Few superheroes embody the concept of legacy like Marvel's Iron Fist, who bears a mantle that stretches back deep into the past, and, as depicted in The Immortal Iron Fist, will continue into the future. While other crime-fighters have passed their costumed identities to successors, Danny Rand has never had a true protege, at least until the just-finished miniseries Immortal Iron Fists.

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Written by Kaare Andrews and illustrated by Afu Chan, it's actually a sequel to 2014's Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, which ended with the introduction of a new Iron Fist, a preteen girl named Pei who has the distinction of being the youngest to ever wield the power of the Iron Fist. With nowhere else to go, Pei finds herself adopted by Danny and sent to live with him in New York (along with a baby dragon adorably nicknamed Gork, who grants the power of the Iron Fist when fully grown). In some ways, the title serves as the best idea of what Marvel Legacy could be.

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In recent years, Marvel has leaned heavily into the idea of history and legacy. Nearly all of the publisher's big name heroes have had at least two people take on their mantle, sometimes temporarily, other times permanently (or as close as you can get in comics). The recent series of Generations one-shots best showcases this, as it brought current legacy heroes and their predecessors together to show what one can learn from the other. Iron Fist, sadly, wasn’t part of this mini-event, but that ended up working well in the Living Weapon’s favor, as it gave Andrews and Chan’s book the chance to explore what a legacy really means without needing a gimmick such as the Vanishing Point.

Legacy flows throughout Immortal Iron Fists , with Danny making sure that Pei actually has a childhood before embracing all that comes with being an Iron Fist. Previous holders of the Fist grew up training for the responsibility before gaining it in adulthood, but because Pei is a child and taken away from K'un Lun, tradition has to change. Her existence upends everything that both characters knew about the Iron Fist, and they’re equally out of their element, continuing the feeling of being an outsider that came with Danny’s origin. (Even the typically curved dragon an Iron Fist sports on their chest is arranged more like a floral pattern on her back.) The modern day culture of high school ensures that Pei has harrowing problems of her own, either being bullied simply for existing, or forced to decide between friends who like her for her and those who like her just because her guardian is a world-class superhero.

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Speaking of Danny Rand, if you were turned off by his solo comic or Netflix series, this book will make you love him again. Rather than being the grim and dour version that’s been so prevalent over the year, Iron Fists follows up with Danny’s personality during his team up comic last year with Luke Cage. It’s easy to imagine this Danny testing his protege’s powers by chasing her on a subway car with his Fist ignited, which concludes in the best possible way imaginable. Danny has the best of intentions in bringing Pei to New York and teaching her how to be a person rather than a weapon, but his adulthood has given him a firm sense of identity as both a Rand and a hero.

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Pei’s journey is one she has to go through on her own, and even though she has moments of greatness among her peers, such as making friends or performing a slam dunk at their basketball game where she was cheerleading, she’s still an outsider. That's really the only similarity that the two of them share, but her struggle is monumentally different because she grew up in a dimension separate from the real world. She feels so isolated that upon meeting her new nanny, Madame Yeoh, she’s convinced that Danny is passing her off because she’s a disappointment as a ward and Iron Fist.

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As Madame Yeoh points out, Danny’s privilege blocked him off from the horrors of public school prior to his time in K’un Lun. Pei can’t deny the warrior within her, which is why she dons the dragon mask Yeoh made for her. Her costume--or rather, costumes, as Chan shows she has an alternate one at the end of the third issue--reflects the legacy of the Iron Fist, as a callback to both the Orientalist roots of the character, complete with flowing bandanna, and Danny’s current interpretation that sees her in a tracksuit and hoodie not unlike her teacher.

Future Iron Fists can only exist after the previous one has died, leaving Danny unsure about what Pei having the Fist while he’s alive really means. This is the only time in recorded history that this has happened, and Danny will clearly be the main Iron Fist for as long as he’s alive, but there’s nothing saying that Pei can’t have an identity of her own until then. 

Immortal Iron Fists was announced last year in Marvel Previews with no follow up, leading many to believe that it was quietly canceled. That thankfully turned out not to be the case, and putting it off for so long has actually helped the book feel more timely thanks to the announcement of Legacy. This is a book that represents the best form of what the whole Legacy line can be, and just also happens to be a fun book with a fun pair of leads.

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