#yu-ti

From Deadly Hands of K’un-Lun #004, “Instant Karma”

Art by Paco Medina, Alessandro Miracolo, Ceci de la Cruz and Yen Nitro

Sparrow: "Iron Fist, this is my fight." Danny: "But I--" Sparrow: "I have spoken. I'll handle Choshin. You deal with the rest of the mess you brought with you. Now, Iron Fist!" Iron Fist vol. 5 #76 by Ed Brisson, Mike Perkins, Andy Troy, and Travis Lanham

I could have sworn I'd geeked out about this before, but when I brought up the subject in this post and then went looking, I didn't find anything, so I'm doing it now! Brisson gave us a lot of cool and impactful pieces of lore in his run, but this in particular is a stand-out moment that I think about a lot.

While we have learned a lot about the Iron Fist's role and legacy over the years, what we have not seen very much of is the way Iron Fists operate within K'un-Lun itself. Nearly always, they seem to leave to have adventures on Earth, to fight in wars, to experience the outside world. What we have seen is that when at home, the Iron Fist is expected to help defend the city, and to lead (or at least, fight at the head of) the army, as shown in Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1. We also know that the Iron Fist, like the rest of the Immortal Weapons, is a figurehead and representative (a mascot, if you will) of K'un-Lun when it has diplomatic interactions with the other Capital Cities of Heaven. The Iron Fist has a lot of power and pull, but they are not in charge. As a Weapon, they are wielded, and the person who does the wielding for K'un-Lun is the Yu-Ti, the city's ruler.

Because Danny spent so much time outside of K'un-Lun, and because their relationship was so icy, we didn't get to see many normal Iron Fist/Yu-Ti interactions between Danny and his uncle Nu-An. But following Nu-An's disappearance in Immortal Iron Fist and Sparrow's ascension to the position of Yu-Ti, we ended up, for a very brief period of time, with an incredibly cool situation: Danny as the Iron Fist, and his childhood best friend as his boss. And this new power dynamic was showcased beautifully in this moment in the Brisson/Perkins run, when Danny returns to K'un-Lun to help protect it from an invading force. For the first time, we got to see that traditional role of the Iron Fist as protector and champion, yet subject to the commands of the Yu-Ti.

Of course, seeing these two particular characters fill these roles is made all the more impactful by the fact that this is not their normal relationship at all. In this moment and context, they are not Sparrow and Danny, best friends (and maybe more) since childhood; they are K'un-Lun's ruler and K'un-Lun's Weapon, which is a new dynamic that they need to figure out how to negotiate for themselves. I freaked out my first time reading this issue, when Danny tried to argue and Sparrow shut him down with "I have spoken", because this was key worldbuilding that we were getting to see in action.

Contagion (Vol. 1/2019), #4.

From Deadly Hands of K’un-Lun #002, “The Breach”

Art by Paco Medina, Alessandro Miracolo and Ceci de la Cruz

From Iron Fist Vol. 6 #005

Art by Michael Yg and Jay David Ramos

From Iron Fist Vol. 6 #002

Art by Michael Yg, Sean Chen, Victor Olazaba and Jay David Ramos

    Oh, neat! 

    There are quite a few Asian characters, and the Iron Fist cast lineup has been shuffled around a lot over the 45 years since the comic started, so it kind of depends on your definition of “prominent”. (For example, there are a few characters who have large presences now, but were only introduced recently, so in the context of Iron Fist continuity they might not be considered prominent.) But based on my personal assessment, here are some of the major players, in no particular order: 

Steel Serpent/Davos

Introductory issue: Iron Fist volume 1 #14

Steel Serpent is arguably the most iconic Iron Fist villain, as well as the most prominent, as he has remained an important figure in Iron Fist comics since his introduction. He was best friends with Danny’s father in K’un-Lun, and believed becoming the Iron Fist was his destiny. However, he failed, and was banished to Earth for trying to illegally acquire the chi of Shou-Lao. He has spent the decades since trying to gain power no matter what, steadily becoming more and more unhinged. 

Lei Kung the Thunderer

Introductory issue: Marvel Premiere #15

Lei Kung is Davos’s father, and until his recent death at his son’s hands, he was K’un-Lun’s war-master/head martial arts instructor. He also served as a father figure for many of his students– sometimes literally (as in the case of Sparrow, mentioned below, and former Iron Fist Wu Ao-Shi, both of whom he basically adopted), and sometimes figuratively, as in Danny’s case. He continued to protect K’un-Lun and help/advise Danny up until his death.

Immortal Weapons

Introductory issue: Immortal Iron Fist #8

I’m including them here as a group, though they are all great characters individually as well. The Immortal Weapons are the super-powered champions of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven (of which K’un-Lun is a member). Like the Iron Fist, the other Immortal Weapons are also mystical martial artists, but each city’s Weapon has their own specific legacy and power-set. The current batch are all on good terms with each other, and have had several really fun team-ups. 

Colleen Wing

Introductory issue: Marvel Premiere #19

Colleen is one of the oldest Iron Fist characters still appearing in the comic. She was the first friend Danny made upon returning to Earth, and they have remained very close ever since. She is at least half Japanese, on her mother’s side (since Wing isn’t a Japanese last name her father is probably Chinese, but this has never actually been addressed), and she trained with her grandfather in Japan from an early age to become an expert martial artist/samurai. She and her best friend, Misty Knight, co-run the Nightwing Restorations detective agency and are unofficially known as the Daughters of the Dragon.

