After over a year of hearing no new information about Marvel’s Iron Fist Netflix show and months of speculation that plans for the series had actually been scrapped, details of the new show are finally starting to trickle in. Now we have some idea of how the show will set itself apart from Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, was willing to give out some more specifics about Iron Fist.
[Iron Fist] still takes place in the same world, but I think the Danny Rand character himself will have a different perspective on the world than the characters you’re seeing now…Danny Rand is a totally different character and the world that he comes from, and the way that he obtained his powers and his skills all come from somewhere completely different. I think fans will be pleased.
Joe Quesada spoke with Comic Book Resources at the Daredevil Season 2 premiere and shared his thoughts on how Iron Fist will differentiate itself from the Marvel Netflix shows that have come before. And, the idea that Danny Rand will have “a totally different perspective on the world” lends itself well to the character’s origins in the comics.
While we don’t know yet if his origin will be exactly the same as that of his comic counterpart, who first showed up in May 1974, the basis for Iron Fist’s powers is completely mystical in nature. Danny Rand’s father had discovered the mystical city of K'un-L'un as a child and is taken in as the ruler’s adopted son. He later returns there with a young Danny and his mother, but before finding the city, both parents are killed. Danny is then taken in by the people of the city and trained in the martial arts. At 19, Danny is given the power of the Iron Fist after defeating a dragon.
As you can see, the fantastical nature of Danny gaining his Iron Fist powers goes quite a bit further than the other Marvel on Netflix series have gone. Even with sabotaged experiments, freak accidents and mutant powers, the shows are still grounded in something that’s much closer to our reality and things that could possibly happen (although, you know, not things that would probably happen). Iron Fist will finally introduce all-out magic to Marvel’s Netflix world.
In the past few months we’ve learned who will play Iron Fist (Finn Jones), who the likely main villain will be (Steel Serpent) and who some of the other characters in Iron Fist will probably be (Jessica Jones’ Jeri Hogarth and Shang-Chi to name two of them). Now, all we have to do is wait until sometime next year, when we can finally see how Joe Quesada and the rest of the Marvel team has put Iron Fist together.
