Daniel Rand (Earth-616)/Quotes

I am Iron Fist! I was trained to be a living weapon-- to defend myself from anything human! Yet you toss me about-- like a child's broken plaything! Who are you??

How did you know I would come?

If a man ceases to exist -- how long will his memory survive him?

Do not force me to battle you, officers of the law. For I am blameless of any wrongdoing and would remain so.

Though I'm beginning to wonder if this foul concoction even contains real water.

My way of life was instilled in K'un-Lun as well -- I regret you cannot understand!

Yes... I like it-- Partners!

Hey, Mr. Cage, Can I have your autograph?

Luke, do you need my -- -- help? No, I guess not.

Uh, Luke, do they sell pizza in Florida?

We're going to settle this between ourselves man to man, with no minions ... and no fancy toys!

Self pity and a defeatist attitude will hurt your progress a lot more than ill health does.

But I should warn you, I studied martial arts for 10 years in the lost city of K'un-Lun.

We have no idea who you gentlemen are, but when someone tries to gun us down in the street, we can only assume the worst!

...Please Luke... Try to stay calm... Try to stay patient...

No! It's happening! I'm too late! It's K'un Lun! The cities are merging!

Guess that's thirty-one pieces of silver you've got now, huh? Sleep well, Judas.

Yeah, yeah, Hydra is legion. But when was the last time you faced a dragon?

Oh! My name is Daniel Rand. I am Iron Fist and I know kung fu. Hi-yahh.

C'mon, old man. I'm not going down without a fight.

Great, Orson, so you learned your kung fu from Lei Kung and Smith & Wesson?

"I'm a superhero, Orson. I have to get from Point A to Point B fast and I can't fly. So I have real estate."

What -- what does this mean?

I can hear the sweat running down your cheek.

There is a lot going on here. I get that. But I have a responsibility to the other worlds, too. There are parts of the Book of the Iron Fist that are unwritten. And right now, I'm the only guy with the pen.

This was the city where all of my nightmares were set, since I was a little boy. I'd never been here before, but I knew it intimately.

The truth is the only thing that matters. I've lived through Hell because of a lie, and it stops here.

Your old mentor has given you a clear ultimatum. This mess we're in today, the one you created by stealing this eye from its rightful owner... He said, and I believe him, that this fight we had today -- this was just a taste. This was just a sampler. So I'm going to ask you again, Stephen... Whose is this, really?!

I made my choice a long time ago. I stood in front of the tree of life and traded away the fruit of immortality for vengeance. So why has it started to feel like I'm still stuck in eternity? Is this my penance? My purgatory? Are all of the other poor souls just to scared to admit we've fallen into a lake of fire? So why can't I feel the heat? Pills won't help me sleep. So I try something else. I tell myself I earn it. But it's just an exercise of forms. One cold, dead thing imitating another. Training. Regime. Routine. I stare out the window and the dead corpse of my father stares back. A grave marker in a field of 8.25 million dead souls. I remember the screaming. I thought it was my mother at first. And then I thought it was myself. A high-pitched desperate skrill. It wasn't either of us. I remember seeing my father for the first time just then. For what he truly was. He wasn't afraid of dying. How could he be? He was already gone. A dead man walking in my father's skin. The look in his eyes said it all. He was insane. had been for a long time. And then he was... I have my father's eyes. That's what she would tell me. Before she kissed me on the cheek and tucked me in for bed. She smelled like rose petals. Like baby powder in the rain. And she loved me because I had the eyes of a madman. We all chose, didn't we. We all chose to pretend... To ignore... We chose to see what we wanted to... Not what was really there. I'm so sick of choosing. I've been avoiding the past for so long... Afraid that if I was to turn around... I'd see what was coming for me.

The monk shouldn't be here. K'un-Lun appears on Earth once every ten years. The next cycle isn't due for some time. When I left, I was told I wouldn't be able to return for a decade. But like so much of what I was told, it was a lie. There is a way back. And it's here in this very building. Just down the elevator. All the way down... Twelve stories underneath a seventy-two floor skyscraper... Four city blocks across a labyrinth of underground access tunnels... And I find myself underneath Rand Tower. If this building was a tombstone, this would be its buried corpse. Nineteenth century engineering, kept running through pristine neglect. There are a lot of questions that come with a device like this. I'm sure there are answers. I'm sure there are lies. It's been so hard to tell the difference, I've stopped asking. My father had no idea the doorway to K'un-Lun was literally at his feet. If he did, maybe they wouldn't have had to die. Cold. Death is cold.

