un as a boy. During his time in K'un-Lun, Wendell saved the life of the city's ruler, Lord Tuan, and was adopted as Tuan's son. However, Wendell chose as an adult to leave. Becoming a wealthy entrepreneur, he marries socialite Heather Duncan. Wendell organizes an expedition to again seek out K'un-Lun, taking his wife Heather, his business partner Harold Meachum and nine-year-old Danny. During the journey up the mountain, Danny slips off the path, his tie-rope taking his mother and father with him. Meachum, who also loves Heather, forces Wendell to plunge to his death but offers to rescue Heather and Danny. When she rejects him, Meachum leaves her and Danny for dead. The pair come across a rope bridge that appears out of nowhere and are attacked by savage wolves. Heather sacrifices herself to save Danny even as archers from K'un-Lun attempt to save her. The archers take the grieving Danny to see their master, Yu-Ti.
When Danny expresses his desire for vengeance, Yü-Ti apprentices him to Lei Kung the Thunderer, who teaches him martial arts. Danny proves to be the most gifted of Lei Kung's students. At 19, the young man is given the chance to attain the power of the Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon Shou-Lao, who guards its disembodied molten heart. Guessing that the heart provides life energy to Shou-Lao through the dragon-shaped scar on its chest, Danny covers the scar with his own body and hangs on until Shou-Lao collapses and dies, in the process burning a dragon brand into his own chest. Having killed Shou-Lao, he enters its cave and plunges his fists into a brazier containing its heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist. It is later revealed that Danny is part of a long lineage of Iron Fists.
When K'un-Lun reappears on Earth after ten years, Danny turns down Yu-Ti's offer of immortality and a place among the city's monks to complete his mission of vengeance. Returning to New York, Danny Rand, dressed in the ceremonial garb of the Iron Fist, seeks out Harold Meachum, now head of Meachum Industries. After overcoming a number of attempts on his life, he confronts Meachum in his office, only to discover that Meachum is now an embittered amputee, having lost his legs to frostbite. Meachum threatens Danny with a gun and demands that he kill him, but a disgusted Danny leaves instead. At that moment Meachum is murdered by a mysterious ninja, and his daughter Joy blames Iron Fist for the death.
Eventually, Danny clears his name and fully embraces the duty of the Iron Fist to fight for justice, aided by his friends Colleen Wing and Misty Knight. Notable adversaries in his early career include Sabretooth, the mysterious Master Khan (whom the ninja that killed Meachum once served), and the Steel Serpent; the exiled son of Lei Kung who covets the Iron Fist power.
Heroes for Hire
While working undercover, Misty Knight infiltrates the organization of crime lord John Bushmaster. When Bushmaster discovers Knight's treachery, he kidnaps Claire Temple and Noah Burstein, close associates of Luke Cage, better known as Power Man, and holds them hostage to force Cage to eliminate Knight. Iron Fist is on hand to stop him, however, and after a battle, the truth comes out. Rand helps Cage and the Daughters of the Dragon (Knight and Wing) battle Bushmaster, rescue Temple and Burstein, and obtain evidence that proves Cage's innocence of prior drug charges. Afterwards, Iron Fist and Power Man become partners, forming Heroes for Hire, Inc. Iron Fist, in his secret identity of Danny Rand, resumes control of his parents' fortune as half of Rand-Meachum, Inc., making him quite wealthy. This causes tension between Rand and Cage, who was raised poor. Power Man and Iron Fist's partnership ends when Rand is diagnosed with cancer and gets kidnapped as part of a plot masterminded by Master Khan. Just prior to a battle with the Black Dragon Chiantang (the brother of the mythical Dragon King), Danny is replaced by a doppelgänger created by the extra-dimensional H'ylthri. The double (who wears a red variant of the Iron Fist costume) is killed by Captain Hero a short time later. Cage, now the prime suspect in Rand's apparent death, becomes a fugitive.
