Marvel’s Iron Fist: 10 Spoiler Free Reactions To First Six Episodes

Iron Fist is the latest Marvel comics property to reach new audiences with a live-action Netflix series, following the success of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Asyi too chose to step away from Twitter after the debate with Jones over the race of Iron Fist. He fights against the criminal element corrupting New York City with his incredible kung-fu mastery and ability to summon the awesome power of the fiery Iron Fist. While she admits that every team needs a lighthearted member (especially a team with members like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Matt Murdock), Iron Fist’s Danny Rand has no place in this group.

Not only is it the last series in the Netflix-Marvel deal leading up to the superhero mash-up series, “The Defenders”, but the martial-arts focus of “Iron Fist” has drawn attention among some who believe the title character should have been played by an Asian actor.

On Sunday, Jones shared the following speech from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Riz Ahmed where Ahmed addressed the importance of representation in film.

Even if you can put aside issues of cultural appropriation – and the ham-fisted “Iron Fist” doesn’t make that easy, given that it feeds its yoga-bro lead character a series of inert lines about Shaolin wisdom and Buddhist teachings – this superhero drama just feels inessential. While the character has been canonically white, fans had campaigned for an Asian American actor to take on the role to avoid some of the character’s white savior syndrome.

The actor told Geeks of Color critic Asyiqin Haron that he shouldn’t make assumptions about Iron Fist before he had a chance to see it.

In a review not as harsh as others, Luke Lancaster of CNET called Jones “likeable enough” and said fight scenes were “good enough” but claims the series is faced with the hard task of following Marvel’s other Netflix projects.

Iron Fist is not a series afraid to take it slow. However, based on what I’ve seen of the series, it very much still has the potential to sit alongside Daredevil and Jessica Jones as one of the best shows Marvel and Netflix have produced.

At the same time, Iron Fist does get a lot right. “Jones, by comparison, seems flat, lacking that crucial gravitas”, wrote Opam. For a show about martial arts, “the fighting is both brief and unconvincing” and that Iron Fist is “easily the worst of the Netflix Marvel shows” as it suffers from the same pacing problems of the other Netflix/Marvel fares from its very beginning. It would be one thing if the sparse fight scenes served to build anticipation and excitement for the future, but the plodding narrative only contributes to a sense of hyper-vigilance, of waiting eagerly for any sign of a glowing fist or another demonstration of Danny’s freshly acquired skills. And that’s just in comparison to the other three Netflix-Marvel shows. “…the truth is, Iron Fist is as disposable as aluminum foil”, she concludes. “I still stand firm on my beliefs”.

Polygon’s Susana Polo writes that the show has “problems with delivering exposition, crafting consistent characters, and even basic dialogue writing”. It does have some sort of specific goal against its intended enemy, so maybe that’s the moment when the weapon gets to really shine.

There are aspects of the show that do glow in a good way.

“Jones” Danny is likeable enough. Jessica Henwick is equal parts soulful and blunt as Colleen Wing-if there’s a character who embodies one half of the beating hearts of this show it’s definitely her. Even while I haven’t loved the whole run, The Defenders lead-up seasons have been objectively good thus far.

Critical opinion is in for Marvel’s Iron Fist, the final piece of the Defenders puzzle set to premiere on March 17 on Netflix.