Marvel's Iron Fist, the final season of super-powered Netflix action until the Defenders crossover
miniseries later this year, was highly anticipated by fans of Marvel's "street level" heroes.
And then it actually came out and fans discovered that Danny Rand's superpower isn't his Iron
Fist at all.
Rather, it's the ability to cause intense disappointment and boredom.
So just what really went wrong with Iron Fist?
Who is Danny Rand?
Each of the other Defenders have well-defined character traits: Matt Murdock struggles with
his Catholic guilt while dealing harshly with the scum of the Earth.
Jessica Jones is an alcoholic survivor of abuse who tries and often fails to make good
choices.
And Luke Cage carries the injustice and conflict of his past into every situation.
And then there's Danny, whose only defined traits seem to be confusion and stupidity.
Worse, his motivations are a complete mystery even to himself.
Several times during the course of the show, characters ask Danny point blank why he abandoned
his role as the protector of the mystical city of K'un-Lun in order to return to New
York.
And… he never has an answer, because he doesn't seem to know.
When even the characters don't know why they're doing stuff, it becomes pretty hard for fans
to get invested in the outcome.
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure I can explain."
Poor fight sequences
The total lack of character development could be forgiven to an extent if the fight scenes
were awesome.
After all, this is Iron Fist!
Fight scenes are what Iron Fist does!
But instead, despite the fact that the entire show is supposed to be about super kung fu
killers with magic powers, the fight sequences are amazing...ly boring.
No it only does Danny almost never actually use the Iron Fist, his fight scenes are consistently
subpar.
That's not only compared to other Marvel Netflix shows like Daredevil, but even when compared
to fight scenes in Iron Fist featuring Colleen Wing.
That suggests the problem may lie with star Finn Jones, who doesn't quite have the physical
presence to pull off the whole "Immortal Weapon" thing.
Co-star Jessica Henwick, who plays Colleen Wing, seems much better suited to the show's
brief outbursts of action, making her cage fight sequences a rare highlight.
Poor plotting and pacing
As underwhelming as the action can be, it would help if there were more of it — or,
at the very least, if the plot didn't take so long to develop.
The show takes absolutely forever to get anywhere.
Several episodes are devoted to boardroom strategy sessions at Rand Enterprises, Danny's
family's company, instead of the stuff that everyone came to see: mystical kung fu action.
Danny's fumbling attempts to prove his identity drag on and on, boring viewers and making
Danny look like kind of an idiot.
Meanwhile, most of the screen time isn't devoted to Iron Fist at all, but rather the scheming
in-fighting in the family who took over the business in his absence.
The show doesn't seem to know what it is, or who it's about.
While the show's pace picks up a little after the first several episodes, it never overcomes
its plotting problems, leaving questions big and small unanswered and indulging in unearned
and often random plot twists.
A multi-episode arc that involves Danny and the gang chasing an enemy to China, for example,
requires numerous logic leaps and a severe suspension of disbelief to make any sense
at all.
It's not just a poor story.
It's poorly told.
Crossover characters
The characters of Jeri Hogarth and Claire Temple from previous Netflix series both have
supporting roles, and they immediately class up any scene they're in.
But this actually does the show no favors, because Hogarth's steely charisma and Temple's
reluctant heroism nicely illustrate the lack of defined character traits for the main cast.
They serve as unfortunate reminders of better-written shows.
"I really didn't realize there was going to be so much emotional honesty."
"Right."
And while Claire's tendency to point out the story's plot holes as they crop up injects
a dose of humor into a series that takes itself way too seriously, it also highlights the
show's shortcomings while making Claire seem like a visitor from a totally different, much
better series.
Which… she totally is.
"Have you stopped to consider that this idea totally sucks?"
"It doesn't suck, okay?"
"Kinda harsh, Claire."
"Not really!"
Moral confusion
As we're constantly reminded throughout the series, Danny was raised to be the Iron Fist,
the Immortal Weapon.
His job is to defend K'un Lun from the Hand, the villainous group of ninja assassins who
plague Daredevil on his show as well.
Despite being trained from childhood to destroy the Hand wherever he finds them, Danny finds
himself morally conflicted several times over whether to kill his enemies.
That's nice, but it doesn't feel organic to the character at all.
It feels like a moral conundrum forced onto Danny by writers confused over how to inject
internal drama into a character they don't have a real handle on.
The diversity problem
Somewhere in Iron Fist is the potential for an interesting discourse about privilege.
That conversation never actually happens on the show, though.
And it's too bad because it desperately needs it.
Danny comes off as beyond entitled, using his wealth, status, and family name as a bigger
weapon than his magic fist, and with even less thought.
That in and of itself might not have been an insurmountable problem given that the most
popular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark, is also a rich, white
jerk.
"What did I tell you would happen if you ate the last donut with red, white, and blue sprinkles?"
"I'm a little foggy on it, but I think it was something like 'raining down hellfire.'"
But Stark is self aware.
He knows he's a jerk!
That's why we love him.
"Can you feel that?
We're done here.
Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over.
Bye kid"
Danny Rand, on the other hand, is not self aware at all.
And let's also consider the fact that much of the show's pre-release buzz centered on
questions about cultural appropriation and whitewashing, since Marvel decided to cast
a white actor in the role of an Asian savior figure.
The series needed to address those issues — instead of making them worse.
The first big casting misfire
Most fans would agree that Marvel Studios has an unbelievable track record with its
casting of major characters.
From Robert Downey, Jr.'s complete embodiment of Tony Stark to Tom Holland's pitch-perfect
Peter Parker, they've been remarkably sure-handed.
And the Netflix series have been no exception — until now.
Unfortunately, the early skepticism of Jones' casting turned out to be well-warranted.
He may be a fine actor, but he was woefully miscast in this role.
There's never an onscreen moment that truly feels like the Iron Fist from the comics,
except for one very brief scene in which Danny is shown old film footage of a previous — and
much cooler — Iron Fist in action.
Whoever that dude was, we'd love to have seen more of him, and more of that kind of frenetic
butt kicking action instead of the soggy mess we got.
Still, there's reason to hope that The Defenders can right the ship.
Showrunners Marco Ramirez and Douglas Petrie called the shots on Daredevil's second season,
and there's plenty of opportunity for Danny's character to grow within the dynamic of his
team of super-buddies.
Perhaps we'll see a more disciplined take on the Immortal Iron Fist when the eight-episode
Defenders series makes its way to Netflix...
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