Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Finn Jones (Danny Rand / Iron Fist), Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing), Tom Pelphrey (Ward Meachum), Jessica Stroup (Joy Meachum), David Wenham (Harold Meachum), Ramon Rodriguez (Bakuto), and Sacha Dhawan (Davos) with Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, and Wai Ching Ho as Madame Gao
IRON FIST SEASON ONE
Produced by Marvel Television
Originally aired on Netflix
Number of Episodes: 13
Initial Streaming: March 17, 2017
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Iron Fist: Season One Facts
Iron Fist was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane for Marvel Comics, debuting in Marvel Premiere # 15 in 1974. Danny Rand was the son of Wendell Rand, a character that happened upon the mystical city of K’un-Lun when he was a young boy and saved the life of the city’s ruler Lord Tuan after which he was adopted as Tuan’s son. After leaving K’un-Lun, Wendell became a wealthy entrepreneur in the United States who went on to father a child named Daniel. When Danny was nine, Wendell took him on an expedition in search of K’un-Lun (along with Danny’s mother Heather and Wendell’s business partner Harold Meachum) where Danny plunged off the pathway, taking his mother and father with him since they were tied together. Harold offered to save only Danny and Heather (whom he loved), and forced Wendell to plunge to his death. From there, Heather and Danny encountered a pack of wolves and Heather was devoured by the wolves in a sacrifice play to save Danny. Young Daniel is taken by locals before the ruler of K’un-Lun: Yu-Ti and a vengeance-seeking Danny is schooled in the martial arts, in which Danny excels like none before him. At the age of 19, Danny conquers the ancient dragon Shou-Lao to attain the immortal power of the Iron Fist, obtaining a dragon-shaped brand on his chest during the confrontation with the dragon. In time, Danny returned to New York and eventually began a career as a superhero, aided by the likes of Misty Knight and Collenn Wing (collectively known as the “Daughters of the Dragon”). Danny’s adventures soon united him with Luke Cage (Power Man) and they formed a partnership known as “Heroes for Hire.”
Luke Cage (portrayed by Mike Colter) was introduced in Marvel Television’s 2015 series Jessica Jones: Season One and went on to star in his own series: 2016’s Luke Cage: Season One. Misty Knight (portrayed by Simone Missick) was introduced in the Luke Cage series as a NYPD detective.
The Iron Fist was created during a time when martial arts themed heroes were becoming a fixture within popular culture. Danny Rand debuted a mere 5-months after Marvel Comics introduced Shang-Chi and a month after Shang-Chi became featured in his own ongoing series: The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu. Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Danny Rand / Iron Fist was introduced in his own Marvel Television series 4-years before Shang-Chi was formally introduced in the 2021 Marvel Studios film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. While Iron Fist explores the mystical city of K’un-Lun, Shang-Chi introduces the mystical city of Ta Lo. Both mystical cities are extra-dimensional, meaning they exist outside the physical boundaries of the MCU 616-Universe, yet upon the Sacred Timeline. The notion of extra-dimensional realities was formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2016 Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The primary events of Iron Fist take place in the year 2016, but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings revealed that Shang-Chi’s father Xu Wenwu had lived upon the MCU Sacred Timeline for some 1,000-years, enabled by his discovery and subsequent wielding of the powerful and mystical ancient relics known as the Ten Rings. While Wenwu’s physical life spanned a Millenium, the cities of both Ta Lo and K’un-Lun are essentially timeless Realms. The gates of K’un-Lun can be accessed by the physical world every 15-years, while Ta Lo can be accessed through a protective forest in Asia.
Dragons are crucial parts of both Iron Fist and Shang-Chi comic book stories. The beasts (specifically Shou-Lao) are only alluded to in the Iron Fist series, but after the large skeletal remains of a dragon were shown in Marvel Television’s The Defenders, dragons were formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in all their glory in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with The Great Protector and The Dweller in Darkness both prominently featured in the film.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Marvel Television was founded on June 28, 2010, roughly six-months after the Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment and just over two years after the introduction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Marvel Studios with the theatrical release Iron Man in 2008. Jeph Loeb was named Executive Vice President of Marvel TV upon the launch, working in a position that was similar to the one that Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege held on the movie side of things. While projects surrounding The Hulk and Jessica Jones were in various phases of development by Marvel TV, it wasn’t until 2012 that a television series under the new regime truly got off the ground and that series was Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. A Pilot for the show was ordered by ABC over the Summer of 2012, with intentions to set the series within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, coming off the monumental success of Marvel Studios’ The Avengers as well as the other five films that comprised Phase One of the MCU: the aforementioned Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk (distributed by Universal Pictures), Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.
Shortly after the debut of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel Television began shopping four individual miniseries that would culminate in a team-up series; the same formula that Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios team used in their First Phase of MCU films from 2008-2012 which culminated in The Avengers. These shows would be based on Marvel characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, and would culminate in a team-up series: The Defenders. The Netflix streaming service quickly reached a deal with Marvel Entertainment and Daredevil debuted on April 10, 2015, followed by Jessica Jones on November 20, 2015, a Second Season of Daredevil on March 18, 2016, Luke Cage on September 30, 2016, Iron Fist on March 17, 2017, and The Defenders on August 18, 2017. These shows were much darker in tone than traditional Marvel Studios movies were, and they were for the most part met with widespread critical acclaim. The most praise was heaped upon actor Charlie Cox and his portrayal of Matt Murdock / Daredevil, actor Vincent D’Onofrio for his portrayal of Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin, actress Kristen Ritter as Jessica Jones, David Tennant as Kilgrave / The Purple Man, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / The Punisher (who debuted during the Second Season of Daredevil), and Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth. Daredevil eventually produced three critically acclaimed Seasons while Jessica Jones produced three as well, and The Punisher had two highly praised Seasons of his own. The First Season of Luke Cage was well received, but both Iron Fist and The Defenders team-up series were divisive. Though these Netflix shows were scripted to be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, callbacks to the MCU movies were limited, but certainly there for fans that were paying attention.
MCU Easter eggs in the First Season of Daredevil begin with the show’s overall villainous plot as several crime lords have come together and risen to power amidst the rebuilding of portions of New York following the Chitauri invasion led by the Asgardian God of Mischief Loki as seen in The Avengers. The criminal underworld is fueled by drugs, financial conspiracies, human trafficking, and of course murder, and Matt Murdock quickly finds himself in a war to bring the regime down both in court alongside his best friend and fellow lawyer Foggy Nelson and on the streets as the black-mask-wearing Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. The event that MCU fans know as “The Battle of New York” is referred to as “The Incident” throughout the series. Other MCU Easter eggs in Season One of Daredevil include framed newspapers in the office of reporter Ben Urich of the stories he wrote on The Battle of New York as well as The Hulk’s fight with the monstrous Abomination (as seen in The Incredible Hulk). Also, the iconic Stan Lee, known for his numerous cameo appearances across Marvel Cinematic Universe films and beyond can be seen in a framed picture hanging on the wall at the police precinct. Furthermore, in context to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, Daredevil illustrates the consequences of big superhero fights such as the Battle of New York and how common people are affected. The Battle of New York left portions of New York in ruins, and The Kingpin and his cohorts have taken advantage of that, working from the shadows to profit from the carnage and building quite the empire for themselves at the expense of the innocent and the impressionable. Tackling these issues subtly sets up the premise of Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War, a film that would address the outcry by many citizens for superheroes to be kept in-check via government regulation with Harlem (The Incredible Hulk), New Mexico (Thor), New York (The Avengers), London (Thor: The Dark World), Washington DC (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and Nigeria, South Africa and Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron) all playing host to extravagant battles involving The Avengers that were costly in terms of both physical destruction and human lives.
Behind the scenes as Marvel Television continued to take on new projects, Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios team were reportedly none too thrilled with the intended expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into television and streaming and a sort of real-life Civil War erupted within Marvel. This was a fight over characters and themes. As far as Marvel Entertainment as a whole was concerned, their shows and films existed in ONE Shared Universe, and everything was “All Connected.” On Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios’ side however, these shows were seen at the time as irrelevant, and the movies were all that mattered. Joss Whedon, who directed two Avengers movies for Marvel Studios in 2012 and 2015, respectively, while also assisting in the development of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in fact called the divide between Marvel TV and Marvel Studios out publicly in 2015, around the time that Daredevil was released on Netflix and that Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron was released in theaters, stating “I think actually the movie people were a little bit cross about [Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]. They were sort of like ‘Well you can have this but not this. And this but not that.’ It’s complicated enough as it is without me adding another layer of complication. We also created a TV show called S.H.I.E.L.D. right before they made a movie where they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. So, everybody’s having a GREAT time!”
