Marvel Premiere #23
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMarvel Premiere #23 marks the double debut of two characters who would become fixtures of Marvel's street-level corner of the Bronze Age: Warhawk (Mitchell Tanner), a Vietnam veteran whose mind never left the war, and Lieutenant Rafael Scarfe, the NYPD cop who would go on to serve as long-running foil and ally across the Power Man and Iron Fist years and later Daredevil stories. Just as importantly, the issue is the creative handoff that changed Iron Fist's trajectory entirely — it is the first chapter written by Chris Claremont, who replaced a revolving door of writers and immediately injected the character-driven emotional texture and grounded urban storytelling that would carry the book into its own solo title. Warhawk's portrayal as a super-powered soldier shattered by PTSD was unusually empathetic and psychologically specific for a 1975 Marvel villain, reflecting the broader cultural reckoning with the Vietnam War that shaped much of Bronze Age popular fiction.
In "The Name Is...Warhawk," a tense standoff unfolds in a quiet park when a sniper targets innocent bystanders, drawing in the enigmatic mercenary Warhawk—haunted by memories of Vietnam—and the martial arts master Iron Fist, who must rescue Colleen before the situation spirals. Written by Chris Claremont and brought to life by Pat Broderick’s dynamic art, this 1975 Marvel Premiere issue blends psychological tension with high-stakes action, all under Gil Kane’s striking cover.
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Prior to issue #23, Iron Fist had cycled through four different writers across eight Marvel Premiere issues, each treating the book primarily as a showcase for martial-arts action with little attention to character continuity. Editor Len Wein handed the assignment to the relatively young Chris Claremont — who described the title as having 'gone through as many writers as they had issues' before it 'fell into his lap' — in the same month Claremont began his history-defining run on Uncanny X-Men. Claremont was paired with penciler Pat Broderick, who collaborated with inker Bob McLeod on the interior art, while the cover was handled by Gil Kane and McLeod; Claremont's success on these Marvel Premiere issues directly convinced Marvel to greenlight a standalone Iron Fist series, which launched just three months later.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Warhawk (Mitchell Tanner): a Vietnam veteran transformed into a near-invulnerable assassin through a process linked to the same Weapon program that empowered Luke Cage, debuting as the issue's primary antagonist.
- First appearance of Lieutenant Rafael Scarfe: an NYPD officer and former Vietnam veteran who is established as the ex-partner of Misty Knight, a role he carried through decades of Power Man and Iron Fist, Daredevil, and related street-level Marvel comics.
- Chris Claremont's debut as writer on the Iron Fist feature, beginning with this issue (#23) — his first regular comics writing assignment — in the same month he took over Uncanny X-Men.
- Interior art by penciler Pat Broderick and inker Bob McLeod; cover art by Gil Kane with inking by Bob McLeod and lettering by Gaspar Saladino; edited by Len Wein.
- The story's title is 'The Gentleman's Name Is Warhawk! / The Name of the Game Is Death!' — a two-part structure within a single issue set across Manhattan's Central Park and the New York Harbor waterfront.
- The issue contains a Marvel Value Stamp #27 (The Black Widow), a detail relevant to collectors who track stamp completeness.
- The issue has been reprinted in: Essential Iron Fist Vol. 1 (2004), Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist Vol. 1 (2011), Iron Fist Epic Collection: The Fury of Iron Fist (2015), and the Iron Fist: Danny Rand – The Early Years Omnibus (2023).
- Rafael Scarfe was adapted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Netflix series Luke Cage (2016), where the character — portrayed by Frank Whaley — is depicted as Misty Knight's NYPD partner, drawing directly on his comic-book origin in this issue.
Cast · 8 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #2 (1975)
Reprinted in Essential Iron Fist #1 (2004), Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist #1 (2011), Iron Fist Epic Collection #1 (2015), Iron Fist : L'intégrale #1974-1975 (2017), Iron Fist: Danny Rand - The Early Years Omnibus #[nn] (2024), Kung-Fu #37, Mästaren på karate #8/1975
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