DHASHA KHAN

Real Name: Dhasha Khan

Identity/Class: Unrevealed. Humanoid, possible demon or human magic user

Occupation: Would-be World conqueror

Group Membership: Leader of a group of warriors

Affiliations: agent of the N'Garai; Silver Dragon (former pawn); The Khou-Hun-Shih-Che (Niu T'ou the Black and Ma-Mien the White Ox) (servants)

Enemies: Bowman/Lancelot, Iron Fist, Jade/Firebird, Lord Tuan and the residents of Feng-Tu

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: General of the Damned and Warlord of Hell's Foulest Pit

Base of Operations: currently unknown; formerly Feng-Tu

First Appearance: Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#19 (December, 1975)

Powers: Dhasha Khan is a master warrior, trained in the martial arts. He is a skilled swordsman and hand-to-hand combatant. It is unknown if his physical abilities are superhuman. He possessed a Soulgem which granted him a variety of magical powers. With it he could steal the soul of a person and enslave that person's mind and body. He could travel between dimensions. He could cause temporary blindness. He could transform his servants into beings of power, or degenerate them into demons. When his soulgem contained the spirit of the Firebird, it enabled him to induce changes across the entire surface of the Earth, transforming it into a replica of the time when the N'Garai ruled. He also led an army of warriors of similar, though lesser, physical abilities.

History: Dhasha Khan's origins are unknown. He has some attachment to the elder gods known as the N'Garai.

(DHoKF#21(fb)/23(fb) ) - He appeared in the realm of Feng-Tu, home to the honored dead of the people of K'un L'un. He led his warriors to overpower the tired and gentle spirits of Feng-Tu, and tookover the realm for himself. He encountered Heather Rand, the mother of Iron Fist, who had died near the border of K'un L'un and ended up in Feng-Tu, but sought to deny this reality. Khan offered her the ability to escape from that reality, but then stole her soul into his Soulgem, and transformed her into his slave, the Silver Dragon. He transformed other natives of Feng-Tu into demons to serve his will. However, Dhasha Khan swiftly became bored with ruling the dead, and sought to takeover the realm of the living as well. To do this, he sought the power of the Firebird, the mystical embodiment of all that is good in mankind.

(DHoKF#19-24) - Dhasha Khan may have set a mob of attackers to assault the woman Jade, who housed the spirit of the Firebird. Iron Fist happened upon this assault and fought off her assailants. Dhasha Khan the sent the Khou-Hun-Shih-Che (which means the Messengers who Seize Souls), Niu T'ou the Black and Ma-Mien the White Ox, to attack Iron Fist and Jade and bring them to Feng-Tu. Iron Fist fought and overpowered them, but when he struck them with his iron fist power, he and Jade were transported before Dhasha Khan. Iron Fist attempted to stop him, but was blinded by a blast from Khan's soulgem. Nonetheless, Iron Fist remembered his training and defeated Khan's warriors. When the leaders of his guard remembered Iron Fist as the greatest warrior of K'un L'un and refused to attack him, Khan destroyed them. He then sent the Silver Dragon against Iron Fist, and she overpowered him and knocked him out, although she recognized him as her son. Khan then took the Firebird's spirit from Jade.

Iron Fist's spirit defeated the Soulslayer, met up with the man known as the Bowman, and the three made their way to the palace of Lord Tuan, his grandfather, and the former rule of Feng-Tu. While there, the Bowman apparently slew Iron Fist, in hopes of somehow saving the life of the Firebird (?). Iron Fist revived, now one of the dead in Feng-Tu, but he and Jade left the palace and attempted to escape Feng-Tu. Their path was blocked by Silver Dragon. This time the Silver Dragon refused to slay her son, and Dhasha Khan destroyed her body. While the fight had been going on, the Bowman rallied Lord Tuans' forces to overthrow Khan's, and retkae control of Feng-Tu. Khan cared little, since his primary goal was to possess the Firebird's soul, and so he abandonned his forces to those of Tuan's.

Iron Fist attempted to attack Dhasha Khan, but he teleported to Earth, leaving Iron Fist trapped in the realm of the dead. Dhasha Khan accessed the power of the Firebird to begin transforming Earth into the form it wore in milennia past, when the N'Garai ruled the Earth. However, before Khan could summon the N'Garai to Earth, Iron Fist used his chi to focus his will and bridge the gap to the world of the living. Iron Fist attacked and, after a lengthy battle, defeated Dhasha Khan. He took his Soulgem, reversed the changes on Earth, and returned the spirit of the Firebird to Jade.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and Rudy Nebres

Dhasha Khan was not seen after Iron Fist took his Soulgem. Presumably he could not exist without it, and returned to Feng-Tu. Without the power of the Soulgem behind him, he presumably no longer had the power to rule them.

Yes, it was originally black and white.

I've read the story a few times, and this is how it comes together for me. I'd welcome any other explanations.

Clarifications: Dhasha Khan is not to be confused with:

• Master Khan, another Iron Fist enemy, worshipped as a god by the people of Kun Lun, @ Marvel Premiere#22