Rand Corporation (Marvel)

The Rand Corporation is a business that features in Marvel Comics.

History

The Rand Corporation was a company that was created in the modern age.

During an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the mystical city of K'un-Lun, an event occurred that forever changed the company's fate. Meachum, consumed by greed and a desire to take full control of the burgeoning enterprise, betrayed his partner. When Wendell Rand slipped and was left dangling from a cliffside, Meachum deliberately stamped on his hands, sending him falling to his death. Meachum then abandoned Wendell's wife and young son, Daniel, to perish in the mountains, thus assuming sole leadership of Rand-Meachum Inc.. Young Daniel's mother was later sacrificed to a pack of wolves while protecting her son, who was eventually rescued by inhabitants of K'un-Lun. (Marvel Premiere v1 #15)

Ward Meachum began to work for Master Khan. He hired a group of men to steal the Power Gem of Quon back from Danny Rand. Alongside the men was Fera, a lupine humanoid who did not like Meachum in the slightest, but only served Master Khan. (Power Man and Iron Fist v1 #97) Ward hired Shades and Comanche decked them both out with new weapons Shades with a pair of optic blasting shades, and Comanche with trick arrows. He sent them against Iron Fist and Luke Cage They knocked him out before leaving and telling the bystanders to tell Cage that they have a score to settle when he revived. Cage tracked them down to the George Washington Bridge. Were Cage and Iron Fist learn the truth about their employer. While in hiding, Ward spots D.W. filming the fight between Shades and Comanche and worries that he was caught on tape and be implicated in a plot against the two heroes and vows to get the film before it can be reviewed. Cage and Iron Fist managed to easily defeat Shades and Comanche, however when the police take the two away they fail to remove Shade's visor, and he manages to fire one final blast, hitting the heroes knocking them off the bridge. (Power Man and Iron Fist v1 #98) Ward and his men use the Power Gem of Quon on a special pedestal which summons Master Khan back to the Earth dimension. (Power Man and Iron Fist v1 #99) Master Khan, who told Meachum that the crystal is leeching away the power of Shou-Lao from Iron Fist, a process that will give him the dragons power, and kill his eternal foe. They are attacked by the Heroes for Hire and Master Khan was forced to fight Iron Fist. During the fight the crystal was destroyed and sent Master Khan back to K'un-Lun. Following the battle, Meachum and his men were all arrested. (Power Man and Iron Fist v1 #100)

Rand-Meachum Corporation was exploiting the resources of the Savage Land despite this being banned by the U.N. charter. To counter this, the company claimed that they had permission from the land's ruler namely Ka-Zar. (Namor the Sub-Mariner v1 #17)

Following a battle with the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers approached the Rand Corporation's headquarters in order to confront Danny Rand about his involvement about the vigilante group following the passing of the Superhuman Registration Act. Rand's lawyer Jeryn Hogarth denied any involvement on the part of his employer despite Iron Man stating that they had encountered Iron Fist who was Danny Rand's superhero identity. However, Hogarth stated that anyone could be under the mask and Rand himself stated that he had no part in the activity. Jeryn even threatened legal action against Tony Stark for any continued actions against Danny Rand with the Mighty Avengers departing due to lack of evidence. (New Avengers v1 #29)

In an effort to save Maya Lopez, Danny made use of a Rand corporate jet to transport the New Avengers to Japan. (New Avengers v1 #27) Through a sister company, Rand Corporation real estate purchased an entire floor of a building from the assets of the convicted Samuel Sterns for use as their hideout as they remained fugitives from the Registration Act. (New Avengers v1 #38)

The Black Cat Felicia Hardy and the Beetle Janice Lincoln later broke into the Rand Corporation. This was because Hardy had a job to copy the designs of the Randall Gate. During their break-in, they encountered Pai leading toa battle with Iron Fist. (Black Cat v1 #8)

Overview

In appearance, the Rand Corporation was a vast, wealthy enterprise, focused on a range of industries, and was the source of a large family fortune. Its initial portrayal heavily implied it was a global, multi-million dollar business that operated with significant influence in the world's economy. (Marvel Premiere v1 #15)

It had once made a bid for a new kind of security technology that could infiltration by superpowered means such as magic. (New Avengers v1 #59)

Employees

• Wendell Rand :
• Harold Meachum :
• Joy Meachum :
• Danny Rand :
• Natalie :
• Maira Osmani-Milton :
• Brian Nehring :
• Peter Parker :

Notes

• The Rand Corporation was created by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane and Bill Everett where it made its first appearance in Marvel Premiere v1 #15 (May, 1974).

In other media

Television

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rand Enterprises made several appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Daredevil, RAND Oil & Chemicals was referenced in the live-action television series where one of their trucks was involved in a car accident that almost killed an elderly man. The hazardous chemicals from the flipped truck splashed on the face of a child named Matt Murdock who had saved the man's life but the event blinded him with the chemicals being absorbed into his eyes.
  • In Iron Fist, Rand Enterprises featured heavily in the setting of the live-action television series where it was established as a company founded by Wendell Rand who worked alongside his business partner Harold Meachum.
  • In Luke Cage, Rand Enterprises appeared in the live-action television series where Misty Knight was invited to come there by Danny Rand so that she could be provided an artificial prosthetic arm for her lost right limb. She was there where calibration tests were done to connect the prosthetic to her nerve endings.

Appearances

• Marvel Premiere v1: (1974)
• Iron Fist v1:
• Namor the Sub-Mariner v1:
• New Avengers v1:
• Black Cat v1: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.