Shou-Lao

Shou-Lao (alternatively spelled Shao-Lao) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

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

Fictional character biography
Shou-Lao is an immortal Chinese dragon who became the source of power in K'un-L'un. During a performance of the dragon riders of K'un-Lun for the entertainment of its Yu-Ti, Shou-Lao went berserk and attacked the city's leader. He was slain 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 incident, those who became Iron Fist had to accomplish the final test of defeating Shou-Lao in order to absorb part of his power. This was done over 66 times.

After she was busted for training three cavemen, Fan Fei was chained up and watched as the cavemen were fed to Shou-Lou by Lei Kung. When she broke out with the hope that she will die fighting Shou-Lou, Fan Fei punched Shou-Lou in his chest tattoo and gained his powers.

When Danny Rand was becoming the next Iron Fist, he defeated Shou-Lao by burning the dragon-shaped tattoo off his chest. After defeating Shou-Lao, Danny Rand plunged his hands into the brazier containing Shou-Lao's immortal heart and it charged him with the power of the Iron Fist.

Steel Serpent later attempted to fight Shou-Lao. When Steel Serpent failed to defeat Shou-Lao, Lei Kung found him weeping in the snow. He then took Steel Serpent back to the city.

During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, the X-Men fought the Avengers in K'un-L'un when Hope Summers and Lei-Kung arrive on the back of Shou-Lao who blasted the Phoenix Force-empowered Cyclops. Unfortunately, Shou-Lao was far too young to put up a fight and its riders were dislodged. However, Hope was able to unleash a combination of dragon energy, fire, and chaos magic to banish Cyclops to the Moon.

Powers and abilities
Shou-Lao have dragon powers (the ability to utilize wings for flying, breathe fire, change colors, live forever, and strike at lightning-fast speeds). In addition, he is super-strong and durable, as well as resistant to all types of diseases.

Television

 * Shou-Lao appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Mark Hamill.
 * Shou-Lao makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in a flashback in the Iron Fist episode "Dragon Plays with Fire". Though only Shou-Lao's glowing red eyes are seen. Finn Jones, who portrays Iron Fist, stated that Shou-Lao will be explained and referenced during the first season and further explored in future seasons. In addition, Jones stated that Shou-Lao could not be shown onscreen due to budgetary constraints.
 * The Defenders miniseries reveals that the bones of Shao-Lao's kind contain a substance with resurrective properties. The Hand has been using it since being banished from K'un-L'un centuries ago, but eventually have run out of it. This causes them to seek access to the remains of another dragon, buried underneath Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan.

Video games
Shou-Lao appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. When Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Man enter K'un-Lun's Cave of the Dragon while looking for a shard of the Nexus of All Realities, they find the shard embedded in Shou-Lao's heart as Steel Serpent controls Shou-Lao into attacking them. After defeating Steel Serpent, Iron Fist removes the Nexus shard.