Future written works would reveal that Kevin Feige resented Marvel Television over Jeph Loeb and his team being given control over Daredevil and other Defenders characters after Marvel regained the rights to them because he had intentions of using them in the films, and this made for a somewhat hostile environment where Jeph Loeb and his team worked hard to stay true to the narrative that was being told in the Marvel Studios films while Kevin Feige and his team made no effort to acknowledge anything that was happening on the television side of things. Kevin Feige was furthermore frustrated over having to answer to Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter and his Marvel Creative Committee which oversaw all MCU projects at the time.
On August 31, 2015, everything came to a head with the announcement from The Walt Disney Company that moving forward, Marvel Studios would move out from under Marvel Entertainment and would fall directly under the jurisdiction of Walt Disney Pictures with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige answering directly to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter. Reports emerged that revealed Kevin Feige had nearly resigned as Marvel Studios President due to the rift between himself and Perlmutter that had worsened over the course of the development of Captain America: Civil War. Disney CEO and Chairman Bob Iger talked Feige down with the promise that changes would come imminently, and those changes finally manifested themselves at the end of the Summer. These changes dramatically altered Marvel Studios as not only did Feige no longer have to deal with Perlmutter, but he no longer had to deal with the Marvel Creative Committee either, and the divide between the movie and film divisions that already existed widened to the point that each of the television shows significantly reduced their references to the events of the films, and to where most fans eventually grew to believe that only the productions that were produced by Marvel Studios were considered official MCU canon by Marvel Studios. In fact, despite many of the actors who signed Marvel Television contracts doing so under the impression that their shows took place within the MCU and an understanding that the potential was there for movie crossovers, it wasn’t until 2019’s Avengers: Endgame that the first instance of a character that was introduced by Marvel Television formally reprised their role within the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a movie and that was done on a technicality when James D’Arcy reprised his role as a Variant of his Agent Carter character Edwin Jarvis during the 1970’s portion of The Avengers’ Time Heist. Aside from that, Kevin Feige showed no interest in bringing characters introduced by Marvel Television to the big screen for MCU crossovers, and during the climactic Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame, characters from The Defenders Saga were nowhere to be seen.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
In the meantime, in addition to ABC’s Agent Carter (produced with some input from Marvel Studios), Marvel Television went on to produce several other series’ including the widely hated Inhumans show on ABC and in select theaters (September 29, 2017), three Seasons of Runaways on Hulu (November 21, 2017), two Seasons of Cloak and Dagger (June 7, 2018) on Freeform, and Helstrom on Hulu (October 16, 2020). Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. meanwhile lasted for seven Seasons, ending on August 12, 2020, and Iron Fist got a Second Season on Netflix on September 7, 2018.
From there, on December 10, 2019, following the promotion of Kevin Feige to Marvel Chief Creative Officer by The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios with Jeph Loeb leaving Marvel Entertainment and the Studio focusing its television content on the production of shows for the upstart Disney+ streaming service that would be firmly and undisputedly set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with multiple character crossovers from movies to television and from television to movies.
Then, Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched what Kevin Feige has since labeled The Multiverse Saga. As Phase Four evolved, Feige began to explore some of the toys that his suddenly deeper and wider sandbox boasted, beginning with a deal with Sony Pictures (with whom Marvel Studios began working in 2015 when Spider-Man was brought into the MCU) that would canonize all of Sony’s past Spider-Man films and the entirety of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe with it. All of this came together in the production of the Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home which brought several characters from past Sony Spider-Man films into the MCU 616-Universe including Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3, and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man from The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. What may have been the worst kept secret in Hollywood history was still monumentally exciting for MCU fans and longtime Marvel movie fans alike, but the dual Spider-Man appearances weren’t the only intended surprise. For also appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home was Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil! Though his appearance was little more than a cameo, it was immensely thrilling to see Cox share the screen with Tom Holland (Peter Parker), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), and Marisa Tomei (Aunt May) and after more than three-years following the end of the Daredevil Netflix series, MCU fans could finally get excited for the character’s future. Around this time, Vincent D’Onofrio appeared in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye in a reprisal of his role as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin as well. Meanwhile, and due to the rocky past relationship between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television, fans openly wondered – and debated – whether or not the respective versions of Daredevil and Kingpin in No Way Home and Hawkeye were one in the same as the versions of the characters that appeared in the Netflix shows.
