The legend of the Iron Fist, created by Roy Thomas & Gil Kane, ties directly to K'un-Lun, the mythical city that only appears on Earth every decade. The city, which has been mentioned as existing in the Marvel Multiverse since 1974, is Iron Fist's home and the source of his power.
K'un-Lun, like many other fictional cities in Marvel, isn't just the setting of a story. It has a long history that goes back as far as 1,000,000 BC. Additionally, it's a part of a bigger piece of mythology that takes place in the Marvel Multiverse. To know everything there is to know about Iron Fist, no Marvel fan should ignore K'un-Lun's complex story.
7 It Was Created By Roy Thomas & Gil Kane
K'un-Lun, like Iron Fist himself, appeared for the first time in comic books in February 1974 when it featured in Marvel Premiere #15. This comic, which depicted Iron Fist's origin story, was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, who are two Marvel legends. Kane is famous for co-creating modern versions of Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics. Additionally, he created Iron Fist as well as Adam Warlock for Marvel with Roy Thomas.
American writer Roy Thomas is best known for introducing Conan the Barbarian to America and making sword and sorcery fantasy popular in comic books. Additionally, he co-created many Marvel fan favorites, such as Wolverine, Vision, Carol Danvers, Morbius, and Valkyrie.
6 It's Based On A Real-Life Place
Marvel's K'un-Lun is a mystical city located in a pocket dimension that only opens every 10 years. Since it's usually hidden from the rest of the world, many believe it's only a myth. K'un-Lun is located in the Kunlun Mountains, a mountain chain that extends for almost 2000 miles from the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan through Tibet, Xinjiang Uyghur, and into the Qinghai province of China.
The Kunlun Mountains are based on a real-life mountain chain that forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The real-life Kunlun Mountains were named after a mythical Taoist paradise, Kunlun Mountain, which is the birthplace of the Chinese nation. According to Chinese mythology, the mythical Kunlun Mountain can be found right in the center of heaven and earth. This place has a staircase to the sky where the ancient Gods live.
5 It's One Of The Seven Capital Cities Of Heaven
K'un-Lun is one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven alongside K'un-Zi, Tiger Island, Peng Lai, Kingdom of Spiders, Z'Gambo, Under City, and Eighth City. These mythical cities, spread all over the world, exist in pocket dimensions, which means they cannot be found easily. In order to determine which city will appear more often on Earth, the Seven Capitals hold a tournament.
Every 88 years, the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven merge into one called the Heart of Heaven. When this happens, every city sends their best warrior, also known as the Immortal Weapon, to take part in the Tournament of Heavenly Cities, which is a Kung Fu competition. The city that wins gets to appear on Earth once every 10 years, while the ultimate loser only appears once every century.
4 The Origin Of The K'un-Lunians Is Undecided
According to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe by Peter Sanderson, the first inhabitants of K'un-Lun weren't humans. Instead, they were a humanoid race whose spaceship crashed in the pocket dimension now known as K'un-Lun. Here, they created a city using scraps from their ship and its technology to manipulate the city's closeness to Earth.
However, this fact doesn't appear in any comic book. As of 2022, no official sources confirm the people of K'un-Lun are descendants of aliens. In Iron Fist #2, Chris Claremont established the K'un-Lunians as "alien" to the H'ylthri, another race living in K'un-Lun. However, it was never stated they were aliens from outer space. Instead, they have always been referred to as humans, especially opposed to the H'ylthri.
3 It Has A Evil Twin
Master of Kung Fu Annual #1, by Doug Moench and Keith Pollard, follows Danny Rand and Shang-Chi as they try to find Collen Wing, who's been missing for a while. During their search, the heroes stumble upon Quan-St'ar, a resident of S'ahra Sharn, which is a mirrored version of K'un-Lun – not only in image but also in spirit.
While K'un-Lun is full of respectful, loyal, and heroic citizens, S'ahra-Sharn's population consists mostly of thieves, murderers, and all kinds of criminals. In Master of Kung Fu Annual #1, Quan-St'ar attempts to distract Iron Fist and Shang-Chi while S'ahra-Sharn gathers an army to conquer K'un-Lun. However, the two heroes find the truth before it's too late and manage to take him down.
2 Its First Inhabitants Weren't Human
Many years before humans lived in K'un-Lun, the city was only inhabited by the H'ylthri, a violent alien race whose members look a lot like Earth plants and perceive feelings as a weakness. The H'ylthri are the K-un-Lunians' natural enemies and have tried to destroy the human race more than once.
During Contagion, by Ed Brisson and Stephen Segovia, the H'ylthri released the Urchin, which was a sentient virus created to wipe out humanity. However, the Urchin was so powerful it started infecting the H'ylthri too, so it had to be contained. In Namor and the Sub-Mariner #24, the H'ylthri allied with Sam Smithers, also known as Plant Man, to set up a new world order on Earth. However, after creating a portal from K'un-Lun to New Jersey, they were ultimately defeated by Earth's heroes.
1 Its Guardian & Protector Is Iron Fist
When he was only nine years old, Danny Rand and his parents went on an expedition to find K'un-Lun, but thanks to the villainous Harold Meachum — Wendell Rand's business partner — only the boy made it to the mythical city alive. Here, he trained for ten years with Lei Kung and became one of his most gifted students. Given Danny's talent in martial arts, he was offered the chance to face the dragon Shou-Lao, which he defeated, thus becoming Iron Fist.
As the Iron Fist, Danny is capable of focusing his chi to gain super strength, stamina, agility, and reflexes. Additionally, he learned to redirect all his energy into his own fist, turning it into a powerful weapon. In exchange for this power, Danny became K'un-Lun's Immortal Weapon as well as its main defender. Like him, many past Iron Fist have protected the city from external threats, and many future Iron Fist will keep doing so once Danny is gone.