Davos (Earth-616)

Steel Serpent
Name	Davos
Current Alias	Steel Serpent
Aliases	Steel Phoenix, Iron Fist
Affiliation and Relationships
Group Affiliation	Formerly Crane Mother, The One, Immortal Weapons, Hydra
Relatives	Parents: Lei-Kung (father, deceased) Siblings: Sparrow (adoptive sister)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′1″ (1.85 m)
Weight	205 lbs (92.99 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Scar over left eye, snake tattoo on chest, cybernetic right arm
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Immortal human cyborg with chi absorbing abilities.
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	K'un-Lun
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	K'un-Lunan, K'un-Zi
Occupation	Warrior Formerly Crane Champion of K'un-Zi
Education	Decades of intensive martial arts training
Base of Operations	Mobile Formerly K'un-Lun
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Byrne
First	Iron Fist #1 (August, 1975)
First	Iron Fist #1 (August, 1975)

So much life...wasted on talking monkeys...you ask a god for submission? Then you shall have a god's response!

—Steel Serpent[source]

History

Early Life

Davos was the first son of Lei-Kung the Thunderer, a fearsome martial artist and trainer of the Iron Fist legacy from the city of K'un-Lun. In order to live up to his father's legacy he trained hard and knew that one day he would become one of the most powerful martial artists to leave K'un-Lun with the power of Iron Fist.

Iron Fist

However, there was one obstacle he had to overcome. He had to defeat the other person in line for the Iron Fist name: Wendell Rand-K'ai, son of Yu-Ti, August Personage in Jade and ruler of K'un-Lun. Davos proved unsuccessful in this attempt and was soundly beaten by Wendell. He refused to give up despite this beating but eventually Yu-Ti announced Wendell the winner which infuriated Davos who accused Yu-Ti of being biased towards his own son. Lei Kung told his son to stay silent and sent him away. Davos' pride and anger got the better of him and he went to challenge the dragon Shou-Lao in his cavern and gain the power of Iron Fist despite his loss. Shou-Lao scarred Davos over his left eye but Davos knew the secret to defeating the Dragon: to block the power of its heart with his body. However, the pain was too much and Davos soon succumbed to the Dragon's power. Lei Kung found his son defeated in the snow and took him back to the city. Yu-Ti then exiled Davos to Earth, stating that he could never return to K'un-Lun. Despite this, Wendell did not challenge Shou-Lao and also went to Earth. Tuan eventually died and Wendell's brother took his place and had a son named Daniel who would take the power of Iron Fist. It was here that Davos began plotting to kill Daniel and take the power of Iron Fist for himself.

Danny Rand

The Steel Serpent prepares to face the Iron Fist

Davos attempted many times over the years to kill Daniel by absorbing the power of Shou-Lao. He allied himself with Joy and Ward Meachum to be able to close in on Rand. They watched the battle between Iron Fist and Radion on television, hoping he would survive so they could get their revenge. Joy asked Davos to investigate her uncle Ward, he complied as he agreed to work for them until he killed Danny Rand. Davos acted as Joy’s bodyguard during her meeting with Danny. When the Golden Tigers attacked the Meachum Building, he saved Joy Meachum instead of attacking Iron Fist despite her orders, telling her he would choose the time and place of Iron Fist's death himself. Davos confronted Ward threatening him to quit and disappear and leave Joy to run the company. He told her that his debt was paid in full and it was now time for his revenge. He attacked Iron Fist, he tried to absorb the power of Shou-Lao, but Iron Fist broke free weakened. Davos called his true name "Daniel Rand-K'ai", showing his knowledge of K'un-Lun. He walked away with a warning. He later found Danny trying to stop some criminal steal a shipment from Rand-Meachum, Inc. He attacked him and tried to absorb the power again but left him to absorb more of his power later.

Spider-Man

Davos later challenged Danny to combat under the laws of K'un-Lun, signed the Steel Serpent. However when he found Davos there and not Lei-Kung, Davos revealed that he was Lei-Kung's son and the new Steel Serpent. The two fought but was interrupted by Spider-Man, who got in the way, giving Davos the upper hand. He grabbed Danny and drained the power of Shou-Lao from his body. He was about to kill Danny, but was stopped by Misty Knight. He tried to kill Danny in the hospital but Spider-Man stopped him. Iron Fist revived and challenged Davos to a rematch. Although Davos relied too much on raw power, Danny was weak and could not fight back. Colleen Wing told the others to stay out of the fight as it was up to Danny to defeat him. The power however began to build up in Davos' body, turning against him. Danny absorbed his powers back but Davos was consumed by the energy in the process.

