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The Solo Leveling manhwa has seen Sung Jin-Woo come a long way, as readers get to follow his journey from being the 'Weakest Hunter in the World' to the Strongest being to ever exist in the series.
Along the way, he has been accompanied by several companions who have fought countless battles alongside him, with one of the most prominent being Jin-Woo's trusted shadow soldier, Iron. He is also often considered one of Jin-Woo's most controversial soldiers, mainly due to the way he was turned into one of the latter's faithful companions.
As such, fans are excited to see Iron eventually make his debut in the ongoing anime adaptation of the Solo Leveling series. However, his on-screen arrival might end up taking quite a bit of time, considering that the first season of the anime is reported to consist of only 12 episodes.
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Exploring the origin of Iron in Solo Leveling
The shadow soldier Iron made his first appearance in Solo Leveling's Red Gate arc. He is the shadow of the renowned South Korean A-Rank Hunter, Kim Chul, who was killed by Sung Jin-Woo and was thus forced to serve under him as a loyal soldier.
The Red Gate arc of the Solo Leveling manhwa started with Jin-Woo bringing along Han Song-Yi, one of his sister's friends, to one of the White Tiger Guild's training exercises inside a dungeon so that he could expose her to the dangers associated with being a Hunter.
On the other hand, Kim Chul, a renowned A-Rank Hunter of the White Tiger Guild, was appointed to be the leader of the Raid Party. In his first appearance, he was shown to be an extremely arrogant person who took a lot of pride in his own skills. Moreover, he had a pretty visible disdain for those ranked lower than him, as he often went so far as to label them as deadweights in their faces.
However, the Raid Party soon found themselves in a terrifying predicament when they realized that the Gate they just stepped into was actually a Red Gate in disguise. Realizing the severity of the situation, Kim Chul opted to divide the Raid Party members and only took those who he deemed to have a chance at survival along with him to fight the dungeon boss.
However, this very action would soon lead to his downfall, as all of the people who had accompanied him ended up dying at the hands of monsters due to his poor leadership, which left Kim Chul as the only survivor. The trauma of witnessing the death of his group sent him into a crazed state of mind, as he soon lost all sense of morality.
When he came across the group of weaker Hunters who were under Sung Jin-Woo's care, he was shocked to see that they had provisions of their own. Just as he was about to attack them, Jin-Woo intervened and knocked him out with a single hit.
When Kim Chul regained his consciousness, he grabbed his sword and tried to attack Jin-Woo, who was busy fighting against Baruka, the dungeon boss. However, he ended up being killed by Igris instead, who impaled the former with his sword.
That said, Kim Chul's death was actually a clever ploy by Jin-Woo, who had realized that he would not be able to defeat Baruka with only Igris' help and decided to kill Kim Chul and extract his shadow. He decided to name the shadow 'Iron', who was now a loyal soldier of Jin-Woo.
He went on to fight countless battles alongside his master in the Solo Leveling manhwa and often displayed a dim-witted and humorous side to him several times during his appearances. Iron eventually became a favorite among fans, who adored him for his brute strength and loyalty to Jin-Woo.
However, his time with Jin-Woo proved to be limited, as after the latter used the Cup of Reincarnation to create a new timeline, Iron's existence as a shadow was erased, and he was reborn as his human self in the new world with no memories of the previous timeline.
Final Thoughts
Considering that Iron's existence only came into being after Sung Jin-Woo intentionally ended his human self, Kim Chul's life so that he could obtain a stronger soldier, he is often regarded as one of the latter's most controversial yet lovable characters.
Fans will get to witness Iron make his debut in a potential second season of the Solo Leveling anime, which is more or less guaranteed to adapt the Red Gate arc.
