Iron Fist runs the MCU Gauntlet:

Now that Iron Fist is out, time to see how he can compare against some of the MCU's other top fighters. How far will he make it?

MCU versions of all

All fights take place in the streets of New York City. Time is twilight.

Starting distance is 20 feet

All are in character. Victory by ko

Stage 1:

For this stage of the gauntlet, Danny cannot use the Iron Fist

Round 1: Elektra Natchios

Round 2: Daisy Johnson (depowered, no gear)

Round 3: Frank Castle (with 2 knives)

Round 4: Melinda May (unarmed)

Round 5: Daredevil (with suit and sticks)

Round 6: Bobbi Morse (with batons)

Stage 2:

For this stage, Danny can use the Iron Fist

Round 7: Black Widow (with all gear she's ever used)

Round 8: Crossbones

Round 9: Winter Soldier (no gear)

Round 10: Captain America (no shield)

Round 11: Captain America (with shield)

How far can he make it?

Assuming he's fighting for keeps and is fully recharged/rested between rounds, he stops at 11.

But he'd probably beat Cap if he's in total focus/zen mode like he was in episode 6, his combat speed is too fast and he can one shot.

WTF is he really that good ?

He can oneshot everybody here if he's serious to be honest, and his skill is pretty impressive in my opinion. He only seems to achieve his true potential at one point and he casually blocks the attacks (one handed) from one of the Hand's best warriors without looking. If he's in that state he'd beat Cap in my opinion, otherwise I think Cap might beat him with the shield for a majority.

@rogueshadow: I think Nat with every piece of gear she's ever used could be a problem.

He loses to Melinda or Daredevil without using the Iron Fist

Actually yeah, good point. At 20 feet she might be more dangerous than unarmed Bucky to be honest. Depends on how serious Danny/Natasha are.

Just watched Iron Fist and am totally underwhelmed. He's not even beating Daredevil, let alone Cap.

I figured 20 feet was close enough that her ranged gear wouldn't be enough to make her more dangerous than Bucky, but idk

He clears. Like RogueShadow said, episode 6 when he is serious and at peace he was literally using 1 hand against a master and Gao feared him multiple times through the first season.

Do you think the fights in the second stage are harder than those fights?

He's not always at those levels though

Totally underwhelmed? He's got some solid feats

@thesuperor:

Danny clears. DD had trouble with Nobu (a member of the hand), while Danny beat Bakuto (the leader of the hand) without even using his chi. Captain America will be tough, but I haven't seen Danny lose yet. I don't expect him to start now.

@arcus1: I think he loses to BW in the second stage

@arcus1: @rogueshadow: Stage 1 wouldn't be a problem. On the show, Danny defeats two Immortal weapons, Dog Brother and Bride of the Nine Spiders, Davos--the Steel Serpent, and one of the immortal leaders of the Hand, Bakuto, without using the Iron Fist. They are all supposed to be Nobu level threats or higher, whether or not they are shown that way. Non-metahuman opponents with weapons are no match for Danny without using the Iron Fist.

Stage 2 is going to present a number of problems for Danny with the Iron fist.

Round 7: Black Widow (with all gear she's ever used)--Danny has trouble with guns. Harold Beachum shoots him through his non-iron fist and he scrambles for cover against individuals with less training with firearms than Black Widow. If Black Widow is armed with her dual 9mm handguns, she'll probably incapacitate him at 20 feet with ease. Without the handguns, Danny will win against the rest of her gear.

Round 8: Crossbones -- Danny's too fast and his Iron fist is too powerful for Crossbones.

Round 9: Winter Soldier (no gear) -- In my opinion, Winter Soldier will win at least 6 out of 10 times. In the MCU, WS has a version of the Super-soldier serum in his veins, which makes him arguably faster than Danny with Chi, and his mech arm is stronger than Captain America's normal arm. Danny's Iron Fist can either KO WS or destroy WS's mech arm. If he wastes his chi, destroying WS's mech arm, he'll be diminished for the rest of the fight against a one armed supersoldier. A normal human, no matter how skilled, isn't strong/fast enough to KO a supersoldier without the Iron Fist. WS will sacrifice his Mech arm and then KO Danny.

Round 10: Captain America (no shield)--Danny will win at least 6/10 times because Cap has no way of blocking Danny's Iron Fist.

Round 11: Captain America (with shield)--Cap will win at least 6/10 times, because Danny will need to waste his Iron Fist to disarm him of his shield, which leaves a normal man against a supersoldier.

Meachum fight was pure PIS, I can't take that shit seriously.

Either you didn't watch the full show or you missed a lot.

For anyone questioning his speed, here he is dodging a bullet after it's been fired that would've hit him right between the eyes. He's the fastest person in this gauntlet by a really good margin. Also his Iron Fist punch is basically a plot device, it can be used to shatter almost any weapon and can even be an AoE attack. Nothing is stopping him from closing this distance and one shotting basically everyone in this gauntlet. All the Stage 2 fights are gunna be a challenge, but I'm thinking he clears.

