Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 202. Who is Danny Rand, AKA The Iron Fist, in Marvel Comics?

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Ep. 202. Who is Danny Rand, AKA The Iron Fist, in Marvel Comics? · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

• 0:11
  Hi guys, it's Megan from Vigilante Vibes and I'm here
• 0:13
  with another character breakdown today.
• 0:15
  And usually I do mutant character breakdowns because
• 0:19
  that's my thing. But today we're going to talk
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  about another Marvel character that whenever their name gets
• 0:24
  brought up, you are hounded with someone's opinion on how the
• 0:31
  live action version was. Of course, I'm talking about
• 0:34
  Iron Fist. So who is Danny Rand?
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  His first comic appearance is said to be Marvel premiere #15,
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  but he actually appears in Fantastic Four number 144 as a
• 0:46
  Marvel value stamp. But he wasn't used in the story,
• 0:49
  so let's say it was Marvel premiere #15.
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  Danny Rand was born to billionaire businessman Wendell
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  Rand and wealthy heiress Heather Duncan, making him the heir to
• 1:00
  the massive Rand and Meacham Corporation.
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  Years before Danny was born, Wendell had trained under Orson
• 1:07
  Randall and lived in the legendary city of Kunlun, which
• 1:12
  I'm sure most of us have heard of.
• 1:14
  But if you don't know, it is a mystical place, hidden in
• 1:17
  another dimension and only reachable through the Himalayas.
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  Although Wendell eventually left Kunlun, he learned that his son
• 1:26
  was destined to become the Iron Fist, a powerful warrior tied to
• 1:30
  the city's magic. Using what he'd learned and
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  Kunlan and help from Randall, Wendell built Rand and Meacham
• 1:38
  into a huge financial empire. But while his business thrived,
• 1:43
  Wendell slowly unraveled. He became obsessed with
• 1:46
  returning to Kunlan, and that fixation made him distant and
• 1:50
  emotionally unavailable, especially toward his lonely,
• 1:54
  lonely son, Danny. About 10 years later, Wendell
• 1:58
  took Heather and the young Danny back to the Himalayas to search
• 2:02
  for the gateway to Kunlan. His business partner, Harold
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  Meacham, insisted on coming along.
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  During a dangerous climb, Danny slipped and accidentally pulled
• 2:11
  his parents over an icy ledge. Danny and Heather landed safely
• 2:15
  below, but Wendell was left hanging over the edge and begged
• 2:19
  Meacham for help instead. Meacham plotting to steal
• 2:24
  Wendell's share of the company and his wife let him fall to his
• 2:27
  death right in front of his family.
• 2:29
  Which, yeah, that'll be the thing that gets the girl OK.
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  Meacham offered to help Heather and Danny afterwards, but they
• 2:39
  refused. Trying to make it back to camp
• 2:42
  alone, they were chased by wolves near a long suspension
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  bridge. Heather held the animals off so
• 2:48
  Danny could escape, sacrificing her life in the process.
• 2:53
  As she died in front of him, she asked Danny to honor and avenge
• 2:56
  his father. After losing his mother, Danny
• 3:00
  was taken in by the immortal people of Kunlun and brought
• 3:03
  before their ruler, the UT or UTI.
• 3:07
  I'm going to butcher some words in here.
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  I'm very sorry but just know I'm not doing it on purpose.
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  So I think that's UTI who secretly had a hand in his
• 3:17
  parents death. Danny spent the next 10 years
• 3:20
  training Kunlan under Lei Kung the Thunderer, and he was driven
• 3:26
  by anger and his desire for revenge against Meacham, which
• 3:30
  he should be. As an outsider, he was often
• 3:33
  isolated, finding comfort in only his friendship with Lei
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  Kung's adopted daughter Sparrow. Years of brutal training turned
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  Danny into Kunlan's most gifted fighter.
• 3:45
  On his 16th birthday, he defeated Fushai, the Serpent
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  King and claimed his crown, but still felt empty.
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  Seeing this, the Yutai gave him the ultimate trial.
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  Facing Shalao, the immortal dragon that was the source of
• 4:00
  Kulun Shi, Danny defeated the massive Fire Breathing Dragon in
• 4:05
  its cave, earning a dragon shaped scar on his chest and
• 4:08
  claiming the creature's heart. The Dragon's power flowed into
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  him, transforming Danny ran into the Iron Fist, a living weapon
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  sworn to protect Kunlan. After proving he could focus his
• 4:22
  chi and use the Iron Fist properly, Danny earned the
• 4:25
  respect of Kunlan's leaders by winning several ritual
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  challenges. His final Test was fighting the
• 4:33
  One, a massive opponent meant to prove his worth, but Danny later
• 4:38
  learned that the fight had been rigged in his favor.
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  Even so, he was officially named Iron Fist, offered immortality
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  in Kunlun, and given royal honors.
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  Danny turned it all down. He wanted revenge on Harold
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  Meacham, not eternal life. Because of that choice, he was
• 4:56
  cast out and sent back to Earth. Danny tracked Meacham to New
• 5:00
  York, tearing through mercenaries, traps, and hired
• 5:04
  fighters to reach him. When he finally did, he found
• 5:09
  Meacham broken, crippled, and terrified, having spent years
• 5:13
  waiting for Danny to kill him. Instead of revenge, Danny felt
• 5:17
  pity and walked away. Meacham was taken out soon after
• 5:21
  anyway, and Danny was blamed for it.
• 5:23
  So, trying to clear his name, Danny cross pass with Colleen
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  Wing and Misty Knight, forming friendships that would define
• 5:30
  his life. He fought cults, assassins,
• 5:33
  corrupt corporation, and Mystic enemies tied to Kunlun.
• 5:38
  And along the way Danny died, came back, got dragged into
• 5:42
  afterlife, fell in love with a spirit named Jade, and stopped a
• 5:46
  sorcerer from tearing a reality apart at the cost of Jade's
• 5:49
  life. So he's that's only a portion of
• 5:53
  his life. He has done a lot of things back
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  on Earth. Danny struggled to live a normal
• 5:59
  life while he was still being the Iron Fist.
• 6:02
  He teamed up with Luke Cage and together they became heroes for
• 6:05
  hire. Mixing St. level justice with
• 6:07
  paid jobs, Iron Fist and Luke Cage teamed up to take down
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  villains like Stiletto, Disgust, and Nightshade.
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  Working with Blue gave Danny a new sense of purpose as a hero,
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  and it also made him rethink his place in the Rand and Meacham
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  Empire. He reached out to Joy Meacham,
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  told her the truth about being Iron Fist, and officially handed
• 6:30
  control of the company over to her.
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  They finally made peace with their painful shared past.
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  Danny did this because he felt he hadn't truly earned the money
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  and didn't want to use it unless he deserved it.
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  Which could not be me on God, could not be me.
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  To support their partnership, Jaron Hogarth helped set up
• 6:52
  Heroes for Hire Inc, letting Danny fully commit to working
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  alongside Luke as paid muscle and private investigators.
• 7:00
  But things took a dark turn when Danny returned to Kunlan and was
• 7:04
  exposed to deadly radiation, which led him to being diagnosed
• 7:07
  with cancer not long after he was kidnapped by the Heilfry.
• 7:13
  I don't know. It's an ancient alien enemies of
• 7:16
  Kunlan who were planning to invade Earth.
• 7:19
  While Danny was missing, a plant based clone secretly took his
• 7:23
  place in the real world, fooling everyone around him.
• 7:26
  At one point, Iron Fish tried to use his healing abilities to
• 7:29
  save a terminally ill boy named Bobby Wright.
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  The illness was caused by radiation that also gave the boy
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  the power to turn into a super strong adult hero called Captain
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  Hero. The effort left Danny completely
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  drained and he collapsed into a deep trance outside the hospital
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  room, hoping to help others place Cree Mega Band duplicates
• 7:51
  on Bobby's wrists. But instead of fixing things, it
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  caused him unbearable pain. In a panic, Bobby transformed
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  into Captain Hero and started attacking Iron Fish, trying to
• 8:01
  snap him out of this trance, not realizing how strong he was.
