Shou-Lao

Shou-Lao (alternatively spelled Shao-Lao) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Appearing primarily in association with Iron Fist, he is the source of power for him and other holders of the name.

Shou-Lao first appeared in Marvel Premiere #16 (July 1974) and was created by Len Wein, Roy Thomas, and Larry Hama.

Shou-Lao is an immortal Chinese dragon who became the source of power in K'un-L'un.

In 1,000,000 BC, as punishment for training three outsiders, Fan Fei was chained and forced to watch as the cavemen are fed to Shou-Lou by Lei Kung. After breaking out with the hope that she will die fighting Shou-Lou, Fei punched Shou-Lou on the scar on his chest and gained his powers, becoming the first Iron Fist in the process.^[1] The immortal Shao-Lao would reincarnate himself, beginning the longstanding tradition undergone by challengers to claim the Iron Fist mantle by slaying Shou-Lao in combat. When Shou-Lao was defeated by Quan Yaozu, his scales were used by Quan to create the Book of the Iron Fist.^[2][3]

During a performance of the dragon riders of K'un-Lun for the entertainment of Yu-Ti, Shou-Lao went berserk and attacked the city's leader. He was killed by Quan-St'ar, who cut out the dragon's heart. Enraged at this, Yu-Ti banished Quan-St'ar from the city and revived Shou-Lao by melting his heart and placing it in a sacred cavern. Following this, claimants of the Iron Fist mantle had to both defeat Shou-Lao in combat and plunge their fists into his molten heart to gain his power.^[4][5]

When Danny Rand is training to become Iron Fist, he defeats Shou-Lao by striking his scar, burning the dragon-shaped tattoo on his chest. After defeating Shou-Lao, Danny plunges his hands into the brazier containing Shou-Lao's heart, charging him with the power of Iron Fist.^[6]

Following the Tournament of Heaven, Davos is tasked by Lei-Kung with guarding Shou-Lao's reborn egg.^[7] Davos is later informed of the C'hi-Lin, a demon who hunted down every Iron Fist on their 33rd birthday to gain access to Shou-Lao's egg to consume it, but had repeatedly failed to do so. After the C'hi-Lin is defeated by Danny, Shou-Lao successfully hatches.^[8]

During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, the X-Men battle the Avengers in K'un-L'un. Hope Summers and Lei Kung arrive on the back of Shou-Lao, who blasts the Phoenix Force-empowered Cyclops. Hope unleashes a combination of dragon energy, fire, and chaos magic to banish Cyclops to the Moon.^[9]

When Shou-Lao is nearing death, Lei-Kung and the K'un-Luans host a ceremony to prepare for his passing and rebirth, but the One and his army, with help from a turncoat Davos, attack the ceremony, resulting in the deaths of many including Shou-Lao and Lei-Kung. Davos attempts to steal Shao-Lao's reborn egg, but is prevented by Pei, who steals the egg and flees with it to New York City to seek out Danny.^[10][11] Shou-Lao's egg hatches under Pei's care, who promptly names the young hatchling Gork, but the two are captured by Daovs, who uses them along with other captive K'un-Luans to power the One's portal to the afterlife.^[12] When the One's actions incurs the wrath of the fire god Zhu Rong, Davos kills Gork to gain the Iron Fist for himself but its powers are transferred to Pei, who defeats Davos and resurrects Gork, along with Shou-Lao's other deceased incarnations.^[13]

Pei keeps Gork as a pet,^[14] while Danny has the previous incarnation of Shou-Lao confined within his penthouse.^[15] Shou-Lao and Danny return to K'un-Lun to stop Chonsin and forces from invading the city, with Shou-Lao devouring Choshin.^[16]

When the dragons of the Heavenly Cities, including Shou-Lao's previous incarnations, are being hunted down by the Hierophant for their power, Gork accompanies Danny, Pei, Luke Cage and the Immortal Weapons in saving the dragons. With their ally Okoye, who had also been empowered by dragon chi, locked in combat against the dragon empowered Hierophant and his forces, Pei reluctantly allows Okoye to slay Gork to obtain his power as well while Danny transfers his Iron Fist to her, giving Okoye enough power to defeat the Hierophant and revive the dragons he slain. The goddess Quan Yin creates a new egg from Gork's body and when Okoye refuses Danny's request to succeed him as the new Iron Fist, she transfers it to Shou-Lao's egg.^[17]

When the gravely injured Lin Lie washes ashore to K'un-Lun, a fully grown Shou-Lao unexpectedly hatches from his egg and bestows Lie with his chi, saving his life and making him the new Iron Fist.^[18] Despite receiving Shou-Lao's blessing, Lie is dismissed as an illegitimate Iron Fist by several K'un-Luans for not undergoing the trial of defeating Shou-Lao for the mantle. Lie's impostor syndrome is further deepened when he fails to summon the Iron Fist, which he blames on the broken shards of his destroyed Sword of Fu Xi that are embedded in his hands and have left him with chronic pain.^[19] However, Shou-Lao appears in Lie's mind and reveals that his own-self doubt rather than his personal failures and handicap was holding him back, giving Lie the confidence to summon both the Iron Fist and the Sword of Fu Xi together successfully.^[20]

During the A.X.E.: Judgment Day event, Lie is forced by the Progenitor to fight Shao-Lao to officially earn his title as Iron Fist. With Loki's help, Lie defeats Shou-Lao, but instead of killing him Lie asks Shou-Lao to willingly give him his power. Pleased with this, the Progenitor brands Lie's right arm with Shou-Lao's dragon mark, officially making him an Iron Fist.^[21]

As a dragon, Shou-Lao possesses superhuman physical abilities and the ability to fly and breathe fire. Additionally, he does not age and possesses resistance to disease and the ability to camouflage himself.

• Shou-Lao appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Mark Hamill via Nightmare.^[22] This version lacks wings.
• Shou-Lao makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in a flashback in the Iron Fist episode "Dragon Plays with Fire". Finn Jones, who portrays Iron Fist, stated that Shou-Lao could not be shown onscreen due to budgetary constraints and would appear in future seasons, though this never came to pass.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} Additionally, The Defenders reveals that the bones of Shou-Lao's species contain a substance with resurrective properties, which is used by the Hand.

Shou-Lao appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.^[28]