Definitely makes it to Bucky, not sure if he beats him just yet.

Gauntlet is out of order, he should make it to a shieldless Cap

Without Chi he's down at Matt.

With it he could make it to Cap or Clear. Also he's not a bullet timer he got shot by Meachum in his hand

@arcus1: true but then again he's a rookie Iron Fist and he was conflicted, based on hand to hand alone he's more impressive than she is imo

This.

Stops at 9, 10 or 11.

He is definitely not passing 11.

I agree with this. I'm not sure yet how he'll deal with someone with those physicals.

How would you order it?

@arcus1:

I'd go

1. Frank

2. Elektra

3. Daisy

And for the bonus, I'd switch Crossbones and Natasha

Danny's agility was bananas:

I wasn't sure on Daisy and Frank, but I gave Frank weapons while Daisy's unarmed. As for Elektra, Frank could actually put up a solid fight against DD multiple times, while Elektra simply wasn't on his level

I could see switching Widow and Crossbones...

@arcus1: Yeah, Frank and Daisy's placements are fair all things considered.

Although, Frank's fights with Matt are PIS, honestly. Matt should've fodderized Frank each time they fought, I think the only reason he didn't is Frank's resilience is just as great as Matt's.

Elektra I think would be a better fight, Frank would tank hits but Elektra would avoid them.

I don't think so, I think Matt just got a lot better between early and late S2. By the end of S2 he beat a bloodlusted Frank pretty easily.

In that fight at the end of S2 he didn't really beat Frank, more evaded him and knocked him around enough to get him to listen. But it takes way more than that to put Frank down. He's a skilled enough hand to hand fighter, but his sheer strength and pain tolerance make him even more dangerous

Matt didn't want to fight him and yet was still getting the better of him. There was a clear disparity at that point in my opinion. I agree though, Frank's sheer bullishness can lead him to victory against people he has no business beating on paper.

Yeah, my point was, in some of their earlier fights he had that kind of advantage at first, and Frank was able to just tank it until he got an opening

Ok cool. It's my understanding that that's pretty similar to his comic counterpart

If he's in Zen Mode. He could probably beat Bucky.

He'd stomp him if he was, but that isn't standard at all. He was only able to reach that state through purging his Danny Rand identity, and he ended up choosing the girl/Rand anyway.

He should win he is a casual bullet timer, he busted a whole room and was clowning guys that were at least Nobu level without looking. He clears, he is too fast for Cap and can one shot.

@arcus1: Clears round 1 easily, anybody who thinks ANYONE from AOS can touch Danny is out of there mind. Stage Two, Danny could lose to Widow, would take a majority of Crossbones, Loses to bucky and shieldless cap, gets beaten badly by shield cap.

Stage 1: stops at Daredevil

Stage 2: It is possible that BW could defeat him because of her gear but, assuming he beat her, Iron Fist stops at Winter Soldier.

Stops at Cap or clears.

Any reasons?

Stage 1: I think he can clear this, but Matt would give him a lot of trouble.

Stage 2: I honestly think Natasha shoots him down at Round 7, Danny is really bad against guns. He struggled against Harold Meachum with a gun, and in general only got close through stealth against any gunmen. Natasha should logically be a better shot than them, with faster reflexes.

@firestormfate1919:

Danny is really bad against guns. He struggled against Harold Meachum with a gun, and in general only got close through stealth against any gunmen. Natasha should logically be a better shot than them, with faster reflexes.

No he isn't. He handled the DEA Agents pretty easily (despite all of them being armed) and the Hand Agents sent to cut off Harlod's fingers (actively dodging a bullet in that fight). Harold Meachum had no training beyond some boxing, and yet he is far more sucessful against Danny than teams of officers and gunmen? It's PIS and should be treated as such.

@bflynn316 said:

@wallywest042 said:

Just watched Iron Fist and am totally underwhelmed. He's not even beating Daredevil, let alone Cap.

Either you didn't watch the full show or you missed a lot.

For anyone questioning his speed, here he is dodging a bullet after it's been fired that would've hit him right between the eyes. He's the fastest person in this gauntlet by a really good margin. Also his Iron Fist punch is basically a plot device, it can be used to shatter almost any weapon and can even be an AoE attack. Nothing is stopping him from closing this distance and one shotting basically everyone in this gauntlet. All the Stage 2 fights are gunna be a challenge, but I'm thinking he clears.

DD has dodged bullets too.

Admittedly I didn't watch the full show. I'm on ep 7 right now. But his skills are totally unimpressive. Elektra has better showings against fodder. IF is supposed to be Marvel's best fighter. This show didn't do him justice at all. He's no good without chi.

How's he beating Cap? You think his chi fist can break his shield?

