We’re only a few weeks away and fans are getting excited for the premier of Iron Fist. Ever since the end of Luke Cage, Marvel devotees have been waiting to see the other half of the “Heroes for Hire” and now Marvel’s martial arts maven is ready to enter the fray.
For those unfamiliar with the character (which is likely a lot of you unless you’re already comic fans), Iron Fist (aka Danny Rand) was created by Marvel during the 1970s when the company was trying to cash in on the popularity of kung-fu movies brought on by the work of Bruce Lee and other Hong Kong martial arts figures. Luke Cage was created in a similar fashion to capitalize on the burgeoning Blaxploitation genre around the same time. The kung-fu influence is immediately apparent in Iron Fist as seen in the action-packed final trailer. The trailer breaks down the bare bones of the character, calling Rand an orphan, monk, and billionaire in an origin that almost seems ripped straight from Batman Begins. Originality notwithstanding, the preview is also chock full of martial arts mayhem that promises to up the ante for the Netflix shows.
The Netflix take on the character has been described as a kung-fu Batman and as implied, that’s not far off. Danny Rand (played by Finn Jones, known as Ser Loras from Game of Thrones is the scion of the extremely successful Rand Corporation who becomes stranded in the mountains following the death of his family. Young Danny is taken in by an order of clandestine monks who teach him their own mystical martial arts, and he eventually returns to New York to take over his multi-billion dollar corporation and battle injustice as the masked crime fighter, Iron Fist.
Marvel has been able to do a terrific job of using the streaming arm of the MCU to introduce new characters while still including subtle nods to their big screen counterparts. The fact that it managed to resuscitate not just Daredevil, but Elektra as well, is something of a minor miracle. Following the disastrous 2003 film starring Ben Affleck, and the even worse spin-off featuring Jennifer Garner as Elektra, the characters had largely been forgotten by fans. One of the few reminders of the blind hero of Hell’s Kitchen was a pair of licensed slot reels based on the films. These titles are part of a larger collection of online casino games with pastimes such as roulette, slots, scratch cards, and more featuring a variety of themes and licenses meant to appeal to wider audiences. Thankfully, today Daredevil is more popular than ever as a result of the two highly successful seasons that have helped to serve as a springboard for the introductions of both Jessica Jones and Luke Cage – and now, Iron Fist.
Marvel’s Netflix series have run the gamut for bone-crunching action, particularly in Daredevil and Luke Cage, but now they’ll be embracing kung-fu for a whole new sort of show. All of these shows have been leading up to a streaming adaptation of the superteam known as “The Defenders.” The culmination of the Marvel Netflix shows will include Daredevil, Jessica, Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist as they join forces to protect the world form an as of yet unnamed threat. Unlike the other shows, which feature full 13-episode seasons, The Defenders is a proper mini-series that will only have eight.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see more on The Defenders revealed during the first season of Iron Fist but in the meantime details are scarce as Marvel focuses on the latter. Iron Fist will premier March 17, 2017 with The Defenders expected sometime later this year.
