Steel Serpent


Steel Serpent is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Iron Fist.
Sacha Dhawan portrays Steel Serpent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Iron Fist.

Publication history

The first, otherwise unnamed, Steel Serpent appeared in The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #10, his only appearance, and was created by Jenny Blake Isabella and Frank McLaughlin.
The second Steel Serpent, Davos, debuted in Iron Fist #1 and was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.

Fictional character biography

Davos is a native of K'un-Lun and the son of Lei Kung. A gifted student of his father, Davos was one of two candidates who earned the right to challenge for the power of the Iron Fist but was defeated by Wendell Rand, the adopted son of K'un-Lun's ruler Lord Tuan. Davos accused Tuan of unfairly favoring his son and left the city without permission to confront the dragon Shou-Lao. Failing to defeat the dragon, he returned to K'un-Lun in disgrace and was exiled to Earth.
Twenty years later, Wendell's son Daniel succeeds in winning the Iron Fist power and soon afterwards returns to Earth. Davos tracks Iron Fist to New York and steals his power. Since he had not earned it fairly, the Iron Fist's power consumes Davos's body and returns to Danny.
Davos's spirit travels to a realm accessible from the Anomaly Gem. After reassembling the fragments of the gem, he manages to restore his body. Davos successfully takes Iron Fist's power, then returns to K'un-Lun and overthrows Yu-Ti. With Lei Kung's help, Danny defeats Davos without his powers, thereby proving himself worthy of it once again. Davos escapes, but is left crippled for misusing Iron Fist's power.

''The Immortal Iron Fist''

Davos is granted power by the Crane Mother, promising to locate and destroy the renegade Iron Fist Orson Randall in return. His power is further enhanced after he consumes the life forces of the Crane Mother's daughters. Davos allies with Hydra against Iron Fist in a plot to build a tunnel through the K'un-L'un mountains. Davos locates Randall in an opium den in Bangkok, Thailand and reports to the Crane Mother, who sends two of her daughters to investigate. When Davos attacks Randall, Randall allows him to kill him, claiming that he will no longer have to run.
Now known as the Steel Phoenix, Davos takes part in the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities. Early in the tournament, he battles Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, who cuts off his left hand. Enraged, Davos forms a new hand by concentrating his chi, then nearly beats his opponent to death. The next day, the Prince of Orphans challenges Davos to a fight instead of his scheduled opponent, Fat Cobra. Davos accepts, only to be swiftly defeated by the Prince.
Davos takes part in the rebellion of K'un-Lun after his father forces him to recognize the potential treachery of his allies by asking him to consider the possibility that there might another angle that he had not anticipated rather than constantly assuming that he was always right. He helped overthrow the Yu-Ti Nu-An and began a process of redeeming himself in the eyes of his peers. His father, Lei Kung the Thunderer, who has taken over leadership of K'un-L'un, charged him with guarding a dragon egg, from which Shou-Lao shall be reborn for the next Iron Fist to fight.

''Iron Fist: The Living Weapon''

Davos' redemption does not last. He forms an alliance with the One, an android who had absorbed the memories of Wendell Rand, to take over K'un-Lun. The two lead their army of cybernetic ninjas to sack K'un-Lun. While the One kills Lei-Kung, Davos attempts to take Shou-Lao's egg, blinding his adopted sister Sparrow in the process, but a young monk named Pei flees with the egg to New York City to search for Rand.
Davos and his soldiers track Pei down and with his new powers, he captures Pei and the hatchling, Gork. He then meets with the One at the Rand Building to turn New York into New K'un-Lun. Iron Fist and Sparrow confront Davos at the Rand Building, with Sparrow staying behind to fight her brother while Iron Fist takes on the One. Using the siphoned chi of K'un-Lun's citizens, the One attempts to open a portal to the afterlife to summon Wendell's deceased wife Heather, but instead summons the Xian fire god Zhu Rong, who attacks the city for the One's actions in upsetting the universal order.
Realizing all is lost, Davos attempt to flee back to K'un-Lun, but is stopped by Sparrow and the other freed citizens. In the ensuing fight, Davos kills Gork to gain the Iron Fist for himself. Instead, Pei receives the power and swiftly defeats Davos while Iron Fist absorbs the One's chi to vanquish Zhu Rong.

Powers and abilities

The Steel Serpent is a master of the martial arts of K'un-Lun, including those practiced millennia ago. His skills rival those of Iron Fist, and he has defeated him several times in combat, though usually with the element of surprise on his side. He is very strong, fast, agile, and tough with lightning quick reflexes and reactions. He has proved capable of draining the power of the Iron Fist from its wielder by pressing his serpentine tattoo against the wielder's dragon tattoo. On at least one occasion he retained some fragment of Shou-Lao's power after the previous holder of the Iron Fist had reclaimed his power. At his full power he has weathered assaults from Spider-Man.
Davos has used his chi-absorbing abilities to absorb the life-force of other beings, including their flesh blood, allowing him to heal his body from near fatal wounds.
Davos also utilized the fiery energies of the Serpent's Sting, though that may be a function of the taloned gloves he wore at the time.
Davos was granted the power of the Crane Mother, giving him similar chi-augmenting abilities as the Iron Fist. Since taking on the nom de guerre of the Steel Phoenix, Davos has been able to perform the Steel Phoenix Blow. The first time he executed this move, he created a replacement hand from chi after his original hand was just severed.
After the Crane Mother cut him off from her power, Davos was gifted a cybernetic arm by the One. Made from the same technology as the One, Davos' arm is equipped with several attributes, including being able to manifest itself at will and altering its appearance.

In other media

  • Davos / Steel Serpent appears in Iron Fist, portrayed by Sacha Dhawan, while his younger self is portrayed by Shiv Pai.
  • Steel Serpent appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Sacha Dhawan.