Orson Randall
Orson Randall is a male comic character that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Orson Randall was a male human who was born in the early part of the 20th century to a couple where his father Phineas Randall created wondrous inventions. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #9) Whilst aboard their transglobal airship, their craft managed to crash into the mystical city of K'un-Lun during that time it manifested on Earth one day in every ten years. The elder Randall had survived along with his eight-month pregnant wife where he demanded the people that came to check on the crash to help save her. Several weeks later, their son was born who they named Orson Randall with him being accepted as a native-born son of K'un-Lun. Whilst there, he was taught by the ruling Yu-Ti and trained by Lei Kung the Thunderer. On his sixteenth birthday, he undertook the trial to fight the Serpent King snake. A year later he fought against Shou-Lao the Undying where he defeated the beast and gained the power of the Iron Fist. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4) He became the Iron Fist in the year 1915. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #1) Shu-Hu was to be his next test with the Yu-Ti telling the warrior to fall and allow Orson to pass the trial with the One refusing leading to his eventual exile from K'un-Lun. (Iron Fist v5 #5) This led to him joining the ranks of the Immortal Weapons that included the champions of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #5) Orson then departed the city and into the wider world which was where he learnt of death by the score. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4) On June 23rd, 1916 who participated in World War I where he fought at Fort Souville in France against the Germans. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #2) Around 1917, Randall had joined a band of heroes known as the Freedom's Five that consisted of Sir Steel, the Phantom Eagle, Crimson Cavalier and Union Jack. They were set for a mission to strike at the castle of Ursula Frankenstein to stop her from unleashing her monsters. However, the mission was scrapped after a new threat came to London which came under assault from the Martians. (All-New Invaders v1 #12) He was then summoned to return back to K'un-Lun but this point he felt more of an outsider in his former home. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4) After the war, he was noted to had gotten a woman pregnant where she gave birth to his daughter though Orson was not aware of the existence of the child. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #9)
The experience traumatised him with Orson staying in Paris, France by 1926 where he had since taken up drugs and female companionship at brothels. He was approached by a writer who held him as a hero and wanted to write of his exploits but the angry Randall beat the man stating he did not want his life to used as a way of selling books. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #3) In 1928, he was called by an old friend from the war named George Sims who asked for Orson's help to find his missing daughter who disappeared in Hollywood, California. (Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Death Queen of California v1 #1)
Due to his years on Earth, conflict dissatisfied Orson who refused to participate in the Tournament of Heaven. This came during a time when the Capital Cities of Heaven converged and where the traditional fights between the Immortal Weapons was set to occur. A meeting was called among the Grand Council of Heaven's Seven Cities where the Yu-Ti informed his kin that the Iron Fist refused to participate. However, Crane Mother and the other members on the council refused to allow such a breach in tradition and dispatched the Immortal Weapons to force Randall to take part in the tournament. During the night, the Immortal Weapons ambushed him and sought to capture him where he fell into a panic and killed the champion of K'un-Zi. Lei Kung later found Orson and understood the chain of events and allowed him to escape where the Thunderer informed the Yu-Ti that he had died. Before departing K'un-Lun, he took with him the Book of the Iron Fist that contained the legacy of fighters in the hope that its loss would prevent another Immortal Weapon from coming from K'un-Lun thus breaking the cycle of tournaments. However, he proved to be wrong but he ultimately fled with the tome to New York in America in order to hide from any pursuers and was aware that Crane Mother sought vengeance against him. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #5) He was last seen in the year 1933. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #1) In the aftermath, he wandered the world and was noted to had become an alcoholic with him being married at one point with an ex-wife. Many years ago, he was in Nepal where he was drunk and involved in a wager against a Lightning Lord of Nepal to find a poisoned chalice among three drinks. It as during this time that a young white slave boy by the name of Wendell noticed which was the poisoned chalice and warned Orson. For his actions in helping a stranger, Randall offered to buy the boy food and felt the need to reward the child. He freed the boy who accompanied him and told him the stories of K'un-Lun as well as taught him martial arts. The boy took the name Wendell Rand and became obsessed with finding K'un-Lun and becoming the Iron Fist despite the warnings of Orson with him eventually leaving his adoptive father. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #6)