Contemplator

When Davos died he was absorbed into the Anomaly Gem where he met the spirits of dead Iron Fists and furthered his martial arts from their teachings. Whilst in the Gem he met with the Elder of the Universe known as the Contemplator who tricked Daniel into gathering all the pieces of the Anomaly Gem and thereby releasing Davos from his imprisonment. His plan was successful and then the released Davos once again absorbed Iron Fist's power and finally crossed the threshold to K'un-Lun and declaring himself its new ruler. However, Danny with the power of his friends managed to fight against Davos and restore his power one more time. Davos was forced to leave K'un-Lun.

The Hand

Davos was captured by the Hand and defeated in battle by their young leader Junzo Muto, who drained the remnants of the Iron Fist from Davos's body.

Immortal Weapons

Davos was given new powers by the Crane Mother in exchange for becoming the Champion of the mystical land of K'un-Zi. He was created to replace the Crane Champion who was killed many years ago by Orson Randall, the past recipient of the Iron Fist. The Crane Mother could only give birth to a new Crane Champion every 300 years. He was given the power in exchange for killing Randall. He increased his powers further by absorbing the Chi of the Crane Daughters.

Davos started working with Hydra and planned to strip Rand-Meachum Inc.'s Randrapid train to build a tunnel through the K'un-Lun mountains. Davos found Randall in Thailand. He escaped to New York and sent agents disguised as N.Y.P.D. to pick him up from the airport, but Randall determined the truth and broke free.

Davos met with Mr. Xao, Wai-Go Industries, who were a front for Hydra. He was angered by their failure to take out Randall. He killed the agents that failed him and sent another group after Danny and Orson. Hydra turned against Davos and sent an army of agents and Mechagorgon against him. He killed all the agents and destroyed the robots. He then received back up of more Crane Daughters. He then attacked Danny and Orson at the Rand Building. However during the fight Orson gave his Chi to Danny increasing his powers against Davos. But Lei-Kung and Yu-Ti arrived to them that it was time for the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities.

At the Heart of Heaven, the Immortal Weapons were the champions of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. They would face each other in various arena's. He revealed that he now was known as the Steel Phoenix. During his match with Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, he beat the girl soundly and she was about to yield, but Davos wanted her death not her submission. His left hand was cut off by her war fan but it did not stop him from defeating her and demonstrating his new powers. Lei Kung interrupted the fight and stopped his son from killing the girl.

The Steel Phoenix is humbled by the Prince of Orphans

In his next match however, he was defeated by John Aman the Prince of Orphans. After the tournament had ended, he was able to rejoice for a while and even listen to the other Immortal Weapons' stories but it was short lived when John Amon revealed to them the Yu-Ti's activities and intentions.

While the other Weapons agreed to help the Prince of Orphans in aiding Iron Fist's counter-attack against the terrorist Xao's invasion, Davos furiously opposed his father in taking his current actions which ended up with them dueling one another. Lei Kung won but still invited Davos to help him and the Crane Daughters forces only to be refused. Davos apparently blamed others for his mistakes and failures due to his trouble accepting that he may not always be right and that there may be something doesn't know. He does however change his mind and aid Orson Randall's daughter, a young servant girl and her female rebels assembled by Lei Kung against Xao's forces. In the end Crane Mother cut him of from her power and he gave himself up to his father for judgment accepting that he was a criminal and deserved punishment. Lei Kung instead assigned him to guard the egg that would one day hatch into the reborn Shou-Lao, deciding that Davos would likely punish himself and that it was unnecessary to punish him in another way.

The Living Weapon

Davos' redemption would not last and he soon returned to his villainous ways. He formed an alliance with The One and their army of undead cyborgs attacked K'un-Lun during the ceremony of Shou-Lao's rebirth. Davos made his way to the Cave of the Dragon and blinded Sparrow when he fought her, but Pei escaped with Shou-Lao's egg to warn Iron Fist of Davos' treachery. Davos and his soldiers tracked Pei down at a hospital in New York but he met some resistance from the Crane Sisters, who were also after the egg, and Iron Fist's allies Brenda Swanson and Detective Li, who were tasked with protecting Pei. Davos managed to capture Pei and the new hatchling, Gork, and met with the One to enact their plan to turn New York into New K'un-Lun. The One summoned representatives from the Capital Cities and New York's developers at a meeting in the Rand Building to discuss this plan but when a New York official objected, Davos threw him out of the building to his death on the One's orders.

Davos confronted Iron Fist and Sparrow when they arrived at the Rand Building but was knocked out by Danny. Davos recovered and fought Sparrow until the One used the chi he siphoned from his captives to open a portal to Diyu, but instead summoned Zhu Rong. When the enraged Zhu Rong began destroying the city as punishment for the One upsetting the balance of nature, Davos attempted to flee back to K'un-Lun through the Randall Gate, but was stopped by Sparrow, leading to another battle between his forces and K'un-Lun's captured citizens. Out of desperation, Davos snapped Gork's neck, hoping to gain the Iron Fist power for himself and rebuild K'un-Lun. However, the Iron Fist was transferred instead to the grieving Pei, who then punched Davos through a wall.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Immortality: Like his father Lei-Kung, Davos does not age and cannot die from natural causes.

Chi Absorption: Davos has the ability to absorb chi out of other beings. Using this ability, he has absorbed the Iron Fist from Danny Rand himself twice.

• Life-Force Absorption: Davos can absorb the life-force of nearby beings, including their flesh and bones.
  • Regeneration: With siphoned life-force, Davos can heal himself from near fatal wounds.

Former Powers

Davos channeling the power of the Crane Mother

• Chi Manipulation: Davos could harness his spiritual energy in a similar fashion Iron Fist does with powers given to him by the Crane Mother. These powers were later taken from him.
  • Phoenix Blow: An attack that is executed much like the Iron Fist to which the user's chi is focused into the attacking hand.
  • Enhanced Chi Absorption: After getting his chi augmented by the Crane Mother, Davos was able to remotely absorb the chi from other beings (such as the Crane Mother's daughters), killing them instantly and making him more powerful.
  • Chi Constructs: Davos was able to create constructs made from chi, such as a chi-recreation of his right hand. Davos used this ability after Tiger's Beautiful Daughter had cut off his hand.
  • Chi Infusion: Davos had the ability to infuse objects with his chi, such as a spear.

Davos with the Iron Fist

• Shou-Lao Chi Manipulation and Iron Fist Punch: For a time he stole the Iron Fist from Danny Rand. He could use his chi and focusing it into his hand, he can draw upon the superhuman energy derived from the heart of the mystic serpent Shou-Lao and make his fist inhumanly powerful and super humanly resistant to injury and pain on a superhuman scale.

Abilities

• Master Martial Artist

Weaknesses

Former Weaknesses

Power Imbalance: When he first absorbed the Iron Fist, Davos was not skilled enough to handle its power, which gradually consumed his body and eventually resulted in his death. After being trained by the spirits of former Iron Fists within the Anomaly Gem, Davos learned how to overcome this weakness and was successful in his second attempt to take the Iron Fist from Danny.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Davos with his new arm gifted by the One

Cybernetic Arm: Davos was given a prothetelic arm by the One made from the same material as the latter's technology and equipped with several abilities.

• Summoning: Davos can make his arm appear or disappear over his missing hand at will.
• Transformation: Davos can alter the appearance of his arm, allowing him to use it in a variety of ways, including: manifesting tendrils from his arm that can extend and ensnare people and objects; sharpening the fingers into razor sharp talons; and bulking itself up, greatly increasing its strength and durability.

Weapons

Former Weapons

The Serpent's Sting

Serpent's Sting: Davos once wielded a pair of gauntlets that were each equipped with a pair of retractable spikes in its knuckles and a miniature flamethrower. Despite Davos using these along with the Iron Fist that he stole from Danny Rand, they were destroyed during his duel with Danny.

See Also

• 38 appearance(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 5 minor appearance(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 19 image(s) of Davos (Earth-616)
• 2 quotation(s) by or about Davos (Earth-616)
• 2 victim(s) killed by Davos (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Davos on Marvel.com
• Davos on the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe