Is Karnak Marvels first Matrial Arts themed hero?

[Trident]

I was thinking just now about all of Marvel's characters who practice martial arts and it just occurred to me that Karnak may be the very first martial artist who was "themed" after the the traditional/sterotipycal practice. Karnak predates both Shang-Chi and Iron Fist so by default Elektra, Collen Wing, and White Tiger all appear after him. Only other character who I can think of that may have him beat to this title is Daredevil but he is of course themed after a devil and when he first appeared he was more of a boxer and acrobat than a martial artist if I remember the history correctly. It wasn't until much later that Daredevil was even claimed to be a ninja of sorts.

Anyway....does anyone know of a character who is a martial arts themed character that predates Karnak?

Karnak 1st apperance Fantastic Four #45 (Dec 1965)

[gwenFan]

perhaps post 61

[Trident]

That's what I was thinking but I can't think of any Golden age/Timely- Marvel characters that had a martial arts concept. Wish there was a way to get a definite answer on this.

[Of Atlantis]

I would say Amazing Man, aka John Aman, aka Prince of Orphans maybe predates him. Being trained by monks in martial arts and mysticism as a boy was always part of his origin, but to say he had been martial arts themed charcacter I feel may be pushing it, at least at first. They only specifically focused on martial arts themes regarding the character, to my knowledge, in Immortal Iron Fist.

[Trident]

I would say Amazing Man, aka John Aman, aka Prince of Orphans maybe predates him. Being trained by monks in martial arts and mysticism as a boy was always part of his origin, but to say he had been martial arts themed charcacter I feel may be pushing it, at least at first. They only specifically focused on martial arts themes regarding the character, to my knowledge, in Immortal Iron Fist.

Oh that's a good call! Didn't even think about him.

But I'm not sure he counts since, after doing a quick search on the character, John wasn't brought over/offically owened by marvel until 2008.

[Of Atlantis]

Fair enough. It was partially a retconned origin after all. I had hoped originally that he was an original character when introduced in 2008, but Brubaker always had a thing for old comics.

Also, I just looked up Daredevil and realized he had his debut in 1964, one year before Karnak debuted. I guess that could count?

[Panic]

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/challenger.htm

Challenger might count. Without seeing the original issues I can't tell just how generic his fighting style was.

[Trident]

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/challenger.htm

Challenger might count. Without seeing the original issues I can't tell just how generic his fighting style was.

He's a Timely original brought over from Marvel so yeah I think he should count as marvels first martial artist. Seems pretty cool or an older concept as well.


So the Challenger is the "first" marvel Martial Artists but his theme is questionable as a "Martial Arts"Themed character. Wish I had more info on him. Either way great find Painic!

[Kuwagaton]

I don't see why DD and Cap wouldn't count. I mean they both technically have powers but so does Karnak.

[Panic]

^It's because they really belong to the Errol Flynn/Douglas Fairbanks school of fighting: swinging on ropes and big roundhouse punches. The more formal oriental style kung fu that I think the OP is focussing on was more like a bolt-on expansion pack added to the characters at a later date, after kung fu became popular.

[Kuwagaton]

But that's still martial arts. Karnak focuses more on close quarters, I guess, but then it's not like he's tied to the "Orient" so it's no more traditional