Origin
A unique Iron Fist, Bei Bang-Wen born in 1827 utilized the chi of Shou-Lao the Undying not only in physical but mental ways. He was able to create what he called the Perfect Strategy Mind, which was a mental state that allowed him to consider a vast number of factors and devise the perfect solution.
Leaving K’un-Lun, he involved himself in the events that would be known as the Second Opium War, siding with the Chinese against the British and French armies. He used his Perfect Strategy Mind to come up with a plan for the battle at the Taku Forts in 1860. He believed it was flawless, but he also believed it would be his final battle. He was prepared for that as it would be the perfect death. However, things did not happen as he planned. His forces were all killed, and he was captured alive.
Creation
Bei Bang-Wen was created by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction and first appeared in The Immortal Iron Fist issue 3 (2007).
Major Story Arcs
Prisinor
Bei Bang-Wen was taken to a prison in India where he was brutalized and forced to work as slave labor. He protested none of this, feeling he deserved all of it and worse for his failure at the Taku Forts. Even if he wanted to fight back, he felt cut off from the chi of Shou-Lao. He had no power. In prison, he met another man with a very similiar story. Vivatma Visvajit was also a warrior whose power came from a mystical source, from the god Shiva, and he too felt cut off. He failed to protect his emperor and was sent here much like Bei Bang-Wen failed and came to this place. Together, they resolved to orchestrate a massive prison break and go help Vivatma’s exiled emperor. It not only gave Bei a purpose but the means to find his perfect death again.
Burma
The two warriros traveled to Burma and found the place the exiled emperor was supposed to be imprisoned. This was not the case. The entire story was a trap to lure the two holy warriors to this place, set by a woman creature called Tiger Jani. She wanted to consume their special life-forces. Realizing his emperor was dead, something released in Vivatma’s mind. It was a feeling of closure that let him get over his feelings of shame for failing his emperor. WIth that, his power unlocked. Bei joined in the fight, but received a mortal wound from Tiger Jani. Vivatma finished her off and used his power in combination with Shou-Lao’s chi inside of Bei to heal him. Bei had also let go of his guilt and shame of failing and found his power reawakened.
Before leaving Vivatma, Bei used his Perfect Strategy Mind to devise a way Vivatma could help his people by becoming the new emperor and giving the people something to hope for. Bei then left, journeying all the way back to K’un-Lun. He relinguished his role as the Iron Fist and returned the chi of Shou-Lao to its source so the Iron Fist cycle could begin anew. He then went on to live a full, academic life in the mystical city, marrying and having thirteen sons. But his legend and the book of the Iron Fist says that Iron Fist Bei Bang-Wen died in the mud of the Taku Forts and lived from 1827 to 1860.
In Other Media
Bei Bang-Wen is an unlockable costume for Iron Fist in the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.