3 Weirdest Iron Fist Stories Ever

Danny Rand has used the power of kung fu to fight evil for decades as Marvel’s iconic martial arts hero Iron Fist, and some of his comic book stories have taken him to some wild and esoteric places. Raised in a billionaire family, the young Danny Rand survived a plane crash that killed his mother and father, and was taken into the mystical city of K’un Lun, an otherworldly realm that rotates into Earth’s plane in the mountains of China every decade. In K’un Lun, Danny was raised as a Buddhist monk and trained to become a kung fu master, before defeating the dragon Shou Lao the Undying in single combat.

Danny’s victory over the dragon granted him the power of K’un Lun’s protector, the Immortal Iron Fist, with Danny able to control his chi and channel it into his fist, making it as strong as iron. Danny’s mastery of both his chi and countless disciplines of martial arts have made him a kung fu superhero with a vast legacy of Iron Fist history. Due to the spiritual foundation of his powers, some of Danny’s comic book adventures have been a deep dive down an otherworldly rabbit hole. Here are the three weirdest Iron Fist comic book stories ever told.

1) “Maximum Carnage”

While technically a Spider-Man story first and foremost, Marvel’s ’90s mega-event “Maximum Carnage” sees Iron Fist as one of numerous allies who join the Web-Head to put a stop to the rampage of Cletus Kasady a.k.a. Carnage and his evil associates through New York City. “Maximum Carnage” rolls out the red carpet for Danny’s arrival to Spidey’s team, which on its own makes it a weird Iron Fist story, in hindsight, since it happened over two decades before Danny really made his definitive mark on Marvel Comics with the Immortal Iron Fist run and became a far more recognizable superhero in the mainstream. Maximum Carnage also holds the distinction of introducing a new telepathic angle to Danny’s Rand’s abilities as the Iron Fist. During a scene in which an angry mob is spiraling out of control, Danny is able to use a “meditative technique” to psychically link his mind to everyone in the mob and bring them back down to a calm state.

Danny later explains to the perplexed and amazed Spider-Man that all humans are essentially connected as one larger spiritual being. As Danny describes it, once this spiritual connection is offered to someone (such as through a telepathic link like Danny performed), “it cannot be refused”. It’s also no small feat executing Iron Fist’s mind-melding technique, which he says he could teach to Spider-Man in “eight or ten years”. The more deeply comics explore the esoteric and metaphysical nature of Iron Fist’s powers steeped in Eastern spirituality and mysticism, the more incredible and harder to fully grasp they become. While Iron Fist is an instrumental ally to the Wall-Crawler in “Maximum Carnage”, his mind-linking technique is both fascinating and mind-wracking trying to get one’s head around, making “Maximum Carnage” one of Danny’s wildest comic book adventures.

2.) “Breathless”

The manga-esque 2004 mini-series “Breathless” is Iron Fist’s most overlooked story, with the almost horror movie-like tone making it a wild ride. “Breathless” begins with Danny Rand retiring from his life as a superhero after his intervention in a gang fight inadvertently leads to an accidental death from a stray bullet. However, as Danny tries to find peace after moving to Colorado, a runaway girl named Mary Blue Cloud arrives seeking help. It turns out that Mary is being pursued by a mysterious group known as the Shadow Thieves, under the leadership of the ruthless Chi, who needs Mary as part of his plot to open the gateway to K’un Lun and destroy the home of the Iron Fist.

“Breathless” packs plenty of the kung fu action Iron Fist fans expect into its story, and gives Danny Rand a compelling character arc of a hero questioning himself and eventually realizing the importance of what he does. At the same time, “Breathless” is an unusually eerie Iron Fist story with chilling horror vibes through the veiled nature of the Shadow Thieves, their powers, and pursuit of their victims. “Breathless” genuinely might be the only real Iron Fist horror story in comic book history, which certainly qualifies it as both one of the best and one of the weirdest.

3.) The H’ylithiri Iron Fist

Danny Rand’s arch-enemy might be Davos a.k.a. Steel Serpent, but his most bizarre adversary has to be the sentient plant-like being known as the H’ylthiri. Originating from K’un Lun, the H’ylithiri are capable of shape-shifting into the appearance of humans, which makes impersonating the protector of K’un Lun entirely within their power set. 1985’s Power Man & Iron Fist (Danny’s long-running comic book title with his good friend and fellow hero Luke Cage) introduces that very story in issue #119 when Danny appeared to have died from cancer. This gave an opening for the H’ylithri to shape-shift into Danny’s likeness and assume the identity of the Iron Fist.

At first donning a red version of Danny’s trademark suit the H’ylithiri Iron Fist before shifting his green one, the H’ylithiri Iron Fist did such a great job of blending and emulating Danny’s personality that it eventually came to believe that it indeed was the real Danny Rand. This even led to the H’ylithiri Iron Fist dying a hero’s death while making a rescue. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight subsequently found the real Danny still alive and well in K’un Lun, having used the chi-focusing power of the Iron Fist to cure his own cancer, with Danny then returning as the real Iron Fist. Supervillains taking on the likeness of their heroes and assuming their identity has been seen many times before, but few, if any, have actually drunk their own Kool-Aid like the H’ylithiri Iron Fist did, making it’s most unusual hero’s journey the weirdest Iron Fist story, by far.

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