Iron Fist Vs. Connor Hawke [Fantasy Battle Tournament]
Stepping into the ring today is the son of Green Arrow versus the immortal weapon of K’un L’un. The fans have been polled. Their votes have been recorded. Let the battle begin.
Connor Hawke Vs Iron Fist
…
Darkness. All he can see and feel is darkness. Invading his mind and breaking his peace. How did the darkness gain entry? Years of training in the ashram has taught him how to expel darkness and reach a state of inner harmony. Why can’t he get rid of this sense of dread and foreboding? It’s as if the darkness is alive. Connor settles back into his old training techniques and starts to relax. He seems to be dressed, not that he can see his clothes. He also feels a quiver strapped to his back. Kneeling down and feeling the ground, Connor is extremely happy but surprised when he feels his bow. Raising the weapon, Connor contemplates his next move.
Suddenly, a strange and unfamiliar voice speaks in his head. “Defeat your enemy and you live. Lose, and you die. Refuse to fight and I’ll kill you both.”
“And who might that enemy be?” asks Connor in a quiet whisper. “I have a long list of people who want me dead. No one who can control darkness, but I’ll be more than happy to add you to the list. Come out and fight and we’ll see.”
His only response is a laugh and a sudden burst of light. Instinctively, Connor grabs an arrow, pulls and launches it in the direction of the light. Then he drops to the ground and rolls to his left, pulling another arrow. Using his highly trained hearing, Connor begins to listen for movement as his vision slowly begins to clear. The sight that greets him almost makes his jaw drop. He appears to be in the middle of a Kung Fu movie set. There are huge mountains all around him with monasteries sprouting from various peaks. Cherry trees in full blossom are swaying back and forth in the light breeze. Their beautiful sweet smelling pink leaves float through the air. For a second, Connor loses himself in the beauty of his surroundings.
“For a being of evil, you certainly know how to paint a pretty picture” thinks Connor to himself. “What do you do for an encore, a squad of monks practicing martial arts?”
When he receives no response from the mystery voice, Connor decides to explore the landscape. As he’s looking around, he notices that there is nobody around. No people, no animals, not even an insect. Not a single sound can be heard. Connor carefully makes his way through the cherry tree grove and into a clearing. About a dozen stone statues of dragons surround the clearing. Sitting on one of the statues is what appears to be a man in a white suit. A yellow mask covers his head and eyes. Maybe this is his enemy? He doesn’t appear dangerous. He doesn’t even seem to be moving.
Not wanting to kill an innocent man, but being careful at the same time of a potential threat, Connor replaces the arrow he is drawing with one that has a blunt head. Then, after taking careful aim, Connor releases the shaft. The arrow flies true towards the sitting figure. Connor thinks that the battle is over and he is immensely surprised when the figure, at the last possible moment, shifts slightly to the left, causing the arrow to harmlessly fly right past him.
“Not nice, young man.” says the strange figure, jumping down from the stone statue and assuming a fighting stance. “Did I rush out and attack you when you were daydreaming in the center of the grove? No. I was polite enough to let you enjoy the peace.”
“I thank you for that.” says Connor. “But if you’re the one who is causing this strangeness to occur, then you will have to excuse me for not following the proper protocols of battle.”
“Fair enough, but I am not the one doing this.” replies Iron Fist. “I assumed you were. In any case, since you seem to be the only living thing around here, then you are probably my enemy. Sorry I have to defeat you.”
“No worries.” chuckles Connor, reaching for an arrow. “You can eat your apologies along with the dirt that you will soon be laying in.”
“Confidence, I like that. I assume that toy will be the weapon with which you hope to beat me? My friend Hawkeye would be quite upset with me if I let that happen.” muses Iron Fist.
“I could care less. Enough of this banter, let’s get on with it!” yells Connor and starts launching arrows.
With lightning like speed, Iron Fist begins moving. Arrows flying towards him are deflected or simply avoided with uncanny ability. Connor unloads most of his arsenal but is, for the most part, ineffectual. He does manage to cut a few small gashes on Iron Fist, blood slowly seeping from the wounds. When the dust settles, Iron Fist attacks. Before Connor knows what’s happening, Iron Fist closes the distance between them and begins raining blows in Connor’s direction. Connor manages to block some with his own martial arts and manages to deflect a few with his bow. Still, Connor knows he is completely outmatched. With no other options, Connor starts to back away and prepares to unleash some of his trick arrows. Iron Fist, however, refuses to let that happen. Channeling his chi, he forms the Iron Fist and throws the devastating blow towards Connor who desperately raises his bow to block the unknown attack. Iron Fist easily smashes through the bow, shattering it into pieces, and connects with Connor’s chest, knocking him into the dirt. A swift kick to the head ends the battle.