Following the Marvel Studios debuts of Cox and D’Onofrio, each of Marvel Television’s Netflix series’ moved over to Disney+ from Netflix on March 16, 2022. Then, at the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, Kevin Feige announced that Cox and D’Onofrio would reprise their respective roles in a Marvel Studios Disney+ series titled Daredevil: Born Again. From there, Charlie Cox appeared as Daredevil once again in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series on Disney+ (complete with the familiar Daredevil Netflix theme when She-Hulk questions who he is) and Cox and D’Onofrio each filmed scenes for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Echo. On top of all of that, Jon Bernthal (who debuted as Frank Castle / The Punisher in the Second Season of Daredevil) was confirmed to be appearing in Daredevil: Born Again in a reprisal of his Netflix role as well. In November of 2023, Marvel Studios announced a new branding of select projects under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner. These were explained as projects that would be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe that would focus on self-contained, character-driven stories that fans could enjoy without needing to catch up on other Marvel content. Echo was announced as the first MCU project under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
As the canon debate continued to rage, no one from Marvel Studios would either confirm or deny that the continuity of the now former Netflix shows would be honored. Then, the 2023 book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline seemed to confirm that the histories of the characters were not going to be honored, as there was no mention of either Daredevil of Kingpin in the book prior to their respective appearances in No Way Home or Hawkeye. However, during an interview with Screen Rant that aired on January 3, 2024 (less than three-months after the Official Timeline book was published), Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation: Brad Winderbaum confirmed that the Netflix shows were canon and that the events seen in those shows took place within the MCU 616-Universe and upon the Sacred Timeline. So, yes, these are the same versions of Daredevil and Kingpin whose journeys viewers of those now former Netflix shows followed! This was further confirmed the following day when a new trailer promoting Echo featured footage from the now former Netflix shows. Then from there, on January 10, 2024 (the day after all five episodes of Echo dropped on Disney+), each of the shows that comprised The Defenders Saga were moved to fit into the MCU chronology on Marvel’s Disney+ “MCU Timeline” menu page.
It really was “All Connected” all along!
Marvel Studios’ Echo series premiered on Disney+ on January 9, 2024, with a Mature rating and very much boasting the spirit of the now former Netflix shows with plenty of blood, violence, and hard-hitting action scenes mixed in. Charlie Cox briefly appeared in the first episode of Echo, suited up in his familiar red suit (Cox wore a predominantly yellow suit in She-Hulk) battling the deaf soon-to-be-hero. Meanwhile, Echo’s past with Wilson Fisk (first established in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye) was further explored with Vincent D’Onofrio stealing the show as Kingpin. As had been speculated in recent days, the past of Fisk as established in Daredevil was honored, specifically the murder of his father by his own hand when he was a child. Echo garnered a respectable 73% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was confirmed to have been significantly edited by Marvel Studios in post-production. While Echo was always intended to set the stage for Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again, that series has undergone numerous changes as well, with Marvel Studios deciding to completely overhaul the series mid-way through production. The decision came at a time of self-reflection for Kevin Feige and his team following the return to Disney of Bob Iger and during a challenging time for the Studio that in addition to a Writer’s and Actor’s strike included some of the worst-reviewed and worst-performing Marvel Studios productions since Feige went into independent filmmaking from the divisive Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, to the critically loathed Secret Invasion series, to the box office bomb The Marvels, and on to outside controversies that included the leave of longtime executive Victoria Alonso and the removal of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror (The Multiverse Saga’s intended Big Bad) due to a domestic violence incident and consequent arrest and convgiction. Iger and Feige came together to approach the future from a “Quality over Quantity” standpoint with many suggesting that the decision to make The Defenders Saga canon only came recently and was made in desperation due to the general feeling that what the people that were overseeing the production of Daredevil: Born Again were doing with the characters and the overall narrative just wasn’t working. Chris Ord and Matt Corman were therefore relieved of their duties and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, who previously worked for Marvel Studios on Moon Knight and Loki: Season Two, were brought in along with Dario Scardapane (who worked as a writer on The Punisher series) as the new showrunner. Daredevil: Born Again was originally slated for a 2024 release on Disney+ but is now expected to be released sometime in 2025. Daredevil regulars Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson have recently been confirmed to be reprising their respectful Daredevil roles of Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, another creative change that was made at the beginning of 2024.
Upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, Iron Fist: Season One takes place primarily after Luke Cage: Season One and before The Defenders. Daredevil: Season Two, Luke Cage: Season One, and Iron Fist: Season One all take place in-between 2015’s Ant-Man and 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
My Iron Fist: Season One Review
Snow Gives Way – Directed by John Dahl. Written by Scott Buck
So, I’m really not looking forward to watching and reviewing this series. I have heard a lot of really bad things about this show over the years, so I guess it will be interesting to see how much of the negativity is or isn’t warranted. I am not an “Iron Fist” fan in terms of the comics, so I don’t have a dog in that particular fight. All I’m really going into this series with are hopes that it entertains me and somehow enhances the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I thought the first episode was just fine. A presumed dead Danny Rand returns to New York City after spending 15-years in K’un-Lun and becoming the Iron Fist. In terms of the MCU itself, the plane crash that took the lives of Danny’s parents occurred in 2001, so when Danny disappeared, Bruce Banner had yet to become The Hulk (2005-ish), Tony Stark had yet to become Iron Man (2008), Thor had yet to be banished to Midgard (2010), Steve Rogers had yet to be pulled out of the Arctic Ice (2011), and The Avengers had yet to assemble against Loki in the Battle of the New York (2012). Danny Rand was returning to a world that had drastically changed and in which powered/ enhanced / gifted people were making headlines across the globe, with a lot of the recent headlines being negative ones.
Danny’s first disheveled and bare-footed move is to reach out to his childhood friends Ward and Joy Meachum, who are now high-ranking executives within Rand Enterprises, which was founded by Danny’s father Wendell and Joy and Ward’s father Harold. Danny is denied entry into the building, prompting him to fight his way in. After easily dispatching of Rand security, Danny ventures to the top of the building and confronts Ward and Joy. They profess that their father is dead and that they don’t believe that Danny is who he says he is because they know Danny to be dead and Danny is removed from the building by security, leaving him frustrated.
Danny befriends a local homeless man and reaches out to a local dojo owner named Colleen Wing, hoping to find work with her. Unimpressed by his appearance and demeaner, Wing ignores Danny. It sucks for Danny, because he is essentially homeless and penniless, yet he legally owns 51% of Rand Enterprises. Danny desperately confronts Ward, commandeering his car and trying to convince Ward that he is who he says he is by revealing details of their pasts and Ward’s senseless cruelty. Ward denies everything provoking Danny to lose his cool and he crashes Ward’s car. More than just a little shaken, Ward orders a hit on Danny’s life and Rand Security confront Danny after another failed attempt to find work with Wing. Danny once again dispatches of the men rather easily and Collenn witnesses some of his effectiveness as a fighter.
From there, Danny confronts Joy outside her home where she witnesses him displaying some of his remarkable agility. Danny tells Joy that Ward tried to have him killed. It is then revealed that Harold Meachum is very much alive and that he is still covertly pulling the strings of Rand Enterprises (Joy is unaware that Harold yet lives). Harold meets with Ward over the Danny situation, considering that the man claiming to be Danny Rand might in fact be him and strategizing with his son Ward on how to handle the situation. Then, when Danny reaches out to Joy yet again, she pretends to be intrigued to hear his tale, but actually drugs him at Ward’s behest and Danny is institutionalized.
