Steel Serpent
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| Steel Serpent | |
 Cover art for Immortal Iron Fist *4. Art by David Aja. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Iron Fist #4 (Apr 1976) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont John Byrne |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Davos |
| Team affiliations | HYDRA |
| Notable aliases | Steel Phoenix |
| Abilities | The power of the Serpent's Sting, master of the martial arts, capable of draining the power the Iron Fist from its wielder |
Steel Serpent is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Universe and the archenemy of Iron Fist.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
The Steel Serpent is an exiled native of K'un-L'un, and son of Lei Kung the Thunderer. Davos stole Iron Fist's power and possessed it until it consumed Davos and Iron Fist absorbed it back into himself.[1]
Davos' spirit was cast into a realm accessible from the Anomaly Gem, and through that Davos used the Contemplator to gather the fragments of the Anomaly Gem and release Davos. When Davos was released, he again battled Iron Fist and stole his power and returned to K'un-L'un and took over his father's reign. Lei Kung allied with Iron Fist, who defeated Davos and restored Lei Kung's rule.
[edit] Immortal Iron Fist
Davos was restored by the Crane Mother, promising to locate and destroy the renegade Iron Fist Orson Randall in return. His power was further enhanced via the consumption of the life forces of the Crane Mother's daughters. Davos allied with Hydra against Iron Fist in a plot to obtain Rand-Meachum's Randrapid train to build a tunnel through the K'un-Lun mountains. Davos located Randall in an opium den in Bangkok, Thailand and reported this to the Crane Mother, who sent a pair of her daughters to investigate. Agents of Davos, posing as NYPD, picked up Randall as he arrived in a US airport, but Randall determined the truth and broke free. Davos met with Xao, spokesman for Hydra's front company, Wai-Go, expressing his displeasure at Hydra's failure. After slaying a Hydra agent who had failed to engage Iron Fist, Davos sent other agents to bring in both Orson Randall and Daniel Rand. Slaughtering a group of Hydra agents in a training session, Davos then took out two whole legions of Hydra agents and destroyed a Mechagorgon. He then contacted the Crane Mother, asking for a dozen or more daughters to allow him to reach his power's peak to stop his foes. Crane Mother agreed to the request.
Crane Mother sent over a dozen daughters to Steel Serpent, along with the warning that if he failed they would consume his immortal soul. Davos led Hydra agents and Crane daughters to Daniel Rand's apartment. Davos and his agents greeted Orson Randall and Daniel Rand when they arrived at the latter's apartment. Maintaining his power by consuming the Crane daughters' life forces, Davos eventually attacked Orson Rand, who let Davos kill him so he wouldn't have to keep running. Randall gave Rand his chi, enabling him to drive off Davos, who vowed to face him again in the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities.
When it was Davos' time to enter the tournament, he was approached by the Prince of Orphans to reveal his new Warrior's name since representing Kun-Zi for the first time, to which he chose "The Steel Phoenix". Davos now displays wings at either side of his serpent tattoo to mirror this.
Early in the tournament, Davos faced Tiger's Beautiful Daughter. During the contest, she severed Davos' hand. Enraged, Davos concentrated his chi into a new hand and proceeded to viciously beat his opponent to near-death, even refusing to let her yield. The next day, the old and wise Prince of Orphans challenged Davos to a fight instead of his scheduled opponent, Fat Cobra. Davos accepted and watched as his opponent turned into a green mist of chi and was swiftly dispatched by the old fighter, who then declared such brutal tactics as Davos' would not be acceptable for future matches.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Steel Serpent is a master of the martial arts of K'un-Lun, including those practiced millennia ago. His skills rival those of Iron Fist (Daniel Rand-K'ai) and he has several times bested Daniel in combat, though usually with the element of surprise on his side. He is exceptionally--though apparently not superhumanly--strong, fast, and agile, with lightning quick reflexes. He has proven capable of draining the power the Iron Fist (the energies of Shou-Lao) from its wielder by pressing his serpentine tattoo against the wielder's dragon tattoo. At least on one occasion he retained some fragment of Shou-Lao's power after the previous holder of the Iron Fist has reclaimed his power. At his full power he has weathered assaults from the superhumanly powerful Spider-Man, his reflexes and skills making him more than a match for Spider-Man.
Davos also utilized the fiery energies of the Serpent's Sting, though that may be a function of the taloned gloves he wore at the time. When slain, Davos spirit is transferred into the Anomaly Gem alongside the spirits of all past Iron Fists. From there he can be resurrected under certain circumstances.
Since taking on the nom de guerre of Steel Phoenix, Davos has been able to perform the Steel Phoenix Blow. The first time he executed this move, it allowed him to create a replacement hand (for the one just cut off by Tiger's Beautiful Daughter) out of pure Chi.
[edit] References
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #64
