Much like Luke Cage, my experience with Iron Fist has usually been when he's part of teams or larger events. Most of the time he's usually tagging along with Cage, which makes sense since they're long time partners called the Heroes for Hire. When it comes to the Marvel Netflix series, Iron Fist was my second most anticipated after Daredevil. Now that all of the solo series have been released, it does kind of hurt to say that it's actually a dip down in quality from what came before.
When the reviews started coming out, they were surprisingly negative, a first for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, it turns out those reviews were based on just the first six episodes. Now, I understand with TV shows, they're usually reviewed on an episodic basis since they're not all out at once like Netflix does. But since these Marvel series are basically 13 hour movies, it's not exactly fair to review something halfway. That said, after the first six episodes, I can see some of their criticisms. In my own opinion, there was slow build up, and I was mostly frustrated by how long it took for Danny to prove he was who he said he was. I mean, I don't know how often someone missing and believed dead for years eventually resurfaces in real life, but I assume it does happen. Even in the context of the MCU, Captain America came back after 70 years of being "dead". But besides that, it just didn't suck me in at the first episode compared to the other series, which did a good job introducing the tone and atmosphere of their respective stories. Once Iron Fist did actually reach episode six though, I found the series to finally be at the quality I expect from Marvel and Netflix.
Danny Rand, the Iron Fist, played by Finn Jones, has a lot of development through the series. When he's introduced, he kind of comes off as a homeless hipster, at least to the people around him. He also overshares at first, which leads to people think he's crazy. It takes some time to figure out how things work in the business world, although he still wants to do the things the right way instead of the "business way", which doesn't make him many fans among his colleagues at his family's company. This really adds to Danny's conflict of identity. Is he Danny Rand, billionaire heir to a business, or the Iron Fist, kung-fu master and enemy of the Hand? He's doing his best to find common ground on both, which makes sense considering he's the youngest and in some capacity the least knowledgeable compared to the other Netflix heroes.
His fighting style, much like the series, takes some time to improve. I can kind of chalk this up to the type of opponents he faces. He starts out fighting regular goons, which isn't as fun given his training, but eventually gets into fights with individuals on his level, and he does have some interesting opponents, making it more entertaining.
There are some elements to Danny's story, while mostly adhering to the source material, have still been seen before in other superhero movies and TV shows. I think the obvious comparison people will make is to "Arrow", with both series having very similar to plotlines when it comes to their first seasons. There's also a bit of a "fish out of water" story in the beginning of the season, much like Thor. Danny also has a friend and rival in Davos, where the relationship turns bitter, much like Thor and Loki, and more recently, Dr. Strange and Mordo.
Now, I'll address some common criticisms aimed at Danny:
- They didn't cast an Asian: Apparently this needs to be made more clear: Iron Fist is white. I won't deny that there needs to be more diversity in the superhero genre, but it's not controversial or whitewashing when the character is depicted as the race he is in the source material. The fact that some critics brought this up in their reviews is ridiculous. Diversity just for the sake of it almost never works. Also, why does the kung-fu superhero have to be Asian? The people who wanted to be racially inclusive are actually perpetuating a cultural stereotype.
- Hardly any "Iron Fist": By this I mean his actual power. I actually don't mind this, as there was enough action to keep me entertained. Storywise, it's said that Danny just got the power and doesn't have much control of it yet. When he does use it though, it's pretty cool, especially during one moment in the final episode.
- Lack of costume: Yeah, this one did kind of bother me at first. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage get passes since they don't need costumes, and Daredevil had some progressions in his costume. But out of the four, Iron Fist has what could be seen as an iconic suit. I did think of opportunities to create something of a costume, like he could just leave his shirt off showing his chest tattoo, or he could wear the gi he wore in K'un L'un, which has the green/yellow scheme. But then I realized that would be silly. Danny isn't a vigilante yet and he's facing an enemy who already knows who he is. He doesn't need a costume or the need to hide...yet.
Let's talk about the Meachum family, and boy are they a messed up family.
Harold Meachum is the father of Ward and Joy and business partner with Danny's late father Wendell. He's played by David Wenham, who I'm only familiar with from his roles in "Van Helsing" and "300", but I've never seen him in a role like this. I don't want to go too much into his story or actions to avoid spoilers, but I'll just say he would have been a good Norman Osborn.
Ward Meachum, played by Tom Pelphrey, is a character that grows on you. Right off the bat, you can tell this guy's bad, and they don't even hide the fact. As the series goes on though, he starts to have a mental break, which is pretty entertaining, and eventually leads to a surprise redemption.
Joy Meachum, played by Jessica Stroup, is a mixed bag for me. I want to like her and think she has heart, but then she says and does things that are just bad. I can tell she wants to be a good person, but her job keeps her from completely being one. Besides that, she's either too gullible or too trusting with both her father and brother, which leads to my issues with her. It'll be interesting to see where her character goes in the future though.
Some other good performances are turned in from stars returning from past Marvel Netflix series.
Rosario Dawson returns once again as Claire Temple, who has been to some degree part of all the previous series. At this point, she's getting some training with Colleen when she becomes part of Danny's quest. It's funny how she seems to be a magnet for all these super people. I also liked that's she's taken to using Luke's "Sweet Christmas!" catchphrase.
Carrie Ann Moss of Matrix fame returns once again as Jeri Hogarth, who appeared in "Jessica Jones", and she acts a little more human this time around, after making some questionable decisions in her prior appearance.
Madame Gao, who had a minor role in "Daredevil", returns to the forefront in a major way as part of the Hand. She kind of reminds me of Kilgrave from "Jessica Jones" in while she's not physically imposing, she can be quite manipulative.
Overall, "Iron Fist" is as good as you can expect from Marvel and Netflix, but a slow build up in the beginning does hurt it. If I had to rank the seasons so far, it would be Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Daredevil Season 2, and Iron Fist. It may be in last place in this group, but I still found it better than some of the less stellar MCU films like Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World. Iron Fist hasn't been renewed for a second season yet, but I think it would be better if they actually put him and Luke Cage together for a "Heroes for Hire" series, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
RATING: 7.5/10
When Marvel returns to Netflix this summer, we'll finally reach the Defenders miniseries, finally bringing the four heroes together. "Iron Fist" included a lot of references to the other heroes and it made me realize this really has been building up since the first season of "Daredevil". When these Netflix series were first announced, I thought it was a pipedream, but it's finally almost here, and hopefully the culmination of a new superteam will be just as good when it happened with the Avengers...now if only we could see both teams together.
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