Description:
No matter who they face, humans, deities, or monsters, these mighty martial artists have prevailed. Will Liu Kang break the Iron Fist, or shall Danny douse the flames?

Preferred Character:

Definitely Liu Kang, never found any reason to look into Iron Fist until now. And I heard the Iron Fist show is pretty bad anyways.

Possible Song Name(s):

Fist of Fire

The art of combat has evolved significantly since the dawn of time, but even after all this time the bare essentials are good enough. Liu Kang, the champion of Mortal Kombat. And Daniel Rand, the legendary Iron Fist. And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to see who would win a death battle.

Liu Kang

Background:

In the ultimate tournament consisting of some of the most bizarre and deadly beings around, including gods, you'd probably expect the champion to be one of them. But you couldn't be more wrong. Instead, that champion is none other than the Shaolin Monk named Liu Kang. Orphaned at a young age, Kang was shown the ways of the Monks, and taught in a variety of martial arts. He was a natural, so much so that he climbed through the ranks and impressed the Thunder God Raiden. From that point on, Liu Kang's teachings were handled by the legendary Outworld warrior, Bo Rai Cho. When the time ultimately came, Kang was called into action by Raiden to represent Earthrealm in a tournament against Outworld and its champions. The winner of this tournament would determine whether the conqueror Shao Kahn would invade Earthrealm or not. With the odds heavily stacked against them, Liu Kang jump kicked into action, kicking ass and taking names for the safety of the universe.

Martial Arts:

Jun Fan

Pao Chui

Karate

Jeet Kun Do

Choy Lay Fruit

Monkey

Dragon

Weapons:

Nunchucks

Dragon Sword

He's a master of multiple martial arts, offering a variety of high offensive and greatly defensive tactics. And if he doesn't feel like getting his hands dirty, he can always just pull out a powerful sword or pair of nunchucks to keep the pressure going. He influences these styles of combat through his many special moves.

Special Moves and Abilities:

Flying Dragon Kick

Dragon Fire

Bicycle Kick

Dragon's Kick

Parry

Chin Up

X-Ray: For the Shaolin

Light and Dark Forms

Life Draining

Self Healing

He comes flying at ya with a mighty foot through the Flying Dragon Kick, can defy gravity with his signature Bicycle Kick to stay airborne while bombarding his foe with a flurry of kicks, send you skyward with the quick and nimble Dragon's Kick, counterattack any physical attacks with the parry, and piss off dentists with a mighty cartwheel uppercut called Chin Up. And with his X-Ray, he snaps his opponents bones with a flurry of punches and kicks. Best not to let your guard down for this. But his greatest trait is his ability to harness his own chi for truly devastating tactics. By controlling his own energy, he can conjure up fire for a variety of techniques. He can harden his fists with the Flame Fist variation, shoot powerful streaks of flames through dragon heads, and become a living being of fire. And through his mastery of the darkness and the light, he can influence his chi into two separate forms. The light form of Liu Kang provides a gradual self restoration ability, while the dark gradually wears down the opponent's well being. This chi also extends to Liu Kang's fatalities, incredibly powerful moves that can tear you limb from limb.

Fatalities:

Dragon Bite

Arcade Drop

Incinerate

Fire Shot

Soul Invasion

Focused Fireball

Fire Combo

Fist of Flame

Sore Throat

Splitter

He can send you in the air and kick you so hard that you split in two, transform into a mother fucking dragon and devour them on the spot, blow them up with a fireball, or just punch a hole right through their chest. Sometimes simplicity is all that's needed. Kang is also able to summon an arcade cabinet to crush you like a pancake, don't ask how. His ability to become living fire grants some form of teleportation, as he can teleport inside of you and burn you from the inside out. His ability to control chi isn't limited to just himself, by controlling the chi inside of his enemies he can create a fire ball inside of them and make it explode, nice.

Feats:

