Real Name-- Daniel "Danny" Rand

Class-- costumed adventurer

Nationality-- American, honorary Tibetan citizen

Affiliations-- partner to Luke Cage , leader of the defunct Heroes for Hire

Scale of Operations-- New York City , worldwide

Occupation-- heir to the Rand Corporation, associate of Oracle, Inc. , adventurer

Powers-- Danny Rand is one of the most capable martial artists in the world, with incredible fighting ability and remarkable reflexes, without superhuman enhancement. Rand is able to utilize his "chi," or life force, to further (temporarily) enhance these abilities during combat. Rand can focus his chi into his "iron fist," delivering one devastating blow with his right hand, capable of shattering even three-foot thick steel. However, this "iron fist" takes a great toll on him, taking a considerable time to regenerate power, and can only be used sparingly at its full power.

History-- Daniel Rand was born to Heather and Wendell Rand, a wealthy businessman who held a fascination with the fabled land of K'un L'un, a paradise in Tibet. (Unknown to his wife and son, Wendell was the eldest son of the ruler of K'un L'un and was driven from his home and family by his evil brother who intended to rule the kingdom in his stead.) Taking his family and business partner, Meachum, with him, Wendell Rand set out to search K'un L'un. When Danny tripped, causing his family to dangle from a ledge, Meachum allowed his partner to die in order to take over the fortune. Rand and his mother survived and tried to make their way back alone, but his mother sacrificed herself to save Danny from a wolf attack. The residents of K'un L'un found Danny Rand, recognizing his royal lineage, and brought him to their refuge.

Rand grew up in K'un L'un, learning their martial arts as well and undergoing many mystical rites of passage. On his 19th birthday, he earned the opportunity to possess the power of the "iron fist." After slaying the unkillable dragon Shou-Lao the Undying, whose beating heart had been left inside a giant kettle, Rand plunged his hands into the scalding, boiling blood to reach the dragon's heart, thereby attaining enlightenment and an extraordinary command of his own life essence, or "chi," that manifested by the ability to effect his hand as a weapon unto like iron.

As a young adult, Rand left for America to seek revenge on Meachum, but finding him an invalid, took pity on him instead. Soon after, however, a mysterious ninja assassin murdered Meachum, and Rand was blamed. As Iron Fist, he sought to expose the ninja to clear his name, and conflicted with other costumed adventurers. He finally cleared his name and claimed full inheritance to the million-dollar Rand-Meachum corporation. During this time, he also became a full-fledged crimefighter.

Rand soon met and developed a romantic relationship with private investigator, Misty Knight. However, Bushmaster, a powerful European crime lord, coerced the hero Luke Cage (then known as Power Man) into kidnapping Knight, in exchange for the lives of Dr. Berstein and Cage's girlfriend Claire Temple, whom he held captive. Agreeing to Bushmaster's terms, Cage found himself locked in battle Rand. Upon learning of Cage's predicament, Rand and Knight helped Cage defeat Bushmaster.

Cage briefly went to work for Misty Knight and Colleen Wing's detective agency, Nightwing Restorations. But after Misty "fired" him in a friendly argument, Rand and Cage established a hero-for-hire agency with Jerwyn Hogarth, Cage's lawyer, forming a clearinghouse for freelance superhuman operatives. For years, Power Man and Iron Fist were in high demand as special bodyguards and private investigators.

During a return visit to K'un L'un, however, Rand was exposed to deadly radiation and was diagnosed with cancer. Almost immediately after, he was kidnapped by the H'ylthri, ancient alien enemies of K'un L'un who planned an invasion of Earth. A plant-matter clone of Rand briefly took his place in the real world, unknown to his friends. When the clone was killed during a particular mission, Luke Cage was blamed for the murder. Cage was soon exonerated, but their hero-for-hire business was effectively dismantled.

Some time after this, the alien Super-Skrull duplicated Rand's likeness, fully assuming his identity in order to use the Rand Corporation and gain economic control of the Antarctic paradise known as the Savage Land. This conflicted with the plans of another company, Oracle Inc., owned by Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor, Namorita, and Misty Knight confronted Super-Skrull, who, his plans ruined, abandoned Rand's identity and fled. The assembled heroes set out on a search for the real Danny Rand, eventually freeing him from the H'ylthri with the help of Namor and the sorcerer Dr. Strange. Rand had found himself cured of his cancer due to his chi meditations when in stasis with the H'ylthri.

Allowing the Rand Corporation to become a subsidiary of Oracle, Rand seemed to retire from active crimefighting alongside Oracle's other retired hero, Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch. When many of Earth's heroes appeared to sacrifice themselves in stopping the psychic menace of Onslaught, Rand saw the need to fill the void of heroes. Rand re-formed Heroes for Hire with the help of Hammond, Cage, and a new heroine calling herself the White Tiger. The new Heroes for Hire adventured briefly, but soon dissolved as many of the heroes eventually went their separate ways and the seemingly deceased heroes had returned. Rand and Cage continued to occasionally adventure together.

Rand had also seen the absence of Earth's heroes as an opportunity (even so much as an obligation) to call for the mystic city of K'un L'un to come prematurely into phase with reality by the end of the century, a move which Rand hoped would usher in an era of peace and into a new age of heroes. Nevertheless, Rand hoped to keep the return of K'un L'un a secret, and his teammates were resentful when they discovered the truth. His friends convinced Rand that he was wrong, and the return of the city could have disastrous consequences.

Before K'un L'un could return, however, Rand was targeted by the Japanese gang of assassins called the Hand. One of their number, 16 year-old Junzo Muto, had completed a series of tests to fulfill his destiny as the ultimate leader of the Hand, the last test of which required him to steal the power of Rand's "iron fist." The hero Night Thrasher learned of this and tried to help Rand in his fight with Hand assassins. Thrasher failed, however, and Rand was kidnapped. With the help of Night Thrasher's former team, the New Warriors, Rand was rescued, but not before Muto stole the iron fist power in a mystic ceremony.

Rand learned from a vision of his mother's ghost that Muto, now leader of the Hand, hoped to raise K'un L'un in Tokyo. Muto wanted to take over the mystic city and use it as a base to take over the world. Muto kidnapped Misty Knight to force Rand in travelling to Tokyo, the final act to call forth the city. When the city began to appear, it overlapped on the already-crowded Tokyo, causing massive panic and destruction as it began to replace it entirely. Rand was aided in rescuing Knight by the hero Wolverine, and they confronted the Hand alongside an assemblage of heroes from around the world. Although they were able to defeat Muto and restore K'un L'un, returning it to its native dimension, Muto retained the powers of the iron fist and many dragons of K'un L'un remained displaced in Tokyo. Rand agreed to stay behind as guardians of the dragons.

Later, one of Rand's and the Black Panters' enemies, Nightshade, resurrected the Black Dragon in hopes to control it against the Black Panther. She set the dragon on a mission to capture Panther's U.S. State Department handler, Everett K. Ross. However, the Black Dragon had plans of his own. Instead of capturing Ross, he switched bodies with Ross, for his own purposes. When this was discovered by the Black Panther, the Panther set out to destroy the Dragon's eggs. Not wishing to engage the Panther directly, the Dragon confronted Rand, restoring the power of his iron fist by using a small favor borrowed from the Dragon's gods and creating an imbalance in his psyche that would brainwash Rand into fighting the Panther. By a narrow margin, the Panther was able to render Rand unconscious, which helped restore him to his right mind. The Dragon battled both heroes directly and was ultimately defeated.