STEEL SERPENT versus IRON FIST & SPIDER-MAN

Night of the Dragon (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Team-Up #63 When: November 1977
Why: Chris Claremont How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
A mysterious malcontent has come to plague Iron Fist's existence -- attacking when he least expects it in a style reminiscent of his old teacher's!

The most recent ambush left Iron Fist with his lifeforce partially drained! The lethal technique is enough to push him to disappear into weeks of hard martial arts training -- readying himself for an opponent deadlier than any he's faced!

When a written challenge finally arrives on his luxurious doorstep - Danny Rand is forced to postpone a homestead photo-spread with Daily Bugle photographer Peter Parker. He takes a cab ride toward destiny, unaware that the unassuming camera man is in fact a former ally - the friendly neighborhood Spider-man!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Spider-man 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Spider-man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Steel Serpent 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Spider-man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Iron Fist 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Iron Fist 3 (Explosives)
Total: Spider-man 29 (Metahuman)

It was supposed to be the ultimate martial arts showdown! Instead -- our hero walks toward the challenge with an interloper following in his shadow...

Steel Serpent is Davos - son of Lei Kung the Thunderer of the hidden city of K'un-Lun. Davos was destined to challenge the great dragon Shou-Lao until he lost the right in fair combat to an adopted outsider: Wendell Rand-Kai.

Davos faced the dragon anyway in an attempt to steal the gift of its power, but was defeated, and exiled from the mystic realm in disgrace. Wendell Rand left K'un-Lun shortly thereafter as well, never partaking in the rites of Shou-Lao.

Rand instead returned to America to forge a new life as a wealthy entrepreneur and family man. He attempted to return decades later with his family in tow, but was murdered during the mountain expedition, leaving his orphaned son Danny to be taken in by K'un-Lun's new ruler, Lord Yu-Ti, much as Wendell was.

Danny studied martial arts under Lei Kung's tutelage, successfully completing the challenge of Shou-Lao to claim the power of the living weapon: Iron Fist!

We've seen Danny rely on martial arts mastery to overcome several powerful foes, including: Sabretooth [Iron Fist #14, Power Man & Iron Fist #66], Unus The Untouchable [Power Man & Iron Fist #90], Man Mountain Marko [Power Man & Iron Fist #93], and even his possessed pal Luke Cage [New Avengers #2]!

Steel Serpent may share some of their physical dominance, but it's his fighting skill that makes him twice the threat of any other opponent! When he returned to K'un-Lun for a tournament, he demonstrated his aptitude for out-fighting a nimble opponent: Tiger's Beautiful Daughter [Immortal Iron Fist #11]!

Daredevil pushed Danny's skill with his own martial arts prowess, but nearly succumbed to the Iron Fist technique during a case of mistaken identity in Daredevil #87. In today's fight - it's Steel Serpent who has the element of surprise, leaving Iron Fist to assume he is in fact his mentor Lei Kung!

The wildcard then becomes Spider-man, who has pursued Iron Fist without the martial artist knowing it! Steel Serpent may have organized himself advantages in his campaign against Iron Fist, but Spider-man presumably evens them out!

We haven't seen Spidey face a truly skilled fighter yet, but he did fight Hand ninjas with Iron Fist some years later, in New Avengers #27. Of course, he's more of an instinctive fighter, and we saw how superior command of power hurt him in a confrontation with Mister Negative [Amazing Spider-man #621].

Iron Fist & Spider-man have to go into this one as team-up favourites, but now that we know the fighters involved, there's really only one thing left to do...

The Tape: Iron Fist & Spider-man Ranking: Spider-man (#2)

What Went Down...
Iron Fist stalks across the refuse scattered lawn of Inwood Park, determined to meet the mysterious challenge of his former master. He calls for The Thunderer, but is instead met with the grim visage of his master's son: Steel Serpent!

Davos implies his vengeance was bestowed upon Danny Rand the day he was born. Now his fate is to lose the iron fist power, undoing the slight of Wendell Rand and the August Personage of Jade - Lord Yü-Ti!

The two warriors bow before snapping into a fighting stance. The formality is quickly broken as Steel Serpent makes the first move - thrusting the ball of his foot into Iron Fist's exposed jaw!

Iron Fist lets his body ride the sledgehammer-like blow, but the devastating power behind the strike does not go unnoticed! He responds in kind, moving rapidly to chop Serpent's hand and headbutt his jaw with an "Atama" strike. The move is good, but not enough to rattle a fighter still so fresh!

Steel Serpent restores distance between he and his foe by blocking Iron Fist's second hand, and thrusting his chopped palm straight at the hero's face! The strike instills a sense of urgency in Iron Fist, whose body absorbs the recoil and channels it fluidly into through his legs and into a devastating back heel kick!

