IRON MONK

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human (presumably) magic-user

Occupation: Enforcer

Group Membership: Hand

Affiliations: Agent of the Hand

Enemies: Pale Flower, Wolverine, Yashida Clan, Yohei

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Tokyo, Japan

First Appearance: Wolverine II#108 (December, 1996)

Powers/Abilities: The Iron Monk is invulnerable to any attack from mortal hand, blade, or other weapon. He possesses superhuman strength, approximately Class 10. He carries a set of iron rosary beads, which he uses much like nunchaks. He can apparently teleport into almost any location, although he may have been teleported by another source.

History: The origins of the Iron Monk are unknown. He is an agent of the Hand, and thus would almost certainly be of somewhat magical origins, but whether he is a human mutate, a demon, a magical construct, or something else altogether is uncertain.

(Wolverine#108) - The Iron Monk teleported into the holding cells of the Tokyo Metropolitan police, Shinjuku district station, where Wolverine and the Pale Flower were being held. The priest calmed the guards by telling them he was there to chant a few sutras to ensure Wolverine's safe passage to the pure land. He then knocked the guards out and ripped the iron door off of Wolverine's cell. Wolverine was surprised when a rake of his claws failed to affect the Monk, who told him he could not be slain by any mortal hand or blade. Pale Flower's cell was shattered as well, but no weapon she or Wolverine used against the Monk did any good.
Things looked grim for our heroes, when Yohei, the "button man for the Yashida Clan," who owed a debt to Wolverine showed up. Yohei gave Wolvie the Honor Sword of Clan Yashida. The Iron Monk stood there mocking Logan and was skewered by the Honor Sword, which was forged out of meteorite iron by a demon.
The end.

Comments: Created by Larry Hama and Anthony Winn.

Note to the Iron Monk and other beings with one specific vulnerability: Don't go telling all of your foes, "I'm invulnerable to everything but 'x' ," because they'll find a way to get 'x', and then you'll feel really stupid (or dead).

Swords forged not by mortal man:

• Black Blade, @ Wolverine II#1
• Ebony Blade, the sword of the Black Knight
• Excalibre, the sword of Arthur Pendragon
• Honor Sword of Clan Yashida,
• and certainly any created and used by any of the numerous pantheons of gods, etc.
• Justicar, was created by Foundry, one of the Blood, @ Midnight Sons Unlimited#4
• The Knife of the Yuoteshi, which imprisoned and later slew Khosatral Khel, was forged from a meteorite, @ the Devil in Iron; Savage Sword of Conan#15
• The Star Sword(s), used against the Dragon Kings of Lemuria, @ The Wizard of Lemuria; Creatures on the Loose@26

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

• any other "Iron" or "Monk" characters

images: (without ads)
Wolverine II#108, p3, pan1 (main image)