Following the success of Daredevil, we’re getting Jessica Jones later this year and Luke Cage to follow and people have been getting understandably whipped up about these being in production. This is all exciting stuff, but what about Danny Rand? We’re supposed to be getting a Defenders miniseries to go along with all of these, so why haven’t they even cast Iron Fist or, for that matter, start writing?
Iron Fist is a tough cookie to explain. The source material is complicated, especially to those people who are unfamiliar, and this challenge is exactly the problem the Marvel/Netflix universe is facing. Essentially, after training with mystical masters on a magical disappearing, reappearing city, Danny’s character can channel his chi into his fist, giving him super strength and some pretty spectacular martial arts skills.
The coolest thing about the Iron Fist idea is probably also the biggest stumbling block, namely its world is pretty firmly wuxia. Think House of Flying Daggers or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for reference. These sword ballets are visually impressive and lend themselves so well to the large screen experience, but how do you distill it down to something that is consumable (and financially feasible) in episodic form? Especially after the standard of realism that Daredevil established?
While I love the new tone the small screen Marvel Universe has adopted and join the masses in excitement over Jessica Jones, it would be a bummer to see a treatment of Iron Fist that neglected the supernatural aspect of the character or missed an opportunity for some beautiful fight scenes. Here’s hoping Marvel figures out a good approach for him, and there's plenty of reason to have faith that this is exactly what will happen, but I won’t expect him for a while yet.