As a character, I had no problem with Danny Rand in this episode. Finn Jones played Danny as a timid yet bold, kind-hearted young man that has returned to a very strange world and that worked for me. He also came across as a respectful and skilled fighter and that worked for me as well. I quite enjoyed the chase through the parade and was very intrigued by the Colleen Wing character. What didn’t work for me were the Meachum Family. My goodness, Ward is just weaselly and gross, Joy has no charisma, and Harold feels like a generic comic book supervillain living in the shadows and if he had a mustache, he would surely be twirling it. This could be problematic for the series as oftentimes heroes are defined by the villains they fight and that looks like it’s going to be an uphill battle out the gate for the Danny Rand character.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Shadow Hawk Takes Flight – Directed by John Dahl. Written by Scott Buck
The second episode of Iron Fist revolves around Danny Rand’s stay within the psychiatric ward that the Meachum Family had him submitted to. Danny is kept drugged, which prevents him from using his abilities while doctors assess his case, complete with Harold Meachum keeping an eye on things through surveillance. Danny eventually convinces Doctor Paul Edmonds that he is who he says he is but loses Edmonds with his story of venturing to K’un-Lun and becoming the Iron Fist. Edmonds throws Danny a bone, suggesting he simply show him his powers, but Danny insists that he can’t while he is drugged, and Edmonds insists that Danny stay for a while until the apparent mental break he has suffered can be repaired.
It doesn’t look good for Danny, but in the meantime, he has made an ally in Colleen Wing and has convinced Joy that he really is Danny Rand. Harold Meachum is convinced too, and his curiosity is especially piqued when Danny refers to himself as a “Sworn Enemy of The Hand” (viewers were formally introduced to The Hand in the Daredevil series). This provokes Meachum to leave his hideaway and meet with Danny (which obviously irritates The Hand) after which he orders Ward to have Danny moved to a safehouse while Harold works to determine Danny’s true potential and how that can be of use to him. Ward (who is SUCH a dick) instead orders another hit on Danny’s life within the asylum, but Danny fends off the violence, accesses his powers, and takes his assailants out with the power of the Iron Fist, which he then uses to bust out of the wall of the facility.
Coming out of this episode, I have plenty of empathy for Danny and I’m curious to see how The Hand ties in to the story of the Iron Fist. Daredevil: Season Two really emphasized the power of The Hand and I feel like the mysticism that surrounds that organization may fit better into this particular hero’s story instead of struggling to gel the way that it did in the much more grounded world of Daredevil.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch – Directed by Tom Shankland. Written by Quinton Peeples
While Harold Meachum is haunted by whatever his commitments are to The Hand, Colleen Wing begrudgingly decides to shelter Danny Rand, despite ongoing threats from Rand, and Danny declines an offer of $100 million from Joy to walk away from his father’s business. A frustrated Danny turns to family friend Jeri Hogarth (first introduced in Jessica Jones) to help him legally fight the Meachum Family and claim what is rightfully his. From there, Colleen boots Danny from her dojo after he physically assaults one of her students for disrespect, but Jeri provides Danny with a lofty place to stay.
In the meantime, Danny is desperate to find something … anything that will conclusively prove that he is who he says he is, as Jeri has reached dead end after dead end in her search due to interference from the Meachum Family. Danny then discovers just how deeply that interference goes when he ventures to the hospital in search for his medical records, only to find a man that is on a mission from Ward to burn the place down and kill anyone who gets in his way. A furious Dany confronts Ward and Joy at a restaurant, interrupting their meal, and after Ward treats him with even more hostility, Danny announces that he has aligned with Hogarth and is coming for what is his.
Rattled by Ward’s ruthless ambition, Joy decides to covertly handover a birthday gift that was created and given to her by a young Danny, which boasts Dany’s full fingerprint. This case is headed to court, and Ward is deeply rattled. He ventures to meet Harold in his panic, and Danny follows him, but when he attempts to enter the building, Ward intercepts him and knocks him off the high ledge.
Also in this episode, Colleen begins competing at an underground fighting facility for money, billing herself as the “Daughter of the Dragon” and performing surprisingly well, despite her size disadvantage, and Harold convinces Ward to use Joy to purchase a local pier that The Hand desires, and she pulls off the deal by promising a liver donation to the nephew of Raj Patel, which Ward somehow finds disturbing.
I loved seeing Hogarth here and I really liked the way that she was used and how she stood up to Ward. Colleen’s fight was also executed well; I certainly enjoyed it more than Luke Cage vs Diamondback from Luke Cage: Season One. I have no problem with rooting for Danny to succeed, and I actually quite liked seeing him lose his cool at the restaurant, but the Meachum Family continue to drag this series down. They are easily the worst part of this series. As a viewer, I don’t feel anything but contempt for the lot of them and I’m sort of taken out of the show just about every time one of them are on the screen. Efforts were made to show some depth with Ward, showing Harold’s abuse of him and his own emotional frailty, but it’s all in vain for me, as I don’t care why he’s a prick, I just hate that he’s such a prick. Through three episodes, this series is seriously lacking in emotion and that’s making it difficult for me to establish a connection with it.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Eight Diagram Dragon Palm – Directed by Miguel Sapochnik. Written by Scott Reynolds
Danny awakens from his fall and discovers that Harold Meachum is still alive. Harold greets Danny warmly and tells Danny his story: how he got cancer and died from the disease but was resurrected via The Hand. Harold tells Danny that he can never tell Joy that he is alive and informs Danny that The Hand has infiltrated Rand. Harold makes it no secret that his extremely intrigued by Danny’s claim to be a “Sworn Enemy of The Hand” and that he wants Danny to stand as the Iron Fist and fight against The Hand with Harold when the time comes. Danny is thrilled to be reunited with the man that was like a second father to him, and Ward is of course drowning in jealousy and contempt. Harold orders Ward to cease all ongoing attempts to keep Danny out of Rand and to concede to Danny his rightful 51% stake in the company. Ward is flabbergasted but complies nonetheless and after warning Danny against trusting Harold, joins Joy in backing Danny at a press conference where he formally announces his return to Rand.
Though Jeri encourages Danny to lay low, he quickly interjects himself in company affairs, sitting in on a meeting in which Ward is announcing the development of a new disease-fighting drug by the company and its lucrative potential. A repulsed Danny shoots down the proposed price point and demands that the drug be sold at cost to the dismay of everyone in the room. Ward leaks the incident to the media while Danny and Joy share an evening together that is interrupted by an assault on Joy by hatchet-wielding Triad operatives. Danny successfully fights the men off in a decent hallway / elevator fight and reaches out to Colleen to discover who the men were. Danny quickly discovers that the entire ordeal pertained to the pier deal, but Joy’s attackers quickly stand down and beg forgiveness after Danny name-drops The Hand.
Meanwhile, as a reward for his securing of the pier, Madame Gao and The Hand reward Harold by letting him see Joy in-person through a nearby window. He notices the wound on her face though and asks for another favor. Gao complies and takes Harold to confront the men who attacked Joy and he murders the guy that admitted to striking her with a sword.
Also in this episode, Colleen continues to compete in the underground fights and let me go ahead and say that she is the highlight of this series for me. First and foremost, she is presented as a total badass and beyond that, the Marvel Television team were careful to show her honor and kindness as well, and she is like a breath of fresh air every time that she is on the screen. The opposite continues to be true for the Meachum Family. Though Joy was more likable in this episode, there just isn’t any chemistry between Finn Jones and Jessica Stroup. it’s there with Finn and Jessica Henwick and it’s even there with Finn and Carrie-Anne Moss believe it or not, but the Danny and Joy thing just doesn’t click. On top of that, the lack of emotion continues to hurt this series. The scene with Harold killing that guy for daring to lay a hand on Joy sounds awesome on paper and is something that any loving father can relate to, but it plays out with no emotional grounding whatsoever. I don’t know if it’s the performances or the music choices, but whatever it is, it’s a real problem for this series. The action is there, and the story is there, but the drama is severely lacking and again, this is preventing me from connecting with this series or the characters in it.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Under Leaf Pluck Lotus – Directed by Uta Briesewitz. Written by Christine Chambers.
Madame Gao and The Hand are back to heroin distribution in New York (as seen in Daredevil: Season One) and Danny Rand is none too thrilled. Meanwhile, Danny further rattles company executives when he is filmed apologizing for a Rand Chemical Factory that has been linked to cases of cancer within surrounding residents. Also, a stressed-out Ward takes heroin, much to the concern of his sister Joy.
Elsewhere, Claire Temple has arrived in the show, which is a plus in my book. She is introduced as a student of Collen’s, and it was cool to see her meet Danny Rand. After Danny, Claire, and Colleen share a dinner together at Colleen’s dojo, Danny recruits Wing to back him up as he tries to intercept an incoming heroin shipment. There, