The Marvel Cinematic Universe can’t seem to contain a bad product. After numerous movies, Marvel Studios decided to take their production step a bit further. Thus, enter the Netflix shows; 13-episodes per season shows centered around more grounded characters with darker tones, but still within the same universe as the Avengers.
On April 10th, 2015 Netflix premiered Marvel’s "Daredevil". It opened to critical acclaim with many citing it as Marvel Studio’s best work yet, with its crime drama and darker tone giving it a nice contrast from the lighter movies and primetime TV shows (i.e: "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") Then later that same year, Netflix struck twice on November 20 with "Jessica Jones"; critical acclaim once more, specifically citing its noir tone and its approach to rape, assault, and PTSD. Then home run three came the following year in 2016 when Season 2 of "Daredevil" on March 18 and "Luke Cage" on September 30; "Luke Cage" in particular again more acclaim due to its majority-black cast and themes on police brutality, Black Lives Matter and the history of Black America.
But apparently, the fourth batter did not hit a home run. When the first six episodes of Marvel's "Iron Fist" were shown to the critics, they were not nice, to put it mildly.
As of March 16, 2017, a day before premiere; "Iron Fist" sits at a 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest score for any Marvel Cinematic Universe property. But why is that? The internet, trolls and cis-gendered white men with egos more fragile than glass blame it on the SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) but there has to be something more to this.
So let’s take a look and an analysis.
(NOTE: This Part. 1 covers the pre-release PR, the public responses to them and the first two episodes)
The Backstory of Danny Rand aka Iron Fist.
Daniel Thomas “Danny” Rand aka Iron Fist is a Marvel Comics character created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and debuted in May 1974 in Marvel Premiere Issue 15.
Danny Rand is a blonde, green-eyed (usually green anyway) white billionaire. After a tragic plane crash in the Himalayas that kills his parents, Danny finds his way to the mystical city of K’un-Lun. There, he trains in martial arts and chi until he defeats the dragon Shou-Lao and becomes the Iron Fist, K’un-Lun’s champion, and guardian. He then returns to his home in New York to reclaim his family’s company and fight crime as the Iron Fist.
A white man goes to somewhere in Asia, becomes its champion, and returns to become a hero?
Classic white savior.
So in the era of 2016, where diversity is an issue both politically and in the media, this would not fly that well. So it seemed Marvel and Netflix had their hands full in trying to update this for this era. Even with the comics trying to work around this a few years ago (we’ll get to that later), it’s pretty clear the biggest problem Iron Fist would have.
The Press Release from Marvel and Netflix and the Public’s Responses.
(No love for House Tyrell here)
When the press first revealed that Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell from Game of Thrones) was cast as Danny Rand, the public was divided. On one hand, it is accurate to the comics, and source material adaptation is something any fan wants. However, as stated above, the white savior story has never done well in this modern era and prior to the announcement (and even before any of the Netflix shows came out), many wanted Danny Rand to be an Asian-American instead this time. Keith Chow, the founder of the pop-culture site Nerds of Color, wrote a piece asking Marvel to do so. And the blog, 18 Million Rising began a petition.
Thus began the great debate; stick to the original or change Danny’s race?
Many argued for Danny Rand to stay white, citing comic accuracy and how his friendship with Luke Cage highlights and deconstructs white privilege; a white Danny is crucial to him being an outsider within the city of K’un-Lun, already Shangri-La-ish and Asian mysticism inspired, as well as him being a billionaire crucial to deconstructing the common man’s problems. They also state that an Asian man being a martial artist is stereotypical and racist.
What these people fail to realize is that to be an outsider doesn’t necessarily mean he/she must be white. The billionaire argument falls flat when there have been white billionaire superheroes onscreen before him; Batman and Iron Man, just to name two big ones. As for the martial artist, many POC stereotypes can be used to deconstruct their character and be part of their character development.
Now, for those who want an Asian-American Danny Rand, Keith Chow leads the argument. In his article, “Marvel, Please Cast An Asian American Iron Fist”, he states that an Asian-American Danny can be used as a lens to look at many social issues Asian-Americans suffer, plus just the sake of being different from other billionaire superheroes can be seen as unique.
But regardless, Finn Jones; a blonde, blue-eyed white man was cast as Danny Rand, the lead, and Scott Buck; the exec producer for the fifth season of Dexter and a white man, became Iron Fist’s showrunner. Leaving a lot of people to be desired, March 17th came.
The First Three Episodes
(Warning: Spoilers if you haven’t seen them yet)
(They're running away from the bad press)
If you’ve seen "Batman: Begins", the first few episodes are basically the same premise; Danny Rand returns to New York, to reclaim his money and his family company, Rand Enterprises. But since he’s been gone for 15 years, no one believes it's him and just waves him off as a crazy homeless guy; every time he’s either forced out or fighting their security guards.
At one point, he tries to get a job at a local dojo, and seeing how the teacher Colleen Wing is Asian he talks to her in Mandarin…only for her to respond that she only speaks English and Japanese.
When he finally gets through with Joy, a childhood friend, and employee at Rand Enterprises, he is instead sent to a mental hospital.
At the mental hospital, he tries to tell everyone he is Danny Rand but alas, everyone at the hospital is either mentally handicapped or determined to keep him there. When Joy comes across an old photo of the two as kids, she sends Danny a pack of M&M’s. Why? They used to eat M&Ms except for the brown ones. A corny, but admittedly, sweet moment. Danny then escapes the mental hospital by punching out a wall using the Iron Fist ability and…it’s kind of a lackluster show of force; a fist glowing gold that manages to blow away a metal door.
To be determined if the ability will be shown better later in the show.
With nowhere else to go, Danny is forced to stay with Colleen for the time being. And he briefly lectures her on how to properly do martial arts. To a woman who teaches martial arts and has done so her whole life. And in her own dojo. As if that wasn't condescending enough, Danny later takes over one lesson and ends up hurting one of the kids. When Colleen confronts him about it, he instead inquires if she's training kindergarteners or warriors. Rude would be mildly putting his behavior.
The first three episodes have not done a good job of setting the stage; they’re very slow paced and some shots are unnecessarily slow or zoomed in. There’s also a plot point of Danny having flashbacks to the plane crash that left him orphaned but the transitions are frigid and don’t flow as well.
Plus Finn Jones’ portrayal of Danny doesn’t make us sympathize or relate. In fact, for the most part, he comes off as an entitled frat boy who spent a semester in East Asia and now spends his time trying to pick up girls by saying he’s into meditation, tai chi and is ‘totally’ Zen.
Admittedly, this is also somewhat filtered through my own lens as these are my thoughts as much as they are analyses of pre-existing opinions. But it seems Marvel’s Iron Fist doesn’t provide a unique tone and theme as its sister shows did. Perhaps when Part 2 rolls around, it will have done so.