Lee Wing

Introductory issue: Marvel Premiere #19

Colleen’s father vanished from the comics decades ago, but he was a very important character early-on, so I think he should be included. He was an anthropologist who specialized in Asian folklore traditions.

Sparrow/Yu-Ti

Introductory issue: Immortal Iron Fist #9

Sparrow is the daughter of the previous Iron Fist, Orson Randall (her mother is unknown, but presumably a citizen of K’un-Lun, thus making Sparrow biracial), and she was adopted and raised by Lei Kung. She and Danny were childhood friends and as adults they are semi-romantically involved. Sparrow is one of many K’un-Lun women who learned to fight in secret, and she recently led a feminist revolution that overthrew the government. She is now the city’s new Yu-Ti (ruler) and Thunderer. She was recently blinded by Steel Serpent, but that hasn’t slowed her down. 

Nu-An/Yu-Ti

Introductory Issue: Marvel Premiere #15

The previous Yu-Ti’s whereabouts are currently unknown, but he has been a significant recurring character since the very first issue of the comic. He is Danny’s adopted uncle, and mainly served as an antagonist– lying and scheming behind the scenes to maintain his power. He was indirectly responsible for Danny’s parents’ deaths, tried to kill Danny several times, and was a corrupt leader and all-around unpleasant guy. 

Pei/Iron Fist

Introductory issue: Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #1

Pei is a relatively new character who nevertheless has huge significance for the future of Iron Fist stories. She is a teenage monk from K’un-Lun who acquired the chi of Shou-Lao in an accident, which means she is the next Iron Fist, and will take over the position when Danny dies. Recent comics have covered her origin story and her time living with and training with Danny on Earth, and while she has been absent from the past two runs, logic suggests that she will return. 

Miranda Rand-K’ai/Death Sting

Introductory issue: Iron Fist volume 1 #2

Miranda is not nearly as prominent a character as she should be, in my opinion, but she has been around for a long time and was recently reintroduced back into the comic. She is Danny’s half-sister from his father’s first, K’un-Lun-era marriage. Since her mother was from K’un-Lun, Miranda is biracial (though the art doesn’t tend to reflect this). 

Shang-Chi/Master of Kung Fu 

Introductory issue: Special Marvel Edition volume 1 #15

Shang-Chi isn’t actually an Iron Fist character, though they were created around the same time. He has his own extremely successful comic (and is also getting his own movie soon!). But he is a major Marvel character, and has crossed over with Iron Fist enough over the years that it would have felt wrong to not include him. If you’re examining Asian representation in comics, you’ve got to mention Shang-Chi. 

    Ooh, interesting! That’s sort of a combination of two bits of continuity that actually do exist. One is from Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #75, in which Danny returns to K’un-Lun and discovers that the people who’d been killed fighting Shou-Lao over the years were actually dying as sacrifices to appease the malevolent god/sorcerer Master Khan, with whom the city’s Yu-Tis have a long-held arrangement. 

Danny: “How… could the people have gone along with this…?!”

Nu-An: “The people do not know. It has always been the leaders’ secret, our responsibility to choose sacrifices, and so protect the majority of our people. […] For generations, young warriors marched off, hoping to win the Iron Fist, and as we planned, all of them fell to Shou Lao the Undying… until you.”

Master Khan: “Shou Lao was the mightiest of my creatures until you, a mortal youth, did the unspeakable and slew him! The heart of the dragon was the focus of my power upon this world, until you ruined it. And now its stolen energies reside within your own heart!”

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #75 by Mary Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill, and Christie Scheele 

    This was long before the Iron Fist legacy had been written into the worldbuilding, so at that point in continuity Danny was the only person to have ever killed Shou-Lao. Nu-An and Master Khan are pissed off about his survival, and so they try to kill him again during his visit (he survives, with help from Lei Kung and Luke). For a long time afterward, he struggles with a crisis of identity thanks to this horrifying discovery about his home. This plot point was essentially retconned away by the introduction of the legacy in Immortal Iron Fist. 

    And Living Weapon and Brisson’s run introduced and explored the fact that Shu-Hu, the robot that Iron Fist candidates have to fight in the Challenge of the Many and the One, was actually being controlled by the Yu-Ti so that he could rig the results. The Yu-Ti at the time made a business deal with Orson Randall’s father soon after he arrived in K’un-Lun– that he would build him tech (most notably, the Randall Gate) in exchange for Orson becoming the Iron Fist. The actual flesh-and-blood Shu-Hu who had been the One for centuries refused to throw the fight, and so the Yu-Ti had him replaced.

Shu-Hu: “Our Yu-Ti was seduced by their tales of the outside world. He wanted to experience it for himself. And so, a deal was struck. I was expected to intentionally lose to the outworlder’s son, Orson Randall, so that he could become the next Iron Fist. I could not take part in the corruption, so I left the city I loved. The Yu-Ti replaced me with a robot that would not question, that would only obey. And from then on, he chose Iron Fists to serve his own purpose. No longer leaving it to fate. The mantle of the Iron Fist was never meant for outworlders. It was meant for us. So we could protect ourselves against those who’d seek to bring us harm.”

Iron Fist vol. 5 #5 by Ed Brisson, Mike Perkins, and Andy Troy

    Neither comic reveals whether Orson won because of this ruse or under his own power (I’m inclined to believe the latter, because… come on, it’s Orson), or what the Yu-Ti intended the results of Danny’s fight to be. But the first arc of Brisson’s run centered around Danny proving himself by besting the real Shu-Hu in combat.