Resurrection
While in stasis in K'un-Lun with the H'ylthri, Iron Fist manages to focus his chi, curing the cancer. He is later freed from stasis by Namor. Rand and Cage reform Heroes for Hire, Inc. with an expanded team, this time working for Namor's Oracle Corporation. Namor ultimately dissolves Oracle as well as Heroes for Hire, Inc. Iron Fist later loses his powers to Junzo Muto, the young leader of the Hand, and subsequently becomes the guardian of a pack of displaced dragons in Tokyo. His powers are eventually restored by Chiantang, who brainwashes Iron Fist and forces him to battle Black Panther. Black Panther is able to free Iron Fist from the creature's control, and the two work together to defeat the Black Dragon in Wakanda. In the Iron Fist miniseries, Miranda Rand-K'ai also returns from the dead. The H'ylthri revive her and promise to restore her to full life if she retrieves the extra-dimensional artifact known as the Zodiac Key. To this end, she takes the identity of Death Sting, bringing her into conflict with Iron Fist as well as with S.H.I.E.L.D. When the H'ylthri try to kill Iron Fist, Miranda turns the power of the Zodiac Key against them, seemingly killing herself in the process. However, exposure to chemicals from the H'ylthri pods prevented her death.
Posing as Daredevil
Rand disguises himself as Daredevil to convince the media and the public that Matt Murdock is not the masked vigilante. During the "Civil War" storyline, he opposes the Superhuman Registration Act, joining Captain America while still pretending to be Daredevil. Rand is apprehended by Pro-Registration forces. He is later freed from the Negative Zone Prison, joining Captain America's team to battle Iron Man's forces.
New Avengers
After the arrest of Captain America, Rand joins the New Avengers, an underground group provided with secure accommodation by Doctor Strange and which includes his former teammate Luke Cage. In the public eye, Rand is able to avoid arrest with legal loopholes. Rand leaves the New Avengers, due to a variety of problems, but lets them know, if they ever need him, to give him a call. He later aids the New Avengers in locating and rescuing Cage from Norman Osborn after Cage suffered a heart attack and was summarily taken into custody as a fugitive.
The Immortal Iron Fist
Orson Randall, Danny Rand's immediate predecessor, seeks out Danny Rand in New York and gives him The Book of the Iron Fist, a sacred ledger supposedly containing all the kung fu secrets of previous Iron Fists, which Randall claims will be necessary if Rand is to compete successfully in the coming tournament of the Seven Champions. The Steel Serpent, whose powers have been greatly augmented by the Crane Mother, dispatches Randall. On the brink of death, Randall surrenders his chi to Rand, giving him sufficient power to battle the Serpent to a standstill. After the battle, Rand is summoned by his master, Lei Kung (who is also the father of Steel Serpent) to compete in a tournament that will decide the cycle according to which each of the Seven Cities of Heaven appears on Earth. However, the leaders of the Seven Cities had secretly erected gateways between Earth and each city without the knowledge of the populace. The corruption of the leaders of the Seven Cities of Heaven spurs Iron Fist, Lei Kung, Orson Randall's daughter, and John Aman to plan a revolution. Iron Fist discovers that Crane Mother and Xao, a high-ranking Hydra operative, are planning to destroy K'un-Lun by using a portal. Upon learning of the plot, Steel Serpent helps Rand and the other Immortal Weapons defeat Xao.
Rand destroys the train intended to destroy K'un-Lun by extending his chi to find the train's electromagnetic field. Meanwhile, the revolution orchestrated by Lei Kung and Orson's daughter proves successful, with Nu-an, the Yu-Ti of K'un-Lun fleeing in terror. When Rand confronts Xao, Xao reveals that there is an eighth city of Heaven before killing himself. Rand suggests Lei Kung as the new Yu-Ti, with Orson's unnamed daughter as the new Thunderer.