My name is Daniel Rand. After watching my parents murdered in cold blood, I was taken in by mystical monks. They protected me the only way they knew how. They turned fear into rage. To focus my rage, they promised vengeance. They turned me into a living weapon. Trained for ten years for the sole purpose of returning to Earth and killing Harold Meachum in the name of my dead mother and father. And then they acted surprised when I left. I returned to the world of men and found Meachum waiting for me in Rand Tower. A paraplegic, reeking of bourbon and fear. In essence, he was already dead. Guilt, reject and terror had already taken him. I looked into his hollow eyes. It was like looking into nothingness. I had become a weapon without a target. A worthless exercise. A lie. My fist wasn't forged in iron... But irony. An orphan of two worlds. Two families. Stuck in that place in-between. Now, where's a good place to catch up? Should I start with the metal monster standing over me? My dead father's face bolted onto it like a cheap Halloween mask... Or should I begin with the broken mess of bones I once called fists? My chi, the source of my power, cut off at the source.

We'll find 'em, and we'll get out of here. You can believe that. My partner is working on that right this very minute.

Lady... you had me at "kung fu tournament." When do we start?

You couldn't go undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D. and still tell your husband?

Cool. They brought me here to kill me and steal the Chi of Shou-Lao the Undying so they can invade K'un-Lun. I mean... I guess that's what I get for following some random dude I met at the bar back to a mystical kung fu island no one's ever heard of.

You didn't come to Earth to learn how to use your fists. You came here to learn how not to.

Great! Who put a contract on me this time?

Listen, I don't know what Choshin's paying you to come at me like this... but I hope it's worth the beating I'm going to bring down on you -- no matter how many of your brainwashed zombies you try to put between yourself and me.

Creed, you sure you want to do this? Every time we've done this, I've beaten you. Every. Time.

Pei... remember your teachings. Wherever you are, trust in your training. Believe in yourself. But don't fight for yourself. Fight for your friends. For the ones you love.

So, I guess that's the way we're going? Bar brawling with a bunch of z-grade baddies?

I'm not looking to get out of this fight. Just wanted you to know what's going to happen after I kick your ass.

The thing that annoys me the most about you, Robbins... is you use objects of ancient and dangerous power and you have no clue what it is you're messing with.

But they're right. My mother, father and sister... even you... all died for me. Me living means someone dies. I can't let that happen anymore.

Who am I now? What am I without my fist?

It wasn't my time to punch the clock.

We had a deal, Yama. I bring you Mo Wang, and you put everyone he's infected right again, including the boy he was possessing. I want him back. Now.

I know you can hear everything. Listen to your body for once.

Super hero life can be a lonely existence at times. Sure, there're friends in the community that you see now and then. But it's not like there's super hero company picnics or Avengers-sponsored bowling nights. For the most part, you are out there by yourself doing your own thing. For the most part, the only time you see each other is when the really bad stuff is going down. But sometimes, just sometimes... you're there for the good stuff too. And those are the best parts.

This is the Caveman Avengers thing again, yeah? You know I've read every chapter of the Book of the Iron Fist. There's nothing in there about any Stone Age defender of K'un-Lun. But I'll tell ya... there's sure an awful lot about that big, fiery space bird that just came back to Earth. About the Phoenix. And most all of it's bad.

"Heroes" are very different on Earth, your radiance. They are not of a single mind, nor all so pure of heart.

But when was the last time you faced a dragon?

When Davos was a child he knew his destiny was great. He didn't understand why no one else recognized his potential. Not the Yu-Ti. Not the Thunderer, his own father. At every turn he's been held back. Is it a wonder he has a problem with authority? He takes what little they have to offer. These insect. These ants. He rips their life force from their bodies and heals his wounds. Flesh bubbles closed. Blood coagulates. Bones fuse. He takes it all so that he may stand while they fall. If he had enough of it, the Chi of Shou-Lao... could he heal his heart, too? And if he was simply given the love he needed in the first place... but K'un-Lun was never a place for love. All it offered was fire and blood. Can you blame him for accepting?

The sky goes red as a troupe of marionettes is pulled off the stage. And through it all, father's watching me. With those crazy eyes. I couldn't bring myself to repair Rand Tower. Engineers declared it structurally sound enough to keep standing. Maybe one day I'll be ready to bring it down. But for now... I'll leave it alone a little while longer. A reminder of--