5 Comics To Read After Watching Iron Fist
Marvel's Iron Fist finally arrived on Netflix and if you're a diehard Marvel fan then you've [...]
Iron Fist/Wolverine: The Return Of K'un Lun
March has been a busy month for Marvel fans. Let's say you just binged all 13 episodes of Marvel's Iron Fist on Netflix, but in reality, you're still not done crying after watching Logan in theaters. Where do you turn for your comic book fix?
Luckily there's Iron Fist/Wolverine: The Return of K'un Lun by Jay Faerber and Jamal Igle. This series is like blending two great Marvel Comics flavors into one fun story.
The story is mostly focused on Danny Rand, who had previously had the power of the Iron Fist stolen by the new leader of the Hand, a 16-year-old boy named Junzo Muto. Now Muto plans to bring K'un Lun to Earth to use as a fortress base from which the Hand can launch a campaign to conquer the Earth, and he plans to put the mystic city right on top of Tokyo.
The key to Muto's plan is Danny Rand's heartbeat, which is tuned to K'un Lun. When the Hand kidnaps Misty Knight, Danny is forced to play into Muto's game. Along the way, Danny runs into Wolverine, who heard from his Japanese contacts that the Hand was up to no good. The two join forces to save the day and get a little help from Luke Cage, Captain America, Sunfire, and Psylocke along the way.
prevnextDaughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets
Without question, Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing steals practically every scene of Iron Fist that she's in. Looking for more? Then Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Khari Evans is the story for you.
You may recognize "Daughter of the Dragon" as the name Colleen fought under in the underground fight club. That's a reference to her best-known role in the Marvel Comics universe, being partnered with Misty Knight as professional private investigators and bounty hunters.
Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets sees the Daughters playing the latter role. They're tasked with picking up for low-level villains who have skipped bail - Whiplash, 8-Ball, Humbug, and Freezer Burn - but things go over the top in a big way when other villains start popping out fo the woodwork.
Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets also served as a kind of "pilot episode" for the 2006 Heroes for Hire series, which sees the Daughters of the Dragon taking charge of Iron Fist and Luke Cage's own business and acting as enforcers of the Superhuman Registration Act during and after Civil War. If you like Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bulelts, Definitely check out Heroes for Hire.
prevnextThe Defenders by Matt Fraction
The Defenders may be a team about vigilante heroes protecting the streets of New York City now thanks to the Netflix television series, but it wasn't always that way. When the Defenders was originally conceived, it featured an oddball team - Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Prince Namor, and Silver Surfer - dealing with strange threats beyond the comprehension of Earth's mightiest heroes.
In 2011, spinning out of the Fear Itself event, Marvel launched a new Defenders series by Matt Fraction that included Iron Fist in the weird fun, alongside Doctor Strange, Namor, Silver Surfer, and the Red She-Hulk.
The series saw the Defenders dealing with a Marvel Universe conspiracy that involved a prophecy about the reunion of the Defenders leading to the end of the world. Along the way, the team joins forces with Black Cat, Ant-Man, Nick Fury, and Black Panther, travel to alternate dimensions, battle the Prince of Orphans, discover the Death Celestials, and kind of writ themselves out of existence.
prevnextIron First: The Living Weapon
What happens when you take the kung fu action at the heart of any good Iron Fist story and turn it all the way up to 11? You get Iron Fist: The Living Weapon by Kaare Andrews.
In Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, Andrews tries to do with Iron Fist what Frank Miller did with Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. The series finds Iron Fist cold and closed off from the world, but he's drawn back into the action when cyborg ninjas attack him in his home.
He returns to K'un Lun to find it has been razed due to the treachery of Davos, the Steel Serpent. Now the last hope for the immortal society is a young girl tasked with protecting the egg of Shau-Lao, the Undying.
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon is perhaps the most stylized Iron Fist story ever told, and Andrews brings his fully, gritty and sharp style to bear. Be warned though, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon may not be for everyone, as part of its pulp tone includes a significant amount of sex, lots of gore, and so much violence.
prevnextThe Defenders
We're going to cheat here a little bit by recommending a comic book that's not actually out yet, we think you'll understand.
The first thing on the mind of anyone who has finished Marvel's Iron Fist is "Where are the Defenders?" We know they'll be coming to Netflix in force later this year, but they're getting set to make their team debut in the Marvel Comics Universe.
The new The Defenders series that launches in May will bring Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Daredevil together as a team for the very first time as they become a version of the Defenders akin to the Netflix vision of the team.
The series has the perfect writer in Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis co-created Jessica Jones, he upped Luke Cage's profile from B-list street hero to leader of the Avengers and he wrote a run on Daredevil that remains one of the greatest superhero stories of the 21st Century. He's written Iron Fist on occasion as well, within the pages of his Avengers run that helped define the modern Marvel Universe.
Bendis will be joined by frequent collaborator David Marquez, whose beautiful artwork has appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man, Civil War II, and more. If you're into any of Marvel's Netflix heroes, The Defenders is a series you're not going to want to miss.
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