After learning that the Randall fortune that started Rand International was formed from the oppression of the Cities of Heaven, Rand decides to transform the company into a non-profit organization, dedicated to helping the poor. He also sets up the Thunder Dojo in Harlem to help inner-city children, buys back the old Heroes for Hire building as the new Rand International Headquarters and his new home, while offering Luke Cage a position at the company. He also tries to reconnect with Misty Knight. Rand, on his 33rd birthday, learns every single one of the previous Iron Fists died at the age of 33, except Orson Randall, who vanished at that time. Soon afterward, Rand is attacked and defeated by Zhou Cheng, a servant of Ch'i-Lin, who claims to have killed the Iron Fists in order to enter K'un-Lun and devour the egg that births the next incarnation of Shou-Lao every generation, thus wiping out K'un-Lun's Iron Fist legacy. Luke, Misty, and Colleen arrive and save Rand. Rand has his shoulder dislocated during a second battle with Cheng, but manages to defeat Cheng even in his weakened state. Following the duel, the Immortal Weapons, Luke, Colleen, and Misty arrive, and reveal to Rand that they have discovered a map in Cheng's apartment that leads to the Eighth City of Heaven. Rand and the others realize that this is where Ch'i-Lin originated, and depart for the Eighth City.
In the Eighth City, he meets Quan Yaozu, the first Iron Fist, who became disillusioned with K'un-Lun and rose up to rule the Eighth City as Changming. Rand and Fat Cobra manage to defeat Quan. Rand's actions during their battles impress Quan, who decides that Rand may be living proof that K'un-Lun is not the corrupt city it once was. Rand and Davos agree to guide Quan to K'un-Lun and arrange a meeting between him and Lei-Kung to give Quan a forum for his grievances. However, when Rand returns to New York, he finds a Hydra cell waiting for him at Rand International, seeking retribution for the death of Xao, and holding Misty hostage. In the ensuing battle, Rand International is destroyed, but Rand and Misty escape unharmed. Now left with only a fraction of his former net worth, Rand and Misty purchase a new condo in Harlem, and Rand decides to focus all of his attention and remaining resources at the Thunder Dojo. While moving into their new home, Rand asks Misty to marry him. Initially skeptical of the offer, Misty accepts and reveals that she is pregnant with Rand's child.
Avengers reform
In the aftermath of Siege, Rand joins the newly reformed New Avengers. After finding out that Misty's pregnancy was false, Misty and Danny decide to move out of their apartment and live separately, but continue their relationship. During the "Shadowland" storyline, Danny later has an encounter with someone who is going by the name of Power Man. He and Luke Cage discover that the Power Man is Victor Alvarez, a survivor of a building that Bullseye blew up. Iron Fist becomes the new Power Man's mentor and the two become a team. During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Iron Fist and the Immortal Weapons are summoned to Beijing to close the gates of the Eighth City that are on the verge of opening. However, Danny is placed under mind control which creates a mystical interference with the ability of the Immortal Weapons to close the gate. He is then forced to battle his allies. Thanks to War Machine knocking him out, the mission is completed successfully. However, Doctor Strange realizes that Iron Fist is now an Immortal Weapon of Agamotto. During the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Iron Fist and Lei Kung bring Hope Summers to K'un-Lun to train as an Iron Fist, in order to defeat the Phoenix Force-possessed X-Men.
Marvel NOW!
In Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, Iron Fist is approached by a young monk named Pei, who tells him to return to K'un-Lun. Upon returning, Iron Fist discovers the city in ruins and Lei Kung dead at the hands of the One, a chi-powered robot who believed itself to be Danny's father Wendell Rand. Iron Fist is defeated by the One, but is rescued by his childhood friend Sparrow and the One's creator Fooh, who nurse him back to health and warn him that the One and Davos were working together to turn New York into New K'un-Lun. During Iron Fist's and the One's second confrontation, the One opens an artificial portal between Earth and the Heavens in an attempt to retrieve Wendell's deceased wife Heather Rand from the afterlife, the but Xian fire god Zhu Rong emerges in Manhattan to punish the mortals for upsetting the universal order. By focusing his chi energy into his fist and launching himself into Zhu Rong, Iron Fist defeats the fire god. Meanwhile, Davos attempts to take the power of the Iron Fist from a reborn Shou-Lao, but is stopped by Pei, who gains the power of the Iron Fist to defeat Davos and revive Shou-Lao, naming his adolescent reborn form "Gork". As the youngest person to ever bear the mark of the Iron Fist, Pei is subsequently taken in by Danny as his ward. In the Marvel NOW! era, Iron Fist rejoins Luke Cage as the Heroes for Hire, having been employed by Boomerang to arrest his former colleagues in the Sinister Six.
