Amph Marvel's Iron Fist

There are a few things that would help season 2 of Iron Fist.

First and obvious, is to give Finn Jones time to train and learn martial arts. For what I remember, he was given like only 6 weeks to prepare for the role, as there were reports that Iron Fist was going to be cancelled in favor of The Punisher. So, it was like a last minute green light and casting for the show. As noted in a previous post, Danny was better in The Defenders.

Secondly, Heroes for Hire?

Spoiler

'Luke Cage' Season 2 Photo Teases Heroes For Hire
Luke Cage is back, and it looks like he's bringing a friend with him.

Entertainment Weekly just unveiled a new still for Luke Cage's second season, which reunites the titular hero (played by Mike Colter) with Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones). You can check it out below.

Third, with the ending of The Defenders, this might happen:

Spoiler

Danny as Daredevil

 

Even with a new showrunner, increased prep time, and improved supporting cast, I just don't know how you make a show centered around an entitled white boy, who by premise is supposedly better at martial arts than the Asians who trained him, into a quality TV show.

 

You just described Batman. And we've seen how successful Batman the Animated Series was and same for its films. Even Gotham continues to chug along.

 

Eh, kind of? I mean Batman has a lot of tools (and obscene amounts of wealth) at his disposal. But the whole martial arts thing and being the white savior defender of an Asian nation isn't really a thing in Batman (at least not in the iterations I've seen). Batman does know some martial arts of course, but it's not the central focus it is in Iron Fist.

 

Being Asian, I've already expressed my thoughts about this issue and how Iron Fist could have been Danielle Rand play by the actress who played Colleen Wing. So, (to be cliche) "What's done is done" and I'm not going to waste anymore time and effort regarding this issue.

I'm going to invest my time in watching season two of Iron Fist, because it's may nature as a comic book nerd. So, I would like it to be well worth my time. I would like to see the show improve and elevate the character, the same way season two of Daredevil did for Matt Murdock.

So, the quality of the show will depend on the new showrunner, increased prep time, improved supporting cast and most importantly, plot and storytelling.

 

Fair enough.

And to be sure, I actually enjoyed the first season of Iron Fist despite its myriad flaws (probably more than most). I think I only really became annoyed with the character when his general mediocrity was contrasted with the other heroes in The Defenders.

 

In the comics it wasn't really like that. Danny was trained by the Thunderer to become the Iron Fist, but there were others of comparable skill. Also, the whole Asian vs White thing was not so obvious in the comics originally, as some of the city dwellers had obviously Asian features and some did not, though Danny was the only blonde. Also, there had been many Iron Fists through the years, with Danny just being the latest.

The tv show did make it obvious through Davos' non-Chinese ethnicity that the city was multi-ethnic (though frankly I found it difficult to see skinny Sacha Dhawan as the hulking Chinese-looking Davos from the comics - a young Bolo Yeung would have been comics-perfect, imo).

 

So, depending on the medium, Bruce trains with a variety of teachers. But one common thread is martial arts and being pretty much a ninja. In the Animated Series it was in the episode called: Day of the Samurari. There was also Night of the Ninja. In Batman Begins, he joins the Legion of Shadows which are ninjas. There's also the fact that in the animated series, he basically saves the teacher from his star pupil. Not uncommon in the comics- Stephen Strange does the same- saves the Ancient One from star pupil Mordo. And Wolverine has also done similar. So the "white savior" trope has been around.

The problem really is the way it was done. There is nothing in the series that shows that Danny is special. There is no great trial the audience sees. We only get the aftermath and the fact that Danny tells everyone that he is the immortal Iron Fist. But he does nothing to show he's really EARNED it (again aside from being told he defeated Shou Lou). And that is the problem.

