Iron Fist
Iron Fist is a hero in Marvel Comics. He was an expert in 'Kung Fu' (used at the time to refer to multiple martial arts), and he had a special power: He could focus his 'chi' (life force) into his fist, making it glow with energy and become 'like unto a thing of iron'. Needless to say, he could punch things really hard with his iron fist. If he grasped objects, he could use the power to burn them, if he grasped a living thing, he could use the power to channel healing energy into them.The character was a blond man by the name of Daniel Rand. At nine years old he was traveling with his parents in the Himalayas looking for a hidden city. They were attacked by wolves and his parents were killed. He was rescued by going across a suspension into the hidden city. The city was called K'un-L'un, and was in another dimension that connected to ours (via the bridge) only once every 10 years. During that time, he is raised by 'The Thunderer', who trains him to the ultimate degree. When he comes of age, he faces a dragon, known as '(please insert the name) The Undying'. This dragon kept its heart in a big urn so that it couldn't be killed. Daniel defeats the dragon by blocking the hole in its chest with his own body, thus separating the dragon from its life force. The energy coming from the dragon burns a dragon tattoo into Daniel's chest. He then goes to the urn and thrusts his fist in, which gives him the power of the Iron Fist.
After returning to his home dimension and going to New York, Daniel assumes the hero identity of Iron Fist, and fights crime to help the innocent. Notable adversaries include one of the first appearances of the villian Sabretooth (who was not yet known to be affiliated with Wolverine). Daniel eventually joined with Power Man (Luke Cage) as a part of a mercenary group called 'Heroes For Hire'. Although they supposedly were only heroes for money, the running plot device of this series (which lasted 125 issues) was that they were always doing the right thing, which usually left them with less money rather than more. Daniel Rand assumed control of his parents' fortune, and was actually quite wealthy. This caused a lot of tension between him and Luke Cage, who was raised in the ghetto without a lot of financial resources.
In the finale of the original Heroes for Hire series, Daniel is exposed to a large amount of radiation (in an epic story called 'Stanley'), and develops cancer. He returns to K'un-L'un so that his master can help him focus his healing powers to cure himself. On this mission, he learns that K'un-L'un has been destroyed by the brother of the dragon that Daniel slew. Daniel feels responsible for this destruction, and his costume turns from green to red to reflect his dishonor. While this plot line is happening, the heroes for hire have become deeply connected to a young boy with incredible powers who is dying. The young boy often assumed a fanciful identity as a much older super hero that was the stereotype of what most young boys would think of in a super hero. Luke tries to help Daniel by tricking him into believing that he had attoned for his sins, but Daniel discovered the ruse, and the two had a very public argument. As the young boy became more sick, the two heroes put aside their differences to stay by his hospital bed. Daniel tried to use the healing powers of his iron fist to keep the boy alive, which results in stablizing his condition. In the middle of the night, the boy woke up in excruciating pain. He tried to wake Daniel, who wouldn't wake up. The boy turned into his larger hero identity to try to wake Daniel, and in his fevered state punched Daniel through a cement wall trying to wake him. The boy's powers then disintegrated him. When the authorities came in, they found the boy missing and Daniel dead. Because of the public argument that they had earlier, Luke Cage was the primary suspect, and he began a life on the run. Many of the other people in the heroes lives were assassinated during this same period of time. The series ended with Luke Cage on the run from the law.
Years later, in a series about Namor, the Submariner, Iron Fist returned. The story of what had 'actually' happened was unsatisfactory and left many plot threads untouched. It lessened the finale of the original series (which was probably one of the best 10-12 issues of any comic book series. I leave it for someone else to tell...