All-New, All-Different Marvel
In the All-New, All-Different Marvel era, Rand and Cage are forced to return to crime fighting after former Heroes for Hire secretary Jennifer "White Jennie" Royce becomes embroiled in a gang war with Black Mariah against Tombstone. After that is dealt with, Power Man and Iron Fist once again take to the streets as the Heroes for Hire.
Meanwhile, Rand continues mentoring Pei as her Thunderer while struggling with raising her as both his pupil and legal guardian. While investigating several disappearances in Chinatown, Iron Fist uncovers a conspiracy involving a demonic takeover of Earth by the demon overlord Mara, resulting in a confrontation with the demon and his daughters at Pei's school, who in their human disguises had attempted to drive a wedge between Rand and Pei. The two Iron Fists are able to defeat the demons but Pei is pulled into Mara's home dimension. Using the Book of the Iron Fist, master and student are able to work together to summon Pei back to Earth.
During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Iron Fist became a member of the Defenders alongside Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones. They, alongside Cloak and Dagger, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Woman, fought the Army of Evil during Hydra's takeover of the United States where they were defeated by Nitro. Iron Fist and those with him were trapped in the Darkforce dome by Blackout when his powers were enhanced by Baron Helmut Zemo using the Darkhold.
Finding himself disconnected from K'un-Lun and struggling with summoning his chi, Iron Fist participates in several underground fights around the world to reawaken his powers but to no avail. He is approached by Chosin, a representative of the mystical island of Liu-Shi, and is offered to participate in a tournament that can restore his power. Iron Fist accepts and travels to Liu-Shi, where he must fight against seven champions scattered throughout the island. However, Iron Fist discovers that Liu-Shi is made up of exiles and dissidents from K'un-Lun, and the tournament is a ruse conducted by Choshin and the other members of Liu-Shi's council to steal Rand's dormant powers for themselves and use them to overthrow K'un-Lun and replace it with Liu-Shi. With the help of some sympathetic masters, Iron Fist prevents Chosin's scheme and manages to face his final opponent: Shu-Hu, the original One. Rand eventually reawakens his powers and defeats Shu-Hu, who acknowledges him as a worthy Iron Fist.
Upon returning home, Iron Fist discovers that the Book of the Iron Fist has been stolen from his penthouse by the new Constrictor. Iron Fist recruits Sabretooth, the original one's former partner, to track down Constrictor and recover the Book before he can sell it Choshin. A battle between Constrictor and the Serpent Society and Choshin and his forces over the Book commences when the two parties argue over payment but despite Iron Fist's and Sabretooth's interference, Choshin takes and the Book and uses it to open a portal to K'un-Lun for invasion. Iron Fist returns to K'un-Lun with Sabretooth and a resurrected incarnation of Shou-Lao to defend K'un-Lun from Choshin.
During the events of Damnation, Iron Fist is recruited by Wong into the Midnight Sons to stop Mephisto in Las Vegas. After being separated from the Midnight Sons, Iron Fist is found by Fat Cobra, who takes him to a fight tournament where the star fighter is Orson, who accepted a deal with the fight promoter D'Kay to return to the living in exchange for participating in D'Kay's fights. Rand and Fat Cobra decide to help Orson escape by fighting alongside him, but D'Kay summons the souls of Rand's sister Miranda and Fat Cobra's mother and forces them to participate as well. While fighting D'Kay and his champions, Orson sacrifices himself to help Rand and the others escape. After sending Miranda, Fat Cobra, and his mother to his penthouse, Rand reunites with the Midnight Sons to defeat Mephisto.
