Origin
Davos was the first son of Lei Kung the Thunderer, a fearsome martial artist and trainer of the Iron Fist legacy from the city of K’un-Lun. In order to live up to his father’s legacy he trained hard and knew that one day he would become one of the most powerful Martial Artists to leave K’un-Lun with the power of Iron Fist. However, there was one obstacle he had to overcome. He had to defeat the other person in line for the Iron Fist name: Wendell Rand-K’ai, son of Yu-Ti, August Personage in Jade and ruler of K’un Lun. Davos proved unsuccessful in this attempt and was soundly beaten by Wendell. He refused to give up despite this beating but eventually Yu-Ti announced Wendell the winner which infuriated Davos and accused him of being biased towards his own son. Lei Kung told his son to stay silent and sent him away. However, Davos’ pride and anger got the better of him and he went to challenge the dragon Shou-Lao in his cavern and gain the power of Iron Fist despite his loss. Shou-Lao scarred Davos over his left eye but Davos knew the secret to defeating the Dragon: To block the power of its heart with his body. However, the pain was too much and Davos soon succumbed to the Dragon’s power. Lei Kung then found his son defeated in the snow and took him back to the city.
Creation
Steel Serpent was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and first appeared in Iron Fist Volume 1 issue 1 (1975).
Major Story Arcs
On Earth
After Davos was defeated, Yu-ti exiled him to Earth, stating that he could never return to K’un-Lun. Despite this, Wendell did not challenge Shao-Lao and also went to Earth. Tuan eventually died and Wendell’s brother took his place and had a son named Daniel who would take the power of Iron Fist. It was here that Davos plotted to eventually kill Daniel and take the power of Iron Fist for himself.
Davos attempted many times over the years to kill Daniel by absorbing the power of Shou-Lao. He was eventually successful in his attempts and to take all the power of the Iron Fist but he could not control it and was killed when Daniel restored his own power. When Davos died he was absorbed into the Anomaly Gem where he met the spirits of dead Iron Fists and furthered his Martial Arts from their teachings. Whilst in the Gem he met with the Elder of the Universe known as the Contemplator who tricked Daniel into gathering all the pieces of the Anomaly Gem and thereby releasing Davos from his imprisonment. His plan was successful and when released Davos once again absorbed Iron Fist’s power and finally crossed the threshold to K’un Lun again and declaring himself its new ruler. However, Daniel with the power of his friends managed to fight against Davos and once again restore his power. Davos was forced to leave K’un Lun once again. Most recently, Davos has formed an alliance with a new enemy to kill Daniel Rand and Orson Wendell, the previous Iron Fist. He was successful in killing Orson, however, Daniel defeated him again and before he could deal him the killing blow, Lei Kung and The August Personage in Jade appeared telling him that they could only fight in the tournament ordained by K’un-Lun. Then both Davos and Iron Fist disappeared in a flash of light.
The Tournament
Prior to and during the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities he became known as Crane Mother‘s Immortal Weapon. He was briefly known as Steel Phoenix and had his chest tattoo altered accordingly. He unwittingly aided Xao in his attempt to destroy K’un L’un with a projectile bullet train. Afterwards he joined the other six Immortal Weapons in stopping Xao and his splinter- Hydra group.
He was later given asylum the task of protecting the Egg of Shao Lao the Undying by his father, the new Yu-ti. It seems that Steel Serpent has finally learned the error of his ways and become a loyal citizen to K’un L’un.
Other Media
TV
Iron Fist (2017)
In Marvel/Netflix’ Iron Fist Davos is the friend of Danny Rand. He is often mentioned by Danny, because they often got up to trouble together. Davos is portrayed by Sacha Dhawan.