With Netflix and Disney delivering a double blow to Marvel’s Netflix-verse, we take a good long look at the mixed reception to Iron Fist, and why it just might be worth saving.
With the abrupt cancellation of Marvel’s Iron Fist, the five became four. Just under a week from the release of the third season of the critically acclaimed Daredevil on Netflix, the Defenders-verse suddenly had a sizeable hole in it, shaped exactly like Danny Rand and company. While this was a surprise to many, including us, it’s now becoming clear that the future of Marvel’s Netflix shows is looking a little bleaker than before. As of writing, Netflix has also axed Luke Cage.
Daredevil is out now, but it’s not clear what the future holds for the Netflix-verse’s top dog. After a second season of questionable quality, Jessica Jones is now filming a third season. The Punisher, starring Jon Bernthal as the titular character is aiming for its second season. According to Marvel’s own Jeph Loeb, there’s no plans for the Defenders to get back together in their own special mini-series any time soon either.
"Yes, we'd like to see the head of Netflix?"
Iron Fist follows the adventures of Danny Rand. Based on the Marvel Comics character, Danny is the only survivor of a plane crash in the Himalayas that kills his parents. Rescued by the monks of Kun-Lun, one of the seven capital cities of heaven, he trains and earns a mystical power known as the Iron Fist. After years in Kun Lun, he returns to New York to claim his inheritance. Living with martial arts teacher Colleen Wing in a small apartment in Chinatown, he soon discovers that his past is about to catch up to him.
It’s no secret that the first season of the show wasn’t popular with critics. While most of the Netflix Marvel shows were scoring in the high 80s, low 90s on Rotten Tomatoes, Iron Fist managed to scrape out a measly 19% (not nearly as bad as the frigid critical reception towards Inhumans) and sidled into place as the middle child of the Netflix Marvel family. So what’s the case for saving the show?
Full disclosure, this article was written just after Iron Fist was cancelled. The cancellation of Luke Cage happened roughly thirty minutes before we planned to release this, catching all of us off-guard and forcing some rewrites. While we have plenty of nice things to say about Harlem’s hero, we think it’s best to keep the focus on Iron Fist for now.
SPOILERS AHEAD, you have been warned!
Season One was bad, but even it had its good moments
It’s plain to see that the first season was several levels below the generally stellar first seasons of the other shows. It was levelled with all kinds of criticism, from Finn Jones’ performance as Danny Rand, to a weak side cast, to bad choreography and terrible villains.
But was it fun to watch? I’d say so. Did it have its fair share of promising moments? Yes. Did I still binge it while waiting for The Defenders to be released? Absolutely. The fact of the matter is, it simply isn’t unwatchable as the critics suggest. Look at it as a prequel to The Defenders and suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad.
Season Two was better
Marvel TV wasn’t one to ignore the criticism of the first season either. A lot of it was taken onboard. Things changed, and when the second season was released, we were greeted by a very different show. The quality had gone up several notches, with the introduction of a new villain in the form of Alice Eve’s deeply unnerving portrayal of Typhoid Mary and a story about Danny trying to prove that he’s worthy of the power he’s been granted, and ultimately a well-written and surprising twist: maybe he isn’t worthy. Season 2 was a great shot in the arm for the show.
Finn Jones’ latest performance as Danny Rand
Finn Jones got some flak for his performance as Danny in the first season of the show, but how much of that was really his fault?
Finn Jones as Danny Rand
As it turns out, almost none of it. When Jones put in a guest appearance as Danny in the second season of Luke Cage, he proved he was every inch the Danny Rand we all loved from the comics: driven, resourceful and ultimately self-aware of how bizarre his own backstory sounds to an outsider. Danny’s appearance in Luke’s show was one of the best moments in Luke Cage’s second season. When the time came for Jones to return to his own show, he brought that back with him, and the show was better for it.
Jessica Henwick’s performance as Colleen Wing
Edging out Pom Klementieff’s portrayal of Mantis in the second Guardians of the Galaxy film by a matter of weeks, Jessica Henwick was one of the first Asian actresses to take up a role in the MCU. Her performance as martial arts instructor Colleen Wing was one of the few things critics praised in both seasons of the show. Henwick carries her cage-fighting, intelligent and capable character through the second season, where the writers made a bold story decision: shift the power of the Iron Fist from Danny to someone who’s worthy of it: Colleen herself. Few shows have sidekicks so good you begin to question whether they’re actually the main character.