Heart of the Dragon
The dragons of the Heavenly Cities are being targeted by armies of undead ninjas and several villains, including Taskmaster, Lady Bullseye and Midnight Sun for their hearts, resulting in the deaths of many dragons and Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, prompting Iron Fist to team up with Luke, Pei, Gork, Fooh and the remaining Immortal Weapons to save the other dragons. At the urging of the Xian goddess of Mercy Quan Yin, Iron Fist and the others use Fooh's portal technology to manifest the Heavenly Cities on Earth so that other heroes, including Okoye and Sunspot, can join in the defense against the hordes of zombies and villains. When the zombies prove too much for them, Iron Fist and the group retreat to the Heart of Heaven, where they come across Okoye killing the dragon of the Heart of Heaven, who takes advantage of their shock to kill the newly rescued dragon of the Kingdom of Spiders as well; Okoye explains that she was told to kill them by Quan Yin and the Heart of Heaven's dragon in order to secure the cosmic balance, thus gaining the power of both dragons. Yama Dragonsbane, Danny's former lover Brenda Swanson, subsequently appears in the Heart of Heaven and reveals herself to be behind the dragon killings in order to use their hearts to empower her master, the Hierophant, who is also summoned to the Heart of Heaven. While Fooh distracts the Hierophant, Iron Fist and the others travel to the Eighth City to destroy the Hierophant's undead army but are attacked by the city's Ghost Dragon. When the Ghost Dragon proves impossible to harm, Pei and Gork reluctantly allow Okoye to kill Gork for his heart, knowing that he and the other dragons can be revived if she can defeat the Hierophant. With Pei's and Gork's powers, Okoye is able to kill the Ghost Dragon and claim his power. When the Hierophant arrives, Danny transfers the Iron Fist to Okoye, granting her the full power of the Heavenly Cities. Okoye uses her combined dragon chi to defeat the Hierophant and Dragonsbane while Iron Fist and the others finish off the remaining undead. The Hierophant's death releases the hearts of the dragons slain by him and Okoye back to their respective Cities, although the Iron Fist powers of Danny, Pei and Gork remain with Okoye. Okoye attempts to return the Iron Fist back to Danny, who refuses, declaring that Okoye is the new Iron Fist. Due to her obligations to Wakanda, Okoye refuses and instead transfers the Iron Fist to Gork's newly reborn egg, leaving the title and power vacant. Despite being powerless, an undeterred Danny declares to Luke that he will "live [life] to the fullest".
Devil's Reign
During the "Devil's Reign" storyline, Mayor Wilson Fisk outlaws superhero vigilantism in New York City. Despite his retirement as Iron Fist, Danny is apprehended at his office by NYPD officers led by Thunderbolts member Crossbones. Danny attempts to fight them off but is overpowered and incarcerated in the Myrmidon along with others targeted by the new law. Danny, Moon Knight, and Tony Stark are able to escape with the help of Sue Storm and Reed Richards. After Fisk is defeated and Luke is elected mayor of New York City, Danny accompanies Luke on several of his first outings as mayor.
Meeting the New Iron Fist
While a powerless Danny fights several demons attacking a Chinese antique shop in Flushing for a mysterious green shard, he is helped by Lin Lie - formerly the superhero Sword Master - who succeeded Danny as the new Iron Fist. After they defeat the demons and recover the shard, Danny attempts to question Lie about his background and offers his help, but Lie rebuffs him and flees with the shard through a portal in a nearby subway back to K'un-Lun. Danny enlists Fat Cobra and the Bride of Nine Spiders with tracking down the new Iron Fist, eventually finding him in Gansu. When an army the same demons from Flushing appear, Danny, Luke and the Immortal Weapons join forces with Lie and his friends to fight them. When Sparrow and her best warriors are summoned by Danny for backup, the demons' leader and Lie's brother, Lin Feng, uses the opportunity to steal Sparrow's portal to K'un-Lun to find the final tomb of his master Chiyou, leaving the K'un-Lun citizenry trapped on Earth. Danny offers housing to the displaced citizens and formally introduces himself to Lie. Danny compliments Lie's acquired skills and offers to complete his training; Lie readily accepts.