The Steel Fist is a Superhero from The Golden Age of Comic Books, created by H.C. Kiefer and published by Rural Home in Blue Circle Comics #1-5.
A factory is attacked by Nazis, and patriotic worker Timothy Slade tries to stop it. Unfortunately, the Nazis defeat him and put his hand in molten metal, damaging it so bad that it needed to be amputated. However, Lady Liberty herself took pity on Slade and healed his hand, making it hard as steel in the process. Now, Timothy Slade battles evil as the Steel Fist.
This comic contains examples of:
- Big Good: Lady Liberty, the Anthropomorphic Personification of justice who empowers Tim.
- Captain Patriotic: Literally empowered by Lady Liberty to fight evil.
- Clark Kenting: The Steel Fist manages to do this despite wearing a full costume, by not hiding his most distinguishing feature: A forearm covered in steel.
- Frame-Up: The baddies of Blue Circle Comics #2 gas a factory's workers into wrecking machinery at the same time some new music plays in order to frame the music as a Brown Note.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In his first appearance, the Steel Fist only had a cowl on his head. He got a Domino Mask added immediately afterwards.
- Heel–Face Turn: Mutton a coworker of Tim's who's a regular customer of a gambling ring, leaves the gambling life when the gang almost kills him.
- Mob War: The Steel fist gets caught up in one in Blue Circle Comics #3, due to being a dead ringer for one of the leaders.
- The Mole: The Big Bad of Blue Circle Comics #5 opens up a clockwork shop so he can rig punch-clocks to explode.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Ludlow's little trick to cover Tim's hand in steel directly leads to him getting his powers and his saboteur ring being thwarted.
- Protagonist Title
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The first issue has the Fist breaking up the Nazi saboteur ring that ruined his hand.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Ludlow only appears in the first issue, but he's responsible for the Steel Fist's existence, due to his mutilating the hand that ends up being empowered.
- The Sociopath: Heydrich pretends to be a kindly clock repairman. He's actually a Nazi spy who decided the best way to blow up factories is to make the workers do it themselves by rigging their time card machines.
- Starter Villain: Ludlow, the Nazi saboteur who mutilated Tim's hand and is arrested by issue's end.
