Iron Fist #15
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIron Fist #15 is the final issue of Danny Rand's original solo series and a genuine convergence point for two of Marvel's most important Bronze Age franchises. It marks the first appearance of John Bushmaster — the Caribbean crime boss who would become a recurring tormentor of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage, and who later headlined the second season of Marvel's Netflix Luke Cage series — while simultaneously featuring one of the earliest crossover appearances of the post-Giant-Size X-Men roster in any title outside their own book. Most historically, it served as a deliberate tryout session in which Chris Claremont let John Byrne draw the full new X-Men lineup for the first time, a creative audition that directly led to one of the defining writer-artist partnerships in Marvel history. The issue also preserves a brief but continuity-significant moment: Wolverine appears wearing the stolen Fang costume from X-Men #107, one of only three issues in which he wore it, tying the story precisely into the X-Men's then-unfolding space-saga continuity.
In "Enter, the X-Men," Iron Fist finds himself unexpectedly pitted against the entire X-Men team after a chaotic clash at Misty Knight’s apartment. With the Steel Serpent having drained his chi, Danny is vulnerable—until a mysterious young mutant arrives and escalates the fight into a full-scale brawl. Chris Claremont’s sharp storytelling and John Byrne’s dynamic art bring the confrontation to life, while Dave Cockrum’s cover captures the moment the X-Men enter the fray.
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By the time Iron Fist #15 went to press in mid-1977, the series had already been cancelled; Claremont and Byrne — who had built the entire solo run together — were being pulled toward the relaunched Uncanny X-Men, which Marvel was converting to a monthly schedule. According to Claremont himself, Iron Fist #15 was conceived as a trial run to see whether Byrne could handle the post-Cockrum X-Men cast before officially taking over that book, and as Claremont put it, 'as it turns out, of course — he could.' Dave Cockrum, the outgoing X-Men penciller, contributed cover art and reportedly retouched the X-Men faces on the interior pages, giving the issue an unusual two-penciller dynamic; the Grand Comics Database credits Byrne on story pages and Cockrum specifically on X-Men face work. Editor Archie Goodwin shepherded the issue, and in a charming behind-the-scenes touch, Claremont, Byrne, and Cockrum each appear in background cameos at the apartment party that closes the story.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Final issue of Iron Fist vol. 1 (November 1975 – September 1977), a 15-issue run entirely written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by John Byrne.
- First appearance of John Bushmaster (John McIver), the Caribbean crime boss created by Claremont and Byrne, who later served as the central villain of Marvel's Netflix Luke Cage Season 2.
- Features one of the earliest crossover appearances of the new X-Men — Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Banshee, Phoenix (Jean Grey), and Cyclops — in a Marvel title outside their own series.
- Historically documented as the first time John Byrne drew a Chris Claremont story featuring the X-Men, functioning explicitly as a tryout for Byrne's subsequent run on Uncanny X-Men.
- Wolverine appears wearing the stolen Fang (Shi'ar Imperial Guard) costume from X-Men #107 — one of only three issues in which he wore it — placing the story's in-continuity action between X-Men #108 and #109.
- Cover art by Dave Cockrum; Cockrum also reportedly redrew or finished the X-Men characters' faces on interior pages, while Byrne pencilled the main story.
- Claremont, Byrne, and Cockrum all appear in background cameos at the apartment party scene that closes the issue.
- Exists in a scarce 35-cent price variant (alongside the standard 30-cent edition), part of Marvel's limited regional price-test program run between June and October 1977 in select U.S. markets including Memphis, Toledo, Tuscaloosa, and Wilmington.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Titans #28 (1980), Essential Iron Fist #1 (2004), Marvel Gold. La Imposible Patrulla-X #1 (2011), Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist #2 (2012), Iron Fist Epic Collection #1 (2015), X-Men Epic Collection #5 (2017), Marvel Universe by John Byrne Omnibus #2 (2018), X-Men: Children of the Atom #[6] (2019), Iron Fist: Danny Rand - The Early Years Omnibus #[nn] (2024)
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