@arcus1:

I am not overly impressed by Iron Fist's skill. Other than Bakuto he really only fought nameless ninjas from the hand. If this in the comics, then it might have been quite impressive.... but from what I have seen of the MCU hand (IIRC Claire temple managing to push one or two ninjas out of a hospital window during Daredevil series and Claire, after what I assume would be a few weeks of training with Colleen - the same Colleen that nearly lost in the caged fights -, managed to block a few attacks form hand ninjas) they simply are not that impressive.

Danny does have a few good feats of speed. He managed to avoid getting shot once and he can seemingly enhance his reflexes to the point of having his opponent appear to be slow. Unfortunately, his abilities IMO are inconsistent. While he managed to dodge a bullet once, in his final fight he was shot in the hand, by Harold, who as far as I know has had no experience or training in using firearms. He has yet to repeat his feat of enhancing his reflexes, and IMO it would not be right to assume that he is capable of using that ability whenever he wants. This leads me to believe that Black Widow could possibly defeat Danny, seeing as how she is most probably a better marksman than Harold.

IMO daredevil beats Danny because of his experience, having already fought kingpin, nobu, punisher, and probably as many hand ninjas as danny has. The suit and sticks daredevil that uses would be too much for Danny, when is not able to focus his chi.

Danny could lose to Black Widow. Her agility could force Danny to miss and waste his chi, ( IIRC Danny has only ever been able to summon iron fist twice in one fight, before he depletes his chi ) before she uses a gun and shoots him in the eye. Winter Soldier's speed and strength is consistently better than Danny's. It is possible that the iron fist would be able to break the cybernetic arm, but doing so means potentially using all his chi, which wold only leave him vulnerable to Winters Soldier's other, still enhanced, arm. I do not see how Danny could beat Winter Soldier.

Danny stops at Bobbi or Crossbones, probably.

The three ninjas he fought in the tournament (some of the Hand's best, which would imply they're at least Nobu level) have names, though off the top of my head idk what they are. The drunken master guy also had a name. Maybe others, I'd need to review it to see who all had a name and who didn't. Even if some of the people didn't have names persay, the fact that they were chosen for special assignments, and apparently, in some cases, are killed if they fail, suggests they're better than some random fodder

And even just fighting fodder can result in some good feats

One hand ninja one-shotted a couple security guards in roughly a second. Claire got lucky when she managed to push one out a window (surprising him as he was coming in the window), she promptly got put down iirc

Colleen won those fights, and she's proven herself as a fighter thus far

I haven't seen the Harold fight yet

He makes it up to 5 on stage 1

11 on stage 2. I doubt he can beat cap

Just watched ep 8. He took too long to beat the drunk guard. Without chi, his skills are really not impressive. How is he better than Elektra so far? Elektra fought multiple Hand ninjas in an open space. Danny fought street thugs, a maximum of four at a time in the corridor.

That wasn't just some drunk guard that was Zhou Chen and he was doing Drunken Boxing and which is why he was drinking. It makes the moves even more unpredictable. And he was the gate guard, you really think Madame Gao would have someone who couldn't fight guard her?

Elektra had trouble with Yakuza thugs and was physically exhausted after fighting a few Hand ninja. Danny fought didn't fight street thugs he fought triad which is the Chinese equivalent to the Yakuza. He fought multiple in a confined space surrounded without getting touched. They all attacking at the same time and he was blocking all of their strikes and dishing out his own. Danny beat the Hand's top warriors in succession while poisoned and unarmed. The last warrior he fought beat a room full of men before some of them could even get up, although it happened off screen we see the aftermath. Elektra had trouble with basic hand ninja and was barely any help against Nobu. How the hell is he not more impressive than Elektra? Lol.

@wallywest042 said:

@bflynn316 said:

@wallywest042 said:

Just watched Iron Fist and am totally underwhelmed. He's not even beating Daredevil, let alone Cap.

Either you didn't watch the full show or you missed a lot.

For anyone questioning his speed, here he is dodging a bullet after it's been fired that would've hit him right between the eyes. He's the fastest person in this gauntlet by a really good margin. Also his Iron Fist punch is basically a plot device, it can be used to shatter almost any weapon and can even be an AoE attack. Nothing is stopping him from closing this distance and one shotting basically everyone in this gauntlet. All the Stage 2 fights are gunna be a challenge, but I'm thinking he clears.

DD has dodged bullets too.

Admittedly I didn't watch the full show. I'm on ep 7 right now. But his skills are totally unimpressive. Elektra has better showings against fodder. IF is supposed to be Marvel's best fighter. This show didn't do him justice at all. He's no good without chi.

How's he beating Cap? You think his chi fist can break his shield?

DD has NOT dodged bullets after they've been fired. Plus, much as I love Matt, he had to run from two guys with assault rifles in S1. Danny takes on like 5-6 of them easily. Trying to say Matt is as fast as Danny is just false.

And how does Elektra have better showings than Danny? He is by far the most powerful of the Netflix characters.

And no I don't think he's breaking Cap's shield. But he doesn't need to to beat him. Still I could conceive Danny stopping in the last round.