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing
It isn’t a stretch to say Colleen is a standout supporting character, and cutting the show off before we get to see what happens next is practically criminal.
Season Two had good villains
We could talk about Sacha Dhavan’s Davos, who’s excellent in his own right, but he didn’t quite manage to match Alice Eve’s performance as Typhoid Mary.
Sacha Dhavan and Alice Eve in Iron Fist Season 2
Originally a villain from the Daredevil comics, Typhoid Mary made her MCU debut in the second season. A mercenary with multiple personalities, Eve gave us a great secondary villain, terrifyingly competent, utterly ruthless and unnervingly close to Danny Rand himself. While her fate isn’t totally clear following the final showdown, and she could still appear in other shows, let’s not forget that it was the writers and directors of Iron Fist that decided to include the character and cast Eve. Proof that the show can have both good heroes and good villains too.
There are supporting characters with unfinished arcs
A key element of Danny’s return to New York is his discovery that his childhood friends Joy and Ward Meachum, played by Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey, are now in charge of his family’s company. At different points, they’ve been both allies and enemies to Danny. While Joy is left alone and broken at the end of the second season, Ward’s ongoing struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse lead him to accompany Danny on his journey overseas.
Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey as Joy and Ward Meachum
It’s been a great character arc for Ward in particular. The possibility remains that Danny or Colleen will return in other shows, but the cancellation is likely to be the end for supporting characters like Joy and Ward.
It’d be a waste of a cliffhanger and an even bigger waste of a storyline with great potential
A lot happened in the final episodes of the second season: Colleen was given the power of the Iron Fist and acted as a vigilante on the streets of New York, while Danny and Ward left on their own adventures in Asia. An epic cliffhanger featuring Danny using the iconic pistols of popular character Orson Randall pointed to a fantasy storyline about the Seven Cities of Heaven. With the cancellation, the huge potential of that story is now going to sit and gather dust.
Want to see what happens after this? Not according to Netflix, you don't.
We don’t get to see the consequences of the decision to give Colleen the Iron Fist, or Danny and Ward’s adventures in Japan, which might have given the show a fresh start. Thanks to the cancellation, we’re left with a whole load of plot threads left dangling.
Representation is important…
Asian faces in the MCU are, perhaps unsurprisingly, still pretty rare
Roll your eyes if you must, but as an Asian guy, seeing other Asians on screen does matter. If Marvel could celebrate both African and African-American culture in Black Panther, which is widely regarded as one of the MCU’s top films, then couldn’t Iron Fist have done the same thing for us Asian people? Good representation and cultural awareness aren’t just nice token gestures, they can make film and TV better.
Cancelling Iron Fist leaves the door open for the other shows to be picked off
With its lower ratings, and presumably lower viewer numbers, Iron Fist must’ve seemed like the perfect target. Following the events of The Defenders, the various Marvel Netflix shows began to drift apart, pursuing their own particular character stories and arcs almost entirely independent of one another. There’s just no reason for them to come together, which is probably why another season of Defenders isn’t on the cards, according to Jeph Loeb.
So, is the door is open for the other shows to get cancelled? While we’d like to stay optimistic, Netflix just signalled their willingness to go further, axing Luke Cage as well. That should be all the proof you need.
Conspiracy theory time. Marvel’s not under any particular obligation to keep the shows going. Their viewership is much smaller compared to the number of people who’ll go watch a Marvel movie in cinemas. Given that Kevin Feige, the man behind the rest of the MCU, is famously not fond of the Netflix shows, this leaves a crack in the door for the rest of the shows to be axed and tossed out of the continuity. Is this all a plan?
Netflix has been silent on a potential Heroes for Hire/Daughters of the Dragon show
Netflix called time on Iron Fist, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the show is over. Rumours of a Heroes for Hire show have been circulating, which would be a decent way to get both Danny and Luke back on our screens. The rumoured Daughters of the Dragon show would presumably do the same for Colleen, and Luke’s ally Misty Knight. With Disney planning their own streaming service to rival Netflix, which will feature other content, including The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars series, there’s still room for the show to be resurrected on there in some form.
Maybe it’s time for some healthy optimism, but wouldn’t be surprising to learn that this is it for Iron Fist. After all, “cancellation” is a heavy word to throw around.
All images belong to Netflix and Marvel.
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