Was gifted Raiden's power

Shattered concrete with ease

Can break diamond with ease

Caught Shao Khan's Warhammer

Kept up with Raiden

Defeated Raiden, Goro, Shang Tsung, Shao Khan, and Kronika

He's shattered concrete with his raw strength alone, which is impressive considering the toughest concrete requires a force of about 5,000 psi in order to shatter it like Liu Kang can. That's more than twice the force needed to break the strongest bone in the human body, being the femur at about 1,700 psi. And by using his chi to enhance his strength, he can break even more powerful opponents. Like how Shang Tsung estimated that Kang's chi alone could shatter diamond. So when Liu Kang breaks a large chunk of diamond in the Test Your Might minigame, he can probably do that in canon. And with further enhancements, it's very likely he could even break the titanium Mortal Kombat sign with ease. That means he can hit with a force of 63,000 psi. He's beaten Goro and Kintaro, the latter of which could survive an RPG to the face without injury. He caught Shao Kahn's warhammer, and punched right through the son of a bitch. Even the mighty Scorpion couldn't keep up, and he could block and avoid bullets. But Liu Kang's greatest speed feat comes from being able to take on Raiden and hold his ground very well. This is impressive as not only does Raiden have knowledge going back as far as several thousands of years in the past, but can also travel via a lightning bolt. To keep up with such an opponent would require Liu Kang to react upwards of 220,000 MPH. And after fusing with his revenant form, while gaining the gift of Raiden's own power, he was able to defeat Kronika, the time keeper capable of stopping and reversing time. And after that fight was done with, he got to keep Raiden's power for himself so he could serve as the new god of Fire and Thunder. And since it is specifically Raiden's own power, we can directly scale him to the former Thunder God. When Raiden created an explosion that destroyed an entire army as well as the palace he was in, he outputted enough energy to match 270 tons of TNT. Breaking titanium ain't got nothing on this level of power. And as a nice bonus, he became immortal.

Extras:

The timeline of Mortal Kombat has been reset a total of 3 times by now. In the first timeline, Liu Kang was killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (later to be resurrected as a zombie), and in the second reset he was accidentally killed by Raiden. Big oops. But it's ok, he's a god now.

Weaknesses:

Must become mortal to fight with other mortals

Can be quite stubborn

Of course don't mistake immortality for invincibility. Not only must Liu Kang surrender his immortality to even fight with mortals in the first place, but even while immortal he is still susceptible to harm and major injury. Just ask Shinnok.

*shows Shinnok getting his balls crushed by Cassie and then his head getting cut off by Raiden*

But even so, most beings will have to respect the might of Earthrealm's champion.

Liu Kang: Shant Tsung! Only one fight remains. Fight me...in Mortal Kombat!

Iron Fist

Background:

Daniel Rand was the son of the billionaire family of Wendell Rand, a company responsible for advancements in aerospace technology. But little did the young boy know that his father was actually a native from a mystical land known as K'un-Lun. In fact, his father was meant to inherit the ultimate power provided by the people of this magical city. But then his father's rival killed both of his parents while they were on a trip to Tibet in an attempt to take over the company. Fortunately, given the positive relationship his father held with the city, Daniel was welcomed with open arms. Under the teachings of Yu-Ti, he became a master martial artist and possessed a peak human physique. At the age of 19, it was time for him to get the power that was meant for his father. After a long battle against a fiery serpent, he obtained his ultimate prize. Now able to summon a mystical superhuman energy, Daniel returned to America under the name "Iron Fist".

Martial Arts:

Kunlunquan

Shaolinquan

Fujian White Crane

Judo

Aikido

Wing Chun

Ninjutsu

Muay Thai

Karate

Boxing

Drunken Style

With more than ten different martial art styles under his belt, Daniel is able to take on every known situation. With a variety of punches and kicks, he can disarm opponents, knock em unconscious in an instant, or send them flying through a stone wall. Thanks to his rigorous training, he can take a hit pretty well all things considered. He's even able to deadlift upwards of 800 lbs. But by augmenting his own spirit energy, or chi, he can enhance his strength even further. But that's far from the only thing he can do with this miracle life force.

Chi Augmentation:

Iron Fist Punch

Nervous System Control

Illusions

Energy Absorption

Energy Generation

Energy Sensing

Enhanced Senses

Empathy

Self Healing

Magic Immunity

He can locate specific pressure points, break from mind control, cast illusions upon others, sense intentions, and heal himself in case of emergency. This self healing extends to being able to expel poisons entirely from his body. Another way this self healing can be harnessed is to control his bodily functions, including his nervous system. A very handy ability for it weakens toxins, slow down the rate he bleeds at, and shut off his ability to feel pain. Wouldn't that be helpful in real life. It isn't just his own energy that can be manipulated either, for he can sense the presence of others simply from the energy they emit, and absorb energy based attacks of all kinds. Whether it be nuclear, solar, or even magic, there is no energy type that the Iron Fist can't absorb. And after absorbing some energy, it can enhance his abilities even further. His most important and well known ability to manipulate chi, however, is his ability to cast energy barriers around himself and channel it all through his fist. This is the legendary Iron Fist technique, what gave him his name in the first place. His strength skyrockets, and he can even shoot out explosive energy attacks if needed. It doesn't harden his fist or anything like that, but rather provide a powerful energy field that can add to his power and disintegrate even metal when powered up enough.

