Growing up in New York City, Daniel Rand was the son of a wealthy American businessman, Wendell Rand. Daniel's father discovered the mystical city of K'un-L'un as a young boy. During the time he spent in K'un L'un, Wendell saved the life of Lord Tuan, the city's ruler, and was adopted as Tuan's son. Years later, Wendell left K'un L'un and became a wealthy entrepreneur in America. He married socialite Heather Duncan and had a child, Daniel.

When Daniel was nine, his father organized an expedition to seek out the city of K'un L'un. Wendell took his family on the expedition with him, and was also accompanied by his business partner, Harold Meachum. During their journey, they traveled up a mountain and Daniel slipped off the path. His tie-rope took his mother and father with him. Meachum (who secretly loved Heather) allowed Wendell to plunge to his death but offered to rescue Heather and Daniel. She rejected his help and continued on their journey without him. Heather and Daniel came across a makeshift bridge, that appeared out of nowhere, and were attacked by a pack of wolves. Heather threw herself at the wolves in an effort to save Daniel and was killed. Archers from the K'un L'un attempted to save her, but failed. The archers took the distraught Daniel to see Yu-Ti, the ruler of K'un L'un. When Daniel expressed his desire for revenge, Yu-Ti apprenticed him to Lei Kung, the Thunderer, who taught him martial arts.

Daniel proved to be the most talented of Lei Kung's students. Over the course of many years, he conditioned his fists by plunging them into buckets of sand, gravel and rock. At the age of 19, Daniel was given the chance to attain the power of the Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon known as Shou-Lao the Undying, which guarded the molten heart that had been torn from its body. During the battle, Daniel threw himself against the scar of Shou-Lao, burning a dragon tattoo into his chest. After killing Shou-Lao, he entered its cave and plunged his fists into a brazier which contained the creature's molten heart, and emerged with the power of the Iron Fist. It is later revealed that there have been many Iron Fists before Daniel, making him the modern warrior of a long lineage of Iron Fists.

When K'un L'un reappeared on Earth after 10 years, Daniel decided to leave and find his father's killer. Returning to New York, Daniel, dressed in the ceremonial attire of the Iron Fist, went after Harold Meachum, who was now head of Meachum Industries. After overcoming a number of attempts on his life, he confronted Meachum in his office. Meachum was now legless... after abandoning Daniel and his mother, he was caught in heavy snow and his legs became frostbitten.

Meacham begged for life. Overcome with pity for this pathetic shell of a man, Iron Fist walked away. At that moment, Meachum was murdered by a mysterious ninja and his daughter Joy blamed Iron Fist for the death. Eventually, Iron Fist cleared his name and began his career as a superhero. He was aided by his friends Colleen Wing and Misty Knight (who he later fell in love with). Notable adversaries in his early career include the first appearance of Sabretooth, the mysterious Master Khan (whom the ninja that killed Meachum once served), and the Steel Serpent, the exiled son of Lei Kung, who coveted the Iron Fist power. Iron Fist's first appearance was in Marvel Premiere #15 (1974).
 
                                               


                                   
 

Page Updated:  June 8th, 2022
Every time I saw a picture of Iron Fist after the release of the original Marvel VS Capcom, I always thought that he'd be a perfect fit for the series... and of course make a cool match-up for many of Capcom's martial arts inspired characters. Needless to say, I'm glad they finally put him in the series! Iron Fist's fighting style is just about as cool as I had hoped. I like Iron Fist the most out of all of the 12 new fighters of UMVC3. His moves and mannerisms look inspired by the likes of Bruce Lee, as they should. His super moves are pretty badass as well... they're probably my favorite part of his UMVC3 appearance. I think they could've done his voice a little bit better. Some of those "wataaahs" sound just a little uninspired. On a side note, Iron Fist and classic "Street Fighter 1 Ryu" make an awesome team-up in UMVC3... Kung-Fu shoes FTW! lol.
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