#heather duncan

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Marvel Premiere #15 by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Glynis Wein, D. Giordano, and L.P. Gregory

February 19th marked the 52nd anniversary of Danny Rand's introduction in Marvel Premiere #15, and I will never pass up an opportunity to revisit and geek out about this thrilling, beautiful origin story. This issue is structured around Danny's undertaking of the Challenge of the Many and the One--the final stage of his testing to become Iron Fist. Like any introductory issue, the aim here is to establish key character elements: Who is this person? What makes them interesting? Why should readers care enough to keep reading about them? And I love that beyond his prowess as a martial arts master, this issue prioritizes Danny's determination and resilience as core, vital elements of his character.

The Challenge of the Many and the One is no joke, and this would be a very different issue if Danny just effortlessly kicked everybody's ass, as he often does. Narrative-wise, there'd be no drama in that, but more to the point, the emphasis here is not that Danny is just some unbeatable powerhouse. Yes, he is very, very good at what he does. But at the end of the day, when the chips are down, he wins his fights not only due to his technical skill and years of training but because of his ability to power through in the most impossible of circumstances. Over the course of this issue, we see him get absolutely wrecked by Shu-Hu (who he doesn't realize until the end is a robot). The fight is interspersed with flashbacks to one of the most harrowing origin stories in all of Marvel comics: Danny and his mother attempting to survive alone in the mountains after his father is murdered in front of them, and then watching his mother get torn apart by wolves. Danny survived that; he survived a one-on-one battle with a dragon (though we won't learn that until the following issue), and he survives this new and seemingly hopeless fight, drawing up the strength and will, along with his budding mastery of the chi of Shou-Lao, to pass this final test. And I love that it's the image of Heather, his mother, that is urging him onward here, just as she did when he was a child, in those final, desperate days leading up to her death. It's a fitting tribute to her spirit, her sacrifice, and the lasting influence she had on Danny--something that has been explored in various ways by other Iron Fist writers in the decades since this issue's publication.

[bookoftheironfist]

Danny Rand says goodbye to his mother, from Marvel Premiere #15 by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Glynis Wein, D. Giordano, and L.P. Gregory

[bookoftheironfist]

“You are Iron Fist...and today is your birthday. No, that’s not quite true, is it...Iron Fist. Today isn’t your birthday. It’s Danny Rand’s. Daniel Thomas Rand’s. Yours. Today, Daniel Thomas Rand is twenty years old, and you are the only one who knows it. The only one who cares. It’s been eleven years since anyone’s wished Danny Rand a ‘happy birthday’. You see, they didn’t celebrate birthdays in K’un-Lun; immortals had no use for them.” Deadly Hands of Kung Fu vol. 1 #19, “Shall I Love the Bird of Fire?” Part 1 by Chris Claremont and Rudy Nebres

    Happy birthday, Danny! The Netflix show claimed he was born on April 1st, and lacking any alternate information for 616 Danny, I’m happy to just go with that. Anyway, April Fool’s Day feels appropriate for someone who has had a somewhat complicated relationship with birthdays.     

[bookoftheironfist]

Heather: “Danny, don’t look back! Run! Don’t look back!” Danny: “But I did. I looked. And watched her find a way to do the impossible. She chose death. So that I could live. And I say goodbye to my mother... in a thousand pieces.”

Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #2 by Kaare Andrews

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Heather: “I should have left him. Taken you with me. Your father left us long before-- and I hated him for it. Looked elsewhere for what I needed... waiting for him to come back. Thought if Wendell found that city, maybe he could find us, too.” Danny: “Quickly, Mother, before they regroup. I can save you from this place.” Heather: “It’s not them that’s keeping me here, Peanut. I bound you to vengeance. Pointed you at Harold and pulled the trigger. I chained you to darkness. But you... you’ve always held the keys. [...] Can you finally forgive me, Danny? Please. After all this time... can you finally... let me go?”

Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #8 by Kaare Andrews

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“Memories... and with the memories, an... ache you’d never felt before. A hollowness deep within you...” Danny: “Oh, man, tears? I’m crying like a kid! Well, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a warrior of K’un-Lun! I’m Iron Fist! I’m-- I-- Hey, leave me alone. Please. It’s been years since they-- since they-- Why does it have to hurt now?! And why can’t I stop crying!?! Mom! Dad! Why did you have to die?! WHY?!” "There’s no answer-- only the harsh, wracking sobs of a boy who's lost everything... and who’s only just now begun to mourn.” Iron Fist vol. 1 #8 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Adkins, and Bonnie Wilford

    Danny returns to his childhood home for the first time, and is struck by all of his still-unprocessed grief. 

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    I like that despite the complete revamping of the murder, MCU Danny has retained an extra bit of trauma surrounding his mother’s death. In the comics, Wendell’s death was horrifying, and that memory has stayed with Danny for the rest of his life. But it was sudden and quick. Heather stuck around for days after, protecting Danny and trying to keep his spirits up in a terrifying, hopeless situation, before finally sacrificing herself and being ripped apart by wolves right in front of him. Relatively speaking... her MCU death isn’t quite as bad, and since Heather’s heroics mean a lot to me, I’m disappointed by the passiveness of her demise in this universe. But I do appreciate the details: that she clawed her way out of her seat to comfort Danny in her last moments, and that the extra horrifying nature of her death means that it has been embedded extra deep in his psyche. 

[bookoftheironfist]

“Though you knew you both were lost... that you were heading forward into the unknown, instead of back toward Meachum and the death that waited surely at his hands... still, you had each other. And so you wandered alone, for days. Then, even as your strength grew ever weaker... your steps ever more faltering... suddenly, you both weren’t alone any longer. [...] It was then, you remember, that the howling began... the howling that was scarcely more horrifying than the sudden, terrible knowledge that they had been there all along. You both looked back... saw the snow-wolves pause for a moment... But, you also knew that in an instant they’d be after you again... that they’d be upon you before you reached the other side... Unless...! 

“The fear was welling up within you then. The fear for your own brief life. So you never noticed when the sound of your own feet, slapping against the creaking boards... became the only sound that rose above the baying of wolves and wind. You didn’t even see her, as she turned-- raced back toward the ravening wolves-- and hurled herself into their midst! You only heard the howling turn to snarls... and once, perhaps, above the wind... a woman’s involuntary scream! You paused then-- not quite on the other side of the bridge. You turned, confused...”

Danny: “Mother...? MOTHER!!” 

Marvel Premiere #15 by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, and Glynis Wein

    It’s a testament to Danny’s strength and resilience that he turned out as well-adjusted as he is, given all of the nightmarish experiences he had when he was nine. But the real hero here is Heather, who deserves massive credit for all she did in the wake of her husband’s death. Upon refusing to cooperate with Harold Meachum after his murderous behavior, Heather and nine-year-old Danny find themselves lost and alone in the Himalayas, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a fantasy dream of a destination. Heather doesn’t believe in her husband’s magical city in the mountains. She knows that she and her son are going to die. But rather than give in to the horrific hopelessness of the situation, she keeps moving, bolstering Danny’s spirit, keeping him alive, and pushing them both through some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet toward, as far as she knows, nothing. And amazingly, she actually finds K’un-Lun-- before choosing to be eaten alive by wolves in order to ensure Danny’s survival. Later, we learn that she ended up in the K’un-Lun afterlife, and I like to think it’s because of this act of stone-cold badassery and sacrifice right on the city’s doorstep.