Iron Fist abandons banter to focus on pure martial arts, estimating his opponent to be one of the greatest fighters he's ever faced!

Steel Serpent drives his threatening home with a roundhouse kick buried deep into Iron Fist's mid-section with a slam! Iron Fist fires right back with a jumping roundhouse that explodes against Steel Serpent's head! An even match!

From the shadows of nearby trees - Spider-man arrives to observe the epic late night showdown! As a diving Iron Fist gets caught with a hard hooking punch, Spidey becomes desperate to help his one-time ally!

Just as Steel Serpent presses his advantage with belittling insult -- he senses Spider-man swinging from the trees! He catches the web-slinger's foot before it can connect -- and uses a vice-like grip to swing him like a baseball bat!

Spider-man is ill prepared for the twist of fate, contorting like a ragdoll as the arc of the swing brings him colliding with a similarly stunned Iron Fist!

The human hammer toss sends a limp Spider-man hurtling unforgivingly back towards the trees! The velocity wraps his twisting body around itself as smashes into the wooden trunk with absolutely no control!

The sickening scene inspires anger in a battered and bloody Iron Fist. He vows to return injuries in kind and end their duel, charging at his opponent with a fist of fury! Alas, the impulsive maneuver plays right into Steel Serpent's hands!

Davos dodges the strike and uses their close proximity to lock his arms under Iron Fist's in an inverted full nelson! His rage and hatred fuel the true attack -- an assault on Danny Rand's very life-force!

Spider-man is blinded by the light as Steel Serpent uses an ancient technique to drain the very chi from Iron Fist! Its glare lasts mere moments, but it is the third time Davos has used the attack -- and this time he means it!

Spider-man cries out in horror for his friend as Davos raises a fist to the heavens with the power of the immortal Iron Fist flowing through him!

The villain clutches a limp and powerless Iron Fist by the throat, preparing a killing blow to eliminate the threat once and for all. Fortunately for Danny Rand, he is a man with many friends, and fate would not end his life so cruelly!

Misty Knight arrives on the scene just in time to distract Steel Serpent with her speeding car. He is unimpressed with the armed investigator, but is soon persuaded by a demonstration of her unique hi-tech weaponry!

The intervention buys a reprieve for Danny Rand's life, but it cannot undo the undeniable conclusion: Steel Serpent has won!

The Hammer...

The assist from Misty Knight bought Iron Fist a life-saving reprieve, but Spider-man's unsolicited intervention had already doomed him to brutal defeat at the hands of Steel Serpent!

Regular readers may've noticed I've had a serious case of Spider-mania this year, but in the last couple of weeks, I've also found myself on a routine martial arts bender. I couldn't think of a better way to bridge the gap than today's featured fight!

The ultimate showdown between Steel Serpent and Iron Fist was developed like a WrestleMania main event that lost its venue. It was nurtured in sub-plot over several months of issues. When Danny Rand faced a debuting Sabretooth in Iron Fist #14, he was still reeling from an unexpected street fight with shadowy Steel Serpent! The series would only last one more issue before cancellation...

By late 1977, Chris Claremont and John Byrne were already appearing together as creative team on Marvel Team-Up. The sometimes hit or miss series was having a pretty good year under Claremont, largely due to a steady run of top grade villains, and guest heroes. You may remember Marvel Team-Up #58 from the archives, where Spidey and Ghost Rider took on The Trapster.

There was only one missed month between the cover dates for Iron Fist #15 and Marvel Team-Up #63. With the parties involved, it must've been relatively easy to consolidate the Iron Fist conclusion into MTU, but it does read a bit like Spidey is crowbarred in. Less like Byrne had already drawn the pages, and more like somebody was grappling with keeping as much of the envisioned conclusion as possible, even with the theme of the Spidey Team-Up book.

I wonder how much the web-slinger's well-meaning mishap was inspired by publishing circumstance. Iron Fist had seen some big name guests in its final few issues, but I find it hard to believe Spider-man was part of the original plan.

I've been thinking about martial arts genre fiction, particularly Street Fighter, in terms of opera. Superheroes by their very nature lend an operatic element, but it's a little bit more straight forward than the ponderous ensembles of SF.

Spidey invariably compromises the fated, one-on-one challenge. The location seems as likely to facilitate Spider-man and Misty Knight as it does give a 70s grit. Fortunately, there's still a clear intent to give the big fight its due.

Fist and Serpent are completely uninterrupted for three and a half explosive pages -- and it feels like more! Even when Spidey's arrival turns the tide in Davos' favour, the focus is all about the martial artists. I appreciate that!

