Mr. Smyth: IronFist. I look on to this glorious championship and I wondered where does the term 'IronFist' come from? What is it's history? What great heritage have I inherited? To find the answers, I decided to do some research and if I can be afforded the time, I would like to share what I have found with each and every one of you.
It all starts with a gentleman named Wendell Rand, who discovered the mystical city of K'un L'un as a young boy. During his time in K'un L'un, Wendell saved the life of the city's ruler, Lord Tuan, and was adopted as Tuan's son. However, Wendell eventually left K'un L'un and became a wealthy entrepreneur in the United States. He married socialite, Heather Duncan, and had a child named Daniel.
When Daniel was nine, Wendell organized an expedition to again seek out K'un L'un, taking his wife Heather, his business partner Harold Meachum and, of course, Daniel. During the journey up the mountain, Daniel - who was attached to a tie rope - slipped off the path, taking his mother and father with him. Meachum, who also in love with Heather, forced Wendell to plunge to his death but offered to rescue Heather and Daniel. She rejected his help, preferring to journey without him or die.
Heather and Daniel come across a makeshift bridge that appears out of nowhere and are attacked by a pack of wolves. Heather throws herself on to the wolves to save Daniel and is killed, even as archers from K'un L'un attempt to save her. The archers take the grieving Daniel to see Yu-Ti, the hooded ruler of K'un L'un. When Daniel expresses his desire for vengeance, Yü-Ti apprentices him to Lei Kung, knownas the Thunderer, who teaches him the martial arts.
Daniel proves to be the most gifted of Lei Kung's students. Rand conditions his fists by plunging them into buckets of sand, gravel, and rock to toughen them. At 19, Daniel is 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 throws himself against the scar of Shou-Lao, which burns a dragon tattoo into his chest. Having killed Shou-Lao, he enters its cave and plunges his fists into a brazier containing the creature's molten heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist.
When K'un L'un reappears on Earth after 10 years, Daniel decides to leave and find his father's killer. Returning to New York, Daniel 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 find the man legless—an amputation carried out when, after abandoning Daniel and his mother, he was caught in heavy snow and his legs became frostbitten.
Impressed by Iron Fist's abilities, Meachum accepts his fate and tells Iron Fist to kill him, but overcome with pity for this pathetic shell of a man, Iron Fist walks away. At that moment Meachum is murdered by a mysterious ninja and his daughter Joy blames Iron Fist for the death. Eventually, Iron Fist clears his name, aided by his friends Colleen Wing and Misty Knight.
And now that power has been bestowed onto me. Daniel Rand was not the original Iron Fist - there were many before him and there have since been two. Jay Cracko fought valiantly to prove that he was deserving of such a title but when he came up against someone that really matters, it was easy enough to prove that he bought disgrace to the title.
It is up to me to bring prestige to this heritage, and never show weakness. I would not have pitied Meachum - I would have destroyed that man, the same way I have destroyed many of my adversaries. Daniel Rand and Jay Cracko are both weak, and it will not take me long to far surpass both of them. While I will be the modern member of a long lineage of Iron Fists, I will prove to be the most powerful of them all. This title is mine and for you to take it from me, well...
Mr. Smyth brings up his right fist.
...you have to beat me and my Iron Fists.
And that...well, that's what's best for business.
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