Kraven says:
"Sorry Colt Python, no scans, but: In DD vol.1 #178 written by Frank Miller, DD and Iron Fist first meet. DD and Iron Fist fight and both are so good they are able to avoid all of the others' kicks and punches. Niether lands a blow. In DD vol.2 #83 written by Ed Brubaker, Iron Fist has been posing as DD but Murdock doesn't know it's him. The two fight and are neck and neck. Murdock gains the upperhand and Rand strikes with the iron fist punch. Murdock evades it and then realizes the fake DD is Danny Rand and Rand realizes he is facing the real Daredevil. Two of the most acclaimed writers in comics both wrote that Daredevil is at least as good as Iron Fist. People who say otherwise should read some comics rather than making claims that aren't based on anything."
Not assuming that your statement was directed at me, but this is good for debate anyway.
When I judge someone's ability as a fighter I look at two things really. How skilled they are and also whether they can win the fight or not. You can be the more skilled fighter and still lose the fight for various reasons. Perhaps your opponent has enhanced durability that allows them to absorb your attacks. Maybe they are quicker than you are or maybe they can generate more power than you can.
Looking at Daredevil and Iron Fist, even if their fighting skill was equal, IF has all of those abilities I mentioned over Daredevil. Because of his powers, IF can heal himself far more rapidly than a normal human, his stamina is greater, he can reach the quickness of a peak level human and he can generate enough power to punch a whole through steel plate. Holding their fighting skills even, IF is still the more effective fighter because of his powers.
But let’s look into their fighting skills. Daredevil is an expert at several contemporary martial arts as well as boxing, ninjutsu, gymnastics and acrobatics that he blends into his own style. That should make him very difficult to match up against. Anyone fighting him would not be able to rely on the fact that they know everything there is to know about wing chun so they know what his next attack will be based on his last attack and the positions they now find themselves in and whatever…
That doesn’t separate Daredevil though, because besides being an expert in several contemporary styles Iron Fist is the master of all of K’un L’un’s (a mystical city set apart from our world) martial arts. So his style is at least as hard to get a read on as well. Both trained since childhood and both are very experienced.
So a case can be made that Daredevil is near Iron Fist in skill level, but not in actual fighting effectiveness because now we get to how we judge people in actual battles outside of comic books.
It’s not enough to say that they stalemated in this comic or that comic. As you can see, both comics you mentioned were Daredevil comics where the writer was undoubtedly building his character up. So they have him take on an acknowledged master and say that Daredevil stalemated him. Look at their abilities and decide whether that should have happened or not. Look at what I first said in this post in describing Iron Fist’s abilities.
Their level of ability is definitely debatable, I personally would lean towards Iron Fist being the more skilled and we could go through years of comics to determine the truth. But I don’t think it’s much of a debate as to who the more effective fighter is and who would win in a fight between the two.
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