Also, as the viewer, we relate better with Daredevil because we saw what he went through. We saw his training from Stick and the boxing talents of Jack. Also, Matt's trauma was more sympathetic- he was blinded. Jessica suffered from the mental assault of Kilgrave, Luke was wrongfully imprisoned, Frank had PTSD and lost his family. Danny lost his parents, was trained by monks but became their protector and was entrusted with defeating the hand- and he's a billionaire who can just run around and fight crime at any time. Jessica can't even get her door fixed half the time and Matt struggles to make it to court on time. Danny runs off for half the series and barely attends a board meeting. It's hard to invest much sympathy in what Danny goes through because at times he really comes off as an immature and spoiled brat- even in the Defenders.

 

Opps, I just dropped a season two spoiler...

 

While I wasn't a huge fan of the boardroom stuff, I did like how in Iron Fist they had Danny immediately want to pull Rand out of shady business dealings that hurt innocents. It certainly made him more likable than spouting off that he's the Immortal Iron Fist, sworn enemy of The Hand. Now that the Hand has been disposed of, maybe he'll say it less often and get to the good stuff of keeping the streets safe. I'm sure Luke will learn 'em and the final shot of Danny in Defenders implied he's going to be more into protecting people as opposed to grand mythical destiny stuff.

 

I think I got through 3 episodes before I gave up. I knew Finn was barely trained, but I just found myself bored by the whole thing and tapped out. Then again, I have always been more partial to Shang Chi myself.

 

just finished watching this series had avoided it since i heard it was terrible and overall i quite enjoyed it i do think the main character looked a little funny doing all the meditation etc but from what i have seen he improves in the defenders

 

At the same time he is a fish out of water where ever he goes, he is not truly at home in K'un-Lun nor in New York and less anywhere else. This is something they could really work with, Danny trying to find some place that serve food/drink that's similar to the one in K'un-Lun (probably Tibetan-like I think), trying to find something in New York that reminds him of his childhood times, talking with others who are of two cultures, trying to find someplace to train that remind him of K'un-Lun, etc.

 

I dunno, I felt he already rambled on enough about K'un-Lun in the first season. If they're not going to actually show much of it to connect the audience to anything, it's best for the writers to just move on I think.

 

If they went with the "of two cultures, at home in none" concept they don't really need to show K'un-Lun, they just need to show Danny lost in the culture that he should belong to. Now when his quest to get back Rand Corporation is finished and the Hand has been broken he has time to stop and really reflect about his position. The producers could use real life experiences of people who have returned to their old culture after 10-20+ years in another or who identify with one culture different from their surrounding one while growing up (like Kazuo Ishiguro) as inspiration. I think there are many in the audience that would connect with that kind of experience.

 

I gave him a pass because he's literally the kid of the team. Both the youngest in age and maturity.

 

I'm oddly looking forward more to Danny showing up Luke Cage than his Season 2. I think he's a good foil for Luke, their first meeting/fight in Defenders was great.

 

Danny/Finn Jones does much better in The Defenders, mostly because he's not the lead character as Matt and Jessica play mommy and daddy for the team.

And I would agree that Danny would be better received when he's paired with Luke Cage, but I feel Cage would Rand's foil, considering Cage is more NYC savvy and Rand was pretty raise in a penthouse and then monastery. Kind of teach him the ways of the not-so-rich and privileged, which was touched upon in The Defenders.

Anyway, more kungfu fighting and less boring board meeting would be a step in the right direction for season 2. Which should be the case considering how The Defenders ended.

 

Me: I hope Marvel listened to the criticisms concerning Asian Representation and Orientalism in the first season and makes improvements.

Marvel:

 

Well if Danny stops telling everyone he's the sworn protector of Kun'Lun and enemy of the Hand, more Collen, more fighting and the Hand seemingly vanquished in Defenders this could be better.

 

Brubaker/Fraction's Immortal Iron Fist was great, but it would require a much bigger budget than the Netflix series have. And this is one of the problems that the Netflix Iron Fist has: the Netflix shows are fairly grounded television dramas with a little action thrown in, whilst Iron Fist doesn't lend himself to "grounded" anything.

 

I think it'll definitely get a boost in perception from Season 1 being so bad and so poorly received. "Hey this wasn't bad" will go up a few notches because we didn't like Season 1.