He was hiding in Bangkok in Thailand where he was using drugs in an apartment when he was tracked by two Crane Daughters that were dispatched by Steel Serpent. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #1) This led to Orson travelling to America where he passed through checkpoints but was taken by agents of Davos though he defeated them before he escaped into the city. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #2) He continued to hide from the agents from Wai-Go Industries that were working for Davos but traded his rag clothing for a suit that he bought from a person before going to the Rand Corporation. Randall then was present at the office of the company head Danny Rand where he sought to introduce himself but Rand attacked him thinking he was an enemy that had been stealing the power of the Iron Fist from him. The fight was only stopped when Orson revealed that he knew Danny's father Wendell and had had him everything he had known. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #3) He took Danny to an underground station that Orson's father had built long ago which served Randall as a base of operations in New York but they were ambushed by Hydra agents that worked with Davos. In the fight, the underground station was destroyed but not before Orson managed to recover the Book of the Iron Fist that contained the entire legacy of their line in order to give to Danny Rand. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #5) Whilst fleeing, they ended up confronted in a building holding Davos, several Crane Daughters and a number of Hydra soldiers. Danny and Orson managed to battle through their foes until Davos entered into the field and empowered himself with the Chi from the Crane Daughters. This made him strong enough to send a powerful struck that devastated the room and the Steel Serpent made the killing blow against Randall. Danny Rand managed to reach him with the dying former Iron Fist gifting his last remaining Chi to his successor. This allowed Danny Rand to defeat fight Davos to a stalemate with the Steel Serpent fleeing and giving the Iron Fist the power he needed to fight in the coming tournament. In the aftermath, Orson's deceased body remained and was taken for burial. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #6)
Randall was relegated to Hell where he went through unspeakable torture at the hands of demons. During Mephisto's takeover of Las Vegas, he formed his Hotel Inferno as he claimed the denizens of the city. For entertainment, the demons formed a ring match where they offered tortured denizens a chance for a renewed life if they won a set number of matches. Among those that were offered this deal was Orson Randall who was offered a return to life if he won 24 matches in 24 hours. He encountered Danny Rand and Fat Cobra during this time as the pair had come to the demon occupied Las Vegas. To make the match interest, the demon D'Kay had Randall's next competitor being Miranda Rand-Kai who was Danny's half-sister and was offered a similar chance at resurrection if she defeated Randall. (Iron Fist v1 #79) The fight was stopped by Daniel Rand who told Orson that Miranda was his sister causing Randall to stop from inflicting the killing blow. Danny then revealed that he made a deal with the demons where himself, Orson, Miranda, Fat Cobra and his mother would stand against 12 of the remaining fighters in exchange for heir freedom. This led to powerful demons being unleashed with Orson managing to hold his own but him weakening from his wounds. He ultimately decided to sacrifice himself to kill the last three demons stating that he had lived a full life with his final gift being re-uniting Danny and his sister. This left Danny holding Orson in his arms as he died a second time and was sent back to Hell. (Iron Fist v1 #80)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Randall was traumatised by the events of his past with him thinking back to World War I and all the death he had encountered. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #2)
Orson considered Lei Kung a friend who had taught him everything he knew in life. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4)
His father was an inventor named Phineas Randall who built wondrous creations. Orson had also fathered a daughter with a native of K'un-Lun but was not aware of the existence of his child. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #9) He had taught Wendell Rand practically everything he knew that included how to make his first kick. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #3)
A close friend of his was Ernest Erskine who kept a biography of Orson's entire life. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #9)
Powers and abilities
He was fluent in Chinese and perfectly able to understand the language. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #2)
One non-combat based skill that he had learnt was the Hypnotic Fist Technique. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4) With hand movements, he could instil hypnotic suggestions in others allowing him to evade security checkpoints. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #2)
It was known that through unknown means he was able to extend the life of others. However, once he died, the technique disappeared and whatever power was used to maintain them similarly vanished. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #9)
In America, he still had access to many old sites that once belonged to his own father and were marked for him. Among these included the Five Points Station that was the crown jewel of his fathers empire of hypothetical science. (Immortal Iron Fist v1 #4)
Notes
- Orson Randall was created by Ed Brubaker and David Aja where he made his first appearance in Immortal Iron Fist v1 #1 (January, 2007).
Appearances
- Immortal Iron Fist v1:
- Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Death Queen of California v1:
- Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death v1:
- All-New Invaders v1:
- Iron Fist:
External Links
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