There is, of course, a rematch in the following issue. You didn't really think they'd leave Iron Fist stripped of his powers, did you...? Well, maybe... The second season of Iron Fist hit Netflix today, and it's fair to say they've had a tough time making the most of their colourful comics inspirations!

Fortunately, classic Iron Fist comics are still available in a variety of collected editions!

When shopping you'll want to make sure Marvel Team-Up #63-64 are included! Some versions cut-off before then, or in the case of Masterworks, don't even get that far!

By using embedded Amazon links, you help support the site at no extra cost to you! Any purchase will do, but a couple of Iron Fist options are provided here for your convenience!

You can also find more Iron Fist and martial arts mayhem by diving into the Secret Archive! There you'll find every featured fight indexed by publisher, series, and issue number! For more targeted discover you should check out some of the links littered throughout this, and many other posts.

You can also get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by following Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook! A like, share, and retweet is another ancient technique used by masters who support the site!

Winner: Steel Serpent
#101 (+131) Steel Serpent (Davos)
#2 (--) Spider-man
#18 (--) Iron Fist
#541 (new) Misty Knight

POWER MAN & IRON FIST versus
CONSTRICTOR & SABRETOOTH
The Jade Tiger! (Marvel comics)
Where: Power Man & Iron Fist #66 When: December 1980 Why: Mary Jo Duffy How: Kerry Gammill

The story so far...
Colleen Wing and Misty Knight are the freelance private investigators behind Nightwing Restorations. The job has taken them into the criminal black market trade of rare and exotic artifacts.

When they find their way into the bowels of the criminal's lair, the Nightwing investigators find themselves biting off more than they can chew as they stare down the menace of hired mercenaries, the Constrictor and Sabretooth!

Though Colleen Wing manages to escape, Misty Knight is thrown into the airtight safe that houses the many rare goods. Thus, Wing must seek out the aid of the Heroes for Hire, Powerman and Iron Fist, to formulate a rescue mission!

Previous Form:
Iron Fist (#96): A solo tie against Daredevil, with team-up victory over The Hand.
Power Man (#98): Avengers victory against The Hand, with defeats to Charnal and Iron Man.
Colleen Wing, Constrictor & Sabretooth: Each making their first appearances in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Luke Cage 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Iron Fist 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Iron Fist 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Sabretooth 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Iron Fist 4 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Sabretooth 7 (Born Fighter)
Energy Powers: Constrictor 3 (Explosives)


They just seem to keep coming up. Combinations, characters and comics you would just assume we'd have featured in over a year and a half, and yet, this marks the first outing for Powerman and Iron Fist as the Heroes for Hire!

What a great coming out it is too, because they're pitted against the overwhelming debut tag team combination of SHIELD agent gone bad, Constrictor; and the feral mutant menace, Sabretooth!

We'll talk more about how fantastic this comic is later, but for now, who's going to win this fight? Well, they're two very different pairings, to be sure.

Sabretooth and Luke Cage are bringing the physical strength to this fight. Each possesses enhanced strength that has been known to range everywhere from a human and peak physical conditioning, to the definition of super strength.
You'd think putting these guys up against each other you'll reach a stalemate of sorts. If I had to give it to someone, it's going to be Luke Cage.

Durability is key to the strengths of Powerman and Sabretooth both, but their resistance levels vary in the way they survive. Luke Cage's super-tough hide means he can resist damage without harm, while Sabretooth is more of a marathon player, his healing factor keeping him in the big picture, but leaving him susceptibale to short term defeats. A trait we've seen in Wolverine.

Up against Constrictor, Iron Fist is going to struggle.
As a keen martial artist, the Fist fights at close quarters, and with those lengthy adamantium tendrils, the Constrictor is going to be able to keep his distance.

Other than some negligable armoring, the Constrictor's fighting capabilities are limited to his coils, which can become electrically charged, and his combat training from days as an agent of SHIELD. So if the Fist can close the gap, it's almost a certainty that Constrictor will go down.

Fortunately there's strength in numbers for the Heroes for Hire, since a shaken Colleen Wing is able to accompany them back to the villain's lair. Her samurai training makes her a tough customer, and while she might not be able to sever the adamantium coils of the Constrictor, she can certainly tie them up sufficiently to close the gap herself, or provide the opening for Iron Fist.

For the villains to win, they just have to press their advantage.
This fight is really in the hero's court, but I think they have the experience and expertise to handle it.

The Math: Heroes for Hire (Total) Constrictor/Sabretooth (Average)
The Pick: Heroes for Hire

What went down...
Having found her way to the Heroes for Hire, Colleen Wing leads them back to the base of the villains dealing in rare art. With an army of gun toting thugs, they survey the situation from across the street, assessing the best way to infiltrate the building without arousing the thugs' attentions.

Before they can pool their resources, Iron Fist disappears from the group, utilizing his training in the art of Ninjitsu to slink across the street unnoticed by cover of shadow. He sneaks right under the crook's noses, silently infiltrating the building, while across the street...

... Luke Cage decides to forego silent entry, using his brute strength and resilience to storm the building, drawing the fire of well over half a dozen crooks. Colleen joins him, using her sheathed sword as a non-lethal weapon to wrack up her own scalps, before the two reach the front entrance.

Already inside, Iron Fist uses the move that earned him his name to smash through the interior vault's door, where he finds a near unconscious Misty.

Unfortunately for the good guys, the rabble raised by Cage and Wing brings the intervention of the Constrictor. Wing draws her blade, but suffers an electric charge for her troubles, the zap channeled through her metallic blade.

Furious, Cage stalks toward the villain, resisting the whipping prod of the adamantium coils until Constrictor amps up the power to unleash an electrical charge that, he proudly boasts, once felled even the incredible Hulk!

Cage survives the hit, but the powerful charge is enough to put the fear of god even into his mighty heart! He takes evasive action, as the Constrictor lordes his advantage.

Elsewhere, Iron Fist helps Misty Knight from the vault, crediting Cage and Wing's attack as a diversion. All is going well until a gruff voice peeks from the gloom, and the heroic pair turns to find Sabretooth perched atop an armless sculpture!

Having heard the crackling of the iron fist with his animal-like senses, Sabretooth came running for a chance at payback for a previous encounter with Iron Fist.

Sabretooth launches himself at Danny Rand, who selflessly pushes Misty Knight aside to take Sabretooth's momentum and use it against him with a Judo styled toss.

Sabretooth hits the adjacent wall hard, but it's not nearly enough to stop the berzerker rage of the feral mutant. He charges back with claws at the ready, halted just barely by the speedy hands of the Iron Fist!

His hands held, Sabretooth continues to pursue his prey, gnashing wildly at Iron Fist's chest. His bites tear a piece of fabric from the green and yellow costume, and serve to rattle even the cool combatant in Iron Fist.

Doing his best to emulate his partner, Luke Cage is having even less luck with the Constrictor. Utilizing the art of "nin-whatchama-callit", Cage does his best to evade detection by hiding behind various crates and artifacts littered throughout the holding space. Alas, Cage's skills in the way of invisibility are lacking.

Constrictor taunts Power Man, giving him credit to believe sneaking is below him. His taunts of waiting for Cage to die of pneumonia, as an exposed pipe pours water over him, are enough to again stir the bravado of Cage.

Back up stairs, Iron Fist is stirring his own battle, tossing Sabretooth into a suit of armor. All looks good, but it places Sabretooth by the light switch. In the dark, Iron Fist is at the mercy of Sabretooth's keen senses.

Iron Fist does his best to feel out his opponent, but soon feels the slashing sting of Sabretooth's mutant claws. Leaping from the darkness, Sabretooth slashes at his back, dropping him with full force.

Misty Knight can do nothing but watch in horror as Sabretooth lurches from his squat position, looming over a fallen and apparently defenseless foe.

With little regard for honor, Sabretooth offers to give Misty the hero's heart as a memento of her feelings, but before he can make good on his promise of butchery, yellow bootied feet spring forth!

With lightning speed, the cunning Iron Fist launches at Sabretooth with a kick to the face, followed with a stiff right that knocks the murderous mutant silly before he hits the ground!

Rand reveals a sneaky plan to roll through Sabretooth's attack, and lure him in with a little animal trick of his own -- playing possum! With the entirety of his strength behind the blows, Iron Fist succeeds in putting Sabretooth down for good.

Elsewhere, Power Man charges at the Constrictor soaked in water from a pipe exposed during his evasion. The Constrictor makes good on his name, wrapping Cage up in his unbreakable coils before unleashing the full electrocuting force they channel.

Though super-durable, even Cage sweats it out under the concussive power.
Running out of options, he uses the last of his strength to yank Constrictor off his feet by the coils, and swing him around the room!

Like a super villain hammer toss, Cage hurls the Constrictor at the exposed water pipe, turning his electrocution powers against him! Unable to cease the power before impact, Constrictor fries by his own hand!

Fortunately for the villain, his suit provides insulation, but Sabretooth and he are left helpless for the police. And Nightwing Restorations can notch up another successful case, retrieving the Jade Tiger they were hired to find.

The hammer...
Sweet Christmas! It's a victory for the Heroes for Hire, with an assist from Colleen Wing! A good result all round, not just for the gang, but for us. This is one of those issues that's just been sitting on my pile for so long, it was about time we looked at it.

What really pressed the matter was the recent death by decapatation of Sabretooth in Jeph Loeb's conclusion to his disappointing Wolverine/Sabretooth encounter, Wolverine #55.

We were supposed to have already had a look at a couple of other Sabretooth features by now, but I suppose it's serendipity that we start with one of his more conspicuous appearances. The movie-going kids will be interested to know that this was only Sabretooth's second appearance, having faced off against Iron Fist some fifty issues previous!

It would be some years before Sabretooth would become forevermore bound to the Wolverine character, as their histories were developed and intertwined.
For the uninitiated, it should also be noted that Wolverine made his first appearance far away from the mutant mire, showing up in Incredible Hulk #180.

Sabretooth would go through many iterations throughout his thirty-year career in comics, meeting his end while an active member of the X-Men, an unlikely position he has taken more than once. More often than not, Sabretooth's prevailing brutality and lack of true goals have been the difference between he and Wolverine.

We actually see in this issue one of the things I like about Sabretooth, and a tangent by degrees to what's been great in Ed Brubaker's Daredevil.
It seems I just can't help but bring it all back to mercenaries and street-level villains. I guess that's just something I really enjoy and feel passionate about, and I'm sorry that the Sabretooth character won't be a part of that scene.

Well, I say won't, but it probably shouldn't be any less likely that a character with a healing factor would come back to life. Even if his death involved decapatation with a magic sword capable of nullifying healing powers.

But to get back on point, it's the existence of these recurring mercenary characters, whose motivations are malleable to a story or situation, that is something I find so enjoyable about these characters. Ed Brubaker is doing it better than ever in Daredevil, currently utilizing characters like Mister Fear and the Enforcers to great effect.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the title he's been co-writing with Matt Fraction, Immortal Iron Fist, has lacked this kind of look at the Marvel underworld. Looking at this particular issue really brings up how much I'd enjoy seeing that kind of approach to Iron Fist, but it's been the prerogative of Fraction and Brubaker to steep Iron Fist in a new, retroactive history.

There's a lot of literary and pulp precedent for the work they're doing.
Shades of various pulp characters with ties to the orient, and the famous successive nature of characters like The Phantom have been strongly swirled through, while the Iron Fist mythology grows, combining it's kung-fu heart with various styles and eras. Fun, but maybe not the Iron Fist for me.

It's this more superhero styled Iron Fist that interests me.
The type of character that will cross swords with Sabretooth, and other characters of this kind. A character whose yellow and green togs specifically relate to the simplicity of a combative superhero life; rather than tangential colours representative of a clan that somewhat strips the character of his individuality.

Still, this is really more of a personal desire, and not necessarily a sleight to the work. Certainly I can find something more along those lines in the pages of New Avengers, where Power Man and Iron Fist have been reunited as part of the secret team of Avengers pursuing less cosmic or overly super challenges.

Brian "Lemon Lumps*" Bendis is bringing the corner of the Marvel universe I so keenly enjoy to the New Avengers, as he transitions out of the Skrull-Elektra story, into a new tale starring The Hood, who's aspirations are to become Kingpin of Super Villains.

In a lot of ways this is exactly what I'm talking about, although, we bring the point back to the original motivator - Sabretooth's death - by expressing some disappointment in the way The Hood's story has begun. A collected auction for a mysteriously inoperative Deathlok is the scene where the Hood stakes his claim, assassinating auctioneer The Owl as a way of sending a message.

It's another case of an unfortunate loss of a valuable character, but like Sabretooth, I suppose we can assume there's every chance The Owl will reemerge. It's just a shame that such an unrealistic tact has to be taken for the continued interests of these characters. Lord knows there's no easy way to bring a character back from the dead, as we're seeing with the announced time slip of the 1940's Invaders in the upcoming Invaders/Avengers, that will see a return for Captain America.

But that might be a subject for another time. I think I've awkwardly crammed enough discussion into this Friday's conclusion. Verily, let there be one more item discussed, for it is Friday, and the cosmic decree of Bahlactus rings true!

So it is written, so too must it be that Bahlactus surveys all combat on this night of fights! Though we may claim our place among the first, let all know that the bloggerverse is watching Bahlactus, and he is watching back!... Or something...

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 5
[Like previous entries from 1980, a thoroughly enjoyable superhero romp full of action, excitement and super villains! I wouldn't have it any other way!]

* Not an actual nickname for Bendis.