Iron Fist / Daniel Rand-K'ai made his debut in "Marvel Feature"#15-May 1974 (which lasted through issue #25), and was created by the fantastic team of Roy Thomas (writer) & Gil Kane (artist). Iron Fist gained his own title after that, which lasted for 15 issues (Nov. 1975-Sept 1977), with the great team of Chris Claremont (writer) & John Byrne (artist) at the helm.
Daniel's father Wendell had discovered the lost, mystical city of K'un L'un, as a boy. He ended up saving Tuen (the city's ruler) and was adopted as his son. After Wendell had grown up, he returned to America (to NYC), became very wealthy, met and married Heather Duncan, and had a son named Daniel. When Daniel was 9, he traveled with his parents and his father's business partner, Harold Meachum, to seek out the lost city of K'un L'un once again. During the journey, Daniel slipped from the mountain path, dragging his parents along with him (since they were tied together by rope). Meachum (who was in love with Heather) caused Wendell to fall to his death. He offered to save Heather and Daniel (which Heather refused), so Harold abandoned them there to die. They were able to climb back up, but Heather died soon after, protecting Daniel from savage wolves. Archers from K'un L'un were not able to save Heather, but they took Daniel back to their lost city. The current ruler,Yu-Ti took him in and sent him to be raised and trained in the martial arts by Lei Kung (The Thunderer). Daniel became his best student.
Daniel attained the power of the 'Iron Fist' (concentrated 'chi' power) by defeating and destroying the dragon "Shou-Lao"; plunging his fist into the dragon's molten heart. He also gained a dragon tattoo on his chest, by contact with the dragon's scar. 10 years later, he returned to New York to seek his revenge on Harold Meachum, whose legs had been amputated, because of frostbite, during the time he had abandoned the Rands. Daniel chose to have pity on him and left, but Harold was soon killed by a mystery ninja. Daniel was accused of the crime, but he was cleared. After that time, he became the superhero "Iron Fist".
Iron Fist has teamed with many of the classic Marvel superheroes over the years (including Shang-Chi), but one of his most prominent teamings was with Luke Cage / Power Man. They first joined forces in "Power Man"#48-50. By issue #50, the title of the magazine changed to "Power Man and Iron Fist" (*see the top image above), which lasted for a time.
Iron Fist has made appearances on several animated TV shows including---"The Super Hero Squad Show"; "Ultimate Spider-Man"; & "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes".
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Shang-Chi (Master of Kung Fu) was created by the great team of Steve Englehart (writer) & Jim Starlin (artist) and made his debut in "Special Marvel Edition"#15 (Dec. 1973). He was a Kung Fu master in the classic sense. He had no super-powers, but had extraordinary martial arts skills of nearly every kind (including 'Wushu') and was disciplined to fighting perfection. His name meant 'rising of the spirit'.
Shang-Chi was the son of classic literary villain Fu Manchu (!!!!) He was born in China's Hunan Province. He was trained in multiple martial arts by his father and others. After Shang-Chi had grown, his father sent him on a mission to kill one of his enemies, Dr. Petrie. During that mission, he met a police inspector, Sir Denis Nayland- Smith (Fu Manchu's chief adversary), who convinced him that his father was evil. Soon after, Shang-Chi became a secret agent, working with Nayland-Smith to battle with Fu Manchu and other assassins. He gained a close ally in 'Black Jack' Tarr. He eventually quit MI-6 and became a free-lance adventurer.
Shi-Chi would meet and team-up with many other characters of the 'Marvel Universe' including, but not limited to---Iron Fist; White Tiger; Jack of Hearts; Spider-Man; Man-Thing; The Thing; Black Widow; & Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (to name a few). Both he and Iron Fist were members of the group "Heroes For Hire".
After his father Fu Manchu died, Shang-Chi temporarily quit being an adventurer, but eventually returned to his heroic duties, liasons, and lifestyle. He has made appearances in many "Marvel Comics" series', but has never really had his own title. To date, Shang-Chi hasn't had any TV or Movie appearances (although I don't know why).
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With these two characters, Iron Fist & Shang-Chi, Marvel has made their own special contribution to the "Kung Fu" genre!!!
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