Feats:

Leveled a city

Dodged multiple bullets in a microsecond

Kept pace with Spider-Man and Daredevil

Survived attacks from Radion

Tore through metal androids

Finished a fight in less than 6 heartbeats

Defeated Sabretooth, Radion, Black Panther, Colossus, and Spider-Man

When powered up by the Iron Fist, Daniel can destroy the entire SHIELD Helicarrier and annihilate a nuclear train with one punch. This train was filled with enough explosives to destroy Hiroshima, which would require a force of around 16 kilotons of TNT. And Iron Fist was at the center of this blast. His energy absorption really came in handy there. He could absorb the energy from Radion, who is the living embodiment of nuclear power who stated he possessed several megatons worth of power. And with this energy now at his fingertips, he easily annihilated the beast. Or how about the time when he channeled enough natural Chi to level an entire city? The resulting effects after the fact were compared to that of a hydrogen bomb. He's shattered metal robots, one of which could take a hit from the metal man himself, Luke Cage. Speaking of which, he held his own against the big guy and punched him through a wall hard enough to collapse the building they were in. He's quick enough to dodge and catch bullets without the use of his chi, and can dodge bullets in a microsecond. That's 1/1,000 of a millisecond. Judging the movements he made, he'd have to react at a speed of around mach 3,388. He's beaten Spider-Man, who could dodge Electro's lightning and destroy a stone slab in a microsecond. And even the mutant Sabretooth, who had already blinded him, was unable to defeat the might of Iron Fist. It only got better for Daniel when he gained the knowledge of every single Iron Fist that came before him. This ain't no normal human, not by a long shot.

Extras:

He is also able to manipulate other people's chi to kill them on the spot, like with the Black Poison Touch.

Weaknesses:

None

Whether they be normal humans or magical deities, few can match the might of Iron Fist.

Iron Fist: I earned the Iron Fist. I use it to the best of my ability, I honor that power through my actions. And no one can take that from me, not even you!

The Battle:

Alright the combatants are set and all possibilities have been taken into account. It's time for a death battle!

In the temple of the elder gods, Iron Fist walks alone through the empty halls, with the faint light of candles keeping the area lit. He soon comes into the circular room that holds the Jinsei that acts as the life force of Earthrealm itself. He finds what he is looking for, the amulet of Shinnok and picks it up. His attention is diverted away when he hears a voice echoed through the halls.

Liu Kang: You are trespassing on sacred ground, begone.

Danny does not seem bothered by the voice, instead keeping himself steady where he is at.

Iron Fist: I mean no harm, I come with a proposition.

Liu Kang: Speak your mind.

Iron Fist: Unless my sources are inaccurate, this amulet can be used to summon an evil unlike anything of this world. I must place it somewhere secure so it mustn't fall into the wrong hands.

Kang, cloaked in darkness, begins walking towards the lit circle around Iron Fist.

Liu Kang: Are you implying my protection is not good enough?

Iron Fist: Your people have failed to keep it locked up before, it is a simple precaution. Nothing more.

Liu Kang: You have the guts to lecture me about my ways, and yet you don't even realize who I am. Let's make a deal, if you can defeat me, the amulet is yours. But if I win, you will return where you came from.

Iron Fist: Fine with me.

Liu Kang: Then let us begin!

Kang leaps through the air with his Flying Dragon Kick, as Iron Fist avoids it by sensing his chi. Liu Kang lands on his two feet and rushes to Danny.