Beathing heavily, tired from the energy used to form the Iron Fist, Danny cries into the sky. “My enemy has fallen! I have done as you asked. Now return the people of K’un L’un. Face me like a true warrior.”
The only answer he receives is a laugh and darkness.
The Winner: Iron Fist
With a landslide of 84% of the votes, Iron Fist is the winner and moves on to round two. Is that who you would have picked? Make your opinion heard. Please comment on this article. Don’t forget to keep voting for the next battles…
15 Comments
Could it have been any other way?
Definitely not. Marvel needs to bring back the Immortal Iron Fist series.
Iron Fist made that look too easy.
Thanks guys. This really wasn’t any competition for Iron Fist. He can take out Hawkeye without a problem and Hawkeye would slap Connor around like a toddler fresh out of diapers. Glad the fans were with me on this one.
Clearly the author of this article has never read CONNOR HAWKE: DRAGON’S BLOOD, where Connor is bathed in the blood of a dragon, becoming an immortal, nor has he read the GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY series where Connor’s DNA is subsequently spliced with a bit of Plastic Man, which gives him a sort of invulnerability mixed with instantaneous healing capabilities.
You’re all right, this fight’s outcome should be a no brainer… Connor Hawke would win outright. An immortal with instaneous healing and a measure of invulnerability leading to the same imunity to pain and injury that Iron Fist has to concentrate to pull off and require a recovery time to do over and over without any such concentration or recovery time? C’mon… not even Wolverine is that badass.
Sure this story and its outcome would work six years ago, but this isn’t a retro battle. Its the two at their physical peaks, their best, their most powerful! And this is quite simply not how it is presented. Nevermind the fact that Connor didn’t use the bow anymore, by the end of said GA/BC story.
Basically: This story = character knowledge fail.
Thanks for the comment Johnny. You’re 100% right. I never read either of those things and am not an expert on all things DC. Apparently, neither are the majority of the fans who voted on this poll. Iron Fist won by a landslide. As for Connor’s powers, with the DC-Nu, those are probably no longer there. In any case, being immortal doesn’t mean that you won’t get your ass handed to you in a fight against a better trained opponent. Being immune to pain doesn’t make you a better fighter. Iron Fist doesn’t have to concentrate on being immune to pain or injury if he never gets hit. So I just went with the classic characters and what they were able to do. This was a simple fight of skill. And in a fight of skill, Iron Fist’s martial arts beats Connor’s, bow or no bow. I might have failed on character knowledge, but so did the voters. So basically, the story = what the fans wanted.
True enough, I suppose. Connor was one of those characters that basically got thrown away in the late pre-reboot DCU due to a severe lack of popularit, and DC’s attempt to make Green Arrow and Speedy unique (by removing the other bowmen’s usage thereof, being Red Arrow and Connor). I wouldn’t be surprised if he flat out doesn’t exist in the DCnU at all. Now wouldn’t that be a damned shame.
I feel you Johnny. It sucks when one of your favorites gets changed or removed or altered in a way you don’t agree with. I hope he is in the DCnU and gets the exposure he deserves. Keep the comments coming.
I’ve been reading Green Arrow, and I honestly don’t think he’s going to show up at all. I would love him to, he’s one of my all time favorite DC characters, but I’m not going to fool myself with hope either. Hell, I highly doubt Mia exists anymore, either, and she was GA’s sidekick! I think its just Ollie and Roy now. Hell, Dinah probably isn’t even a part of Team Arrow, anymore. I wonder if Ollie and her have even met, yet, as far as the DCnU is concerned. Not really a fan of the relaunch, can you tell? Still, as long as the stories are written, I’ll keep coming to them. Like a sheep to the slaughter, I’m a glutton for punishment.
I’m the same way when it comes to my mutant titles. Even when terrible artists are given the reigns and make the book unreadable, I still keep picking it up. That’s what a true fan is, I guess. I hope they don’t ruin your devotion like one of our reviewers who was a die hard Green Arrow fan until the reboot happened.
I just realized that that isn’t a picture of Danny Rand you used. That’s Orson Randall, Danny’s predecessor as Iron Fist. You can tell by the shoulder holsters and the fact that the dragon is black on the costume. On Danny’s costume the dragon is yellow.
Nice catch Richie. I need to yell at my higher ups who added the pics. I just wrote the story. We’ll definitely change it in the next round’s battle. (Voting to be posted soon for Round 2)
I’m can’t believe it took me that long to realize it. I’m looking forward to seeing what the round 2 match ups have in store for us.
I promise you some fun. Plus…..brackets. And a possible secret final villain. See if you can guess who the enigma behind the darkness is.
I’ve been waiting for a bracket. Please put Cap and Batman on opposite sides since I really want them in the final (I loved the fight between them in Avengers/JLA #2). You’ve mentioned the final villain before, and I have some hunches but the only guys I can think of would be way too powerful for any of these guys to fight.