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  Captain Hero beat Danny so badly that Iron Fist appeared to be
• 8:09
  dead before Bobby vanished. Luke Cage was blamed for the
• 8:13
  killing and went on the run, effectively bringing the Heroes
• 8:16
  for Hire business to an end, obviously.
• 8:20
  So even though it ended, you know, terribly and Luke Cage is
• 8:24
  now on the run and Danny is dead.
• 8:27
  This was one of the most important relationships of
• 8:30
  Danny's life. It that that's the one thing
• 8:33
  that stuck true in in him. I mean, listen, he's coming
• 8:36
  back, guys. He's not like, dead dead.
• 8:38
  Eventually, Danny returned and reclaimed his life, reuniting
• 8:42
  with Misty and Colleen. He joined The Avengers, opposed
• 8:45
  the Superhuman Registration Act, disguised himself as Daredevil
• 8:48
  to protect Matt Murdoch, and fought in massive events like
• 8:52
  Secret Invasion, World War Hulk, and Fear Itself.
• 8:56
  Danny later learned that the Iron Fist was not a single
• 9:00
  destiny. It was a legacy passed through
• 9:03
  generations, many of whom were manipulated and murdered.
• 9:08
  He fought in the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities, exposed
• 9:12
  corruption at the heart of Kunlan, and dethroned the Utah
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  and founded the Thunder Dojo in Harlem to help kids.
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  Instead of hoarding power, overtime, Danny mentored a young
• 9:23
  girl named Pei who became Iron Fist herself.
• 9:27
  And then Danny lost his powers. He regained them.
• 9:30
  He lost them again. He ultimately chose to give them
• 9:33
  up entirely. He accepted that being Iron Fist
• 9:36
  was not who he was, just something he once carried.
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  So he's coming to terms that it is just a mantle.
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  He's not the Iron Fist. He is a Iron Fist.
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  An Iron Fist. A Iron Fist.
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  Eventually, Danny was brutally murdered on his birthday by a
• 9:54
  creature tied to the Iron Fist's curse.
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  But death wasn't the end. In the afterlife, Danny learned
• 10:00
  the entire Iron Fist system had been corrupted from the start,
• 10:04
  giving a final chance by the God Osiris.
• 10:07
  Danny returned as the Ghost Fist haunted down the mastermind
• 10:11
  behind centuries of Iron Fist deaths and ended the cycle for
• 10:15
  good. This is the most recent story of
• 10:17
  Iron Fist, and it's called The Undead Iron Fist by Jason Lowe,
• 10:20
  and I really think any Iron Fist fan should check it out.
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  With his mission complete, Danny gave up his borrowed life and
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  returned to the afterlife at peace, finally free of destiny,
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  revenge, and the Iron Fist himself.
• 10:33
  So that's Iron Fist. I wish we would get more of him
• 10:38
  instead of him just being dead all the time.
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  But let's be honest, he'll probably return as like an
• 10:44
  entity or something. But yeah, so that's Iron Fist.
• 10:48
  That's who he is in the comics. There's way more to him than if
• 10:52
  you've just watched the Netflix version of his life, which I
• 10:56
  actually did like. There's way more to him than
• 11:00
  that, and I do think everyone should check him out.
• 11:04
  So as usual, I have comics for you to check out to get to know
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  Danny Rand even better. We're going to start with
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  Immortal, Iron Fist, Heroes for Hire, Power Man, and Iron Fist
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  and the Iron Fist from 1975, which I'd say is the best.
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  SO those aren't in any order. I realize I put them in the
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  wrong order. So do whatever you feel, there's
• 11:29
  no rules in life. So with that being said, I hope
• 11:32
  you enjoyed this breakdown, I hope you learned something, and
• 11:34
  I hope you will like and subscribe so you don't miss
• 11:36
  anything else. So have a marvelous day.