FIGHT

Their fists clash as Liu Kang goes on the offensive to try and overwhelm the Iron Fist. Despite his best efforts, Rand is still able to keep the upper hand as he foresees every possible attack that Liu Kang can think of before he can even act. A straight jab with the palm of his hand is enough to send Liu Kang sliding back. The champion of Earthrealm takes his stance as Danny walks slowly around him on the ready. Kang approaches quickly and leaps into the air to come down with a mighty punch. A predictable attack like this cannot get the Iron Fist so easily, but it was not Kang's only plan. Upon making contact with the ground, Liu Kang flips himself over onto his two feet and ignites his hands in fire. Danny is caught off guard by this sight and is unable to block all of Kang's enhanced strikes. As Liu Kang gets a few hits in the head and stomach, he finishes it off with a backwards kick that sends Danny upwards. Kang leaps off the ground and punches him into the ceiling with full force. The ceiling cracks as Iron Fist falls to the ground. Kang uses another Flying Dragon Kick right in Danny's torso to send him to the other side of the room. The champion of Earthrealm comes flying in with a flaming bicycle kick that Iron Fist blocks and interrupts with a well timed strike to Liu Kang's legs. Kang's fist ignites in fire as Danny starts to use the Iron Fist. The collision of their strike creates a powerful shockwave that sends the dust around them flying in separate directions. Kang's hand hurts a bit, staggering him long enough for Danny to emerge from the dust and lay the beatdown with his fabled Iron Fist technique. With a circular kick, Danny kicks Liu Kang's jaw and causes him to cough up blood. Upon landing, Liu Kang wipes the blood off of his jaw and rolls out of the way as Danny comes down. Kang gets back up as they continue to clash with their punches and kicks. Now that both warriors are going, it starts to become more intense as they've seen the strongest they naturally can be. The Earthrealm champion avoids an enhanced roundhouse kick from Iron Fist by flipping backwards. After stopping, Kang spins his arms and hands around in front of him and unleashes a large flaming dragon head. Danny charges into it at full force and shields himself from the energy beast as to let him go through. But Kang manages to stay one step ahead as he leaps over the native of K'un-Lun and pulls out a pair of nunchucks. The fast and frantic motion of the weapon may not hurt Iron Fist too badly, but they do keep him on the defensive for each hit with them leaves him open for another strike. Danny's fist glows as he waves it in a downward motion and forces Kang back with the energy he emits. The Iron Fist unleashes an explosive ball of energy that forces Kang to keep his distance. The two fire a barrage of fire and energy that explodes with each collision. They charge up one last explosive ball that fills the room with smoke as they each collide. Kang tries to take advantage of the situation by getting Danny when he can't see, but it is meaningless as Danny can sense his energy and forces Liu Kang into the energy produced by the Jinsei with a perfectly time jab. As Liu Kang is trapped within the energy of the Jinsei, he cannot escape as the energy flows through into him in a painful manner. Iron Fist looks in confusion as Liu Kang screams in agony. But this is not the end for the Shaolin Monk, for his eyes start to glow a fiery red and he releases a shock wave of energy to push dust into Danny's eyes to blind him momentarily. When he opens them again, he is blasted with a large streak of flames that bursts through the concrete walls of the temple. Iron Fist tumbles down the building and slips down due to the rain. He craters into the stone ground below with a loud crash. His mask, and the torso part of his outfit has been burnt off as smoke comes off of Danny. His face is covered in blood as a major injury occurred on his forehead. He slowly gets back up as Liu Kang's flaming body walks up to him.

Liu Kang: As I suspected, you have no idea who or what I am.

Iron Fist stands tall and proud, with not a bit of fear in his eyes. He approaches only to be overwhelmed and punched down to the ground, becoming more damaged than he already is. As Iron Fist crawls up onto his knees and slowly gets back up.

Liu Kang: I am no mere mortal, I am a champion, the keeper of time and space, and the god of Fire and Thunder. You cannot possibly compare, so stand down!

But Danny does not take Kang's warning, he keeps standing up to finish it.

Iron Fist: I...will never give up. This power of mine, I had to go through hell just to get it. And I shall not disgrace my ancestors by wielding it just to turn tail and run!

As Iron Fist speaks his heart out, he progressively heals himself and becomes reenergized.

Iron Fist: You'll have to kill me to beat me, so give me your full power!

Liu Kang: Just so you know, you've brought this upon yourself.

The Earthrealmer transforms into a mighty dragon, and lunges forward with a mouth full of fire. Danny's fists are engulfed in a yellow energy and holds his hands up. The energy surrounding him protects him from the intensity of the heat, while his natural strength holds the dragon's mouth open and prevents it from chomping down. Iron Fist firmly grasps the teeth of the dragon as he absorbs its chi. It begins to weaken and is left vulnerable enough for Iron Fist to just toss the serpent aside. Liu Kang transforms back into his human-like state and holds his head as it aches. He leaps into the air as a massive fireball forms around his hand, while Iron Fist's hand glows with power. With one last uppercut, a beam of light explodes into the sky and parts the clouds. Kang is engulfed as he vanishes without a trace. The storm has cleared with the clouds, and Iron Fist looks down upon the amulet he has won. He takes a bow in respect to the fighter he had just defeated.

K.O.

Iron Fist walks away from the battlefield as the sun shines down upon the damp ground.

Reasoning:

And that makes 3 deaths, he's out. Both Liu Kang and Iron Fist were very talented and powerful warriors in their own right, but Danny simply outclassed Kang on almost every front. As far as abilities go, they both had means of ranged combat, multiple martial arts, and ways of self healing. But Iron Fist not only had better versions of these abilities, but he also had a few that Liu Kang didn't quite have. Things like his ability to generate shields, sense the presence of others, and his energy absorption. That last one in particular really had Liu Kang stumped as it limited his options significantly. This was only scratching the surface to what Iron Fist could do with his large assortment of powers. But none of this would matter if Liu Kang could outmatch Daniel on a statistical level, so let's look into those stats. Liu Kang may have been able to react to Raiden's lightning speeds, but that's actually significantly slower than Iron Fist. Danny could react and move within a microsecond. In other words, he could react within .0000001 seconds and thus react to objects moving upwards of mach 3,288. The travel speed of lightning clocks in at a max of around mach 285. So Liu Kang was over 11 times slower in comparison. And with Iron Fist's ability to end fights against multiple opponents within 6 seconds, Kang didn't really have the means of keeping up. Of course power was another major factor going into this fight, so which was more powerful, the power of Raiden or the Iron Fist? Well, Raiden was able to generate the power equivalent to 270 tons of TNT. That's enough to destroy a whole city block. Meanwhile, Iron Fist's Armageddon strike resulted in the destruction of the entire city around him. The results themselves were directly compared to a Hydrogen Bomb, which the very first one ever detonated came at around 10 megatons of TNT. A hell of a lot more than Raiden's puny 270 tons.

Raiden's Blast: 270 tons of TNT

The Iron Fist: 10,000,000 tons of TNT

And even if Liu Kang got a lucky hit, it wouldn't have done much. Danny's energy absorption and natural durability was good enough to withstand being at the epicenter of a blast that would've destroyed Hiroshima. And the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima in WWII hit with a force of around 16,000 tons of TNT. All of this means that even if we directly scale Liu Kang's durability to his own power he didn't stand a chance. And with better chi control, this Earthrealm champion did not have the proper means of taking victory on a consistent basis. Man, who knew that the Iron Fist was so freaking buff? I guess he really lives up to his name. It was a well fought match, and Liu Kang's skill alone could certainly put up a good fight. But against Danny's speed, versatility, knowledge, and overwhelming power of the Iron Fist put this fight to an end. It was quite the flawless victory for the Iron Fist.

The winner is Iron Fist.

*IMPORTANT NOTES

While the Earthrealm gods are supposedly unkillable, this is a very inconsistent claim. Some do seem to be, like Shinnok, but others are not. Like when Cetrion killed all of the Elder Gods in MK11. The best we can compare Fire God Liu Kang to is Raiden himself, who has consistently been put on the brink of death through normal physical attacks.

Liu Kang and Iron Fist had relatively similar striking strength, both being able to destroy metal without enhancements, but once the upgrades came in Kang was completely outclassed.

Iron Fist could completely shut down most of Liu Kang's special attacks as they are fueled by chi. And since Iron Fist could absorb energy, he could easily tank all of Liu Kang's fiery wrath and then some to further fuel his own power while Liu Kang did not possess any such equivalent ability.

While it is certainly possible that Raiden could be more powerful than just 270 tons of tnt, assuming his power overcomes characters like Sindel, Iron Fist with his iron fist power could damage people like Luke Cage, who survived a small nuclear blast, and could tank hits from characters like the Thing and the Hulk with minimal damage. The Hulk speaks for himself, and the Thing could match Grey Hulk's strength, who could destroy an asteroid twice the size of Earth itself.

Liu Kang's light and dark forms were of little help, as he couldn't survive a single strike from the full power of the Iron Fist and Danny's chi control/self healing could cancel out the slow health drain.

Just because Liu Kang became a god, doesn't mean he is a universal being in the slightest. In Mortal Kombat, the Elder Gods are shown to possess at least planet level capabilities, if Cetrion is anything to go off of. However, this does not apply to restricted gods like Raiden, whose power Liu Kang obtained to become a god in the first place.

If Raiden truly was as powerful as the Elder Gods, then he wouldn't have needed the help and power of them to truly defeat Shao Kahn once and for all.

Even if Liu Kang's spirit remained if his whole body was destroyed, it's certainly possible that Iron Fist could dispel him with his chi control and energy absorption.

Iron Fist literally had to kill a dragon to get his power, so Liu Kang's dragon transformation ain't winning any rewards.

Even though Liu Kang and Iron Fist are seemingly equals when it comes to experience and training, Danny obtained the knowledge of all of his ancestors. This gave him a major leg up in the experience department. And with more martial arts on his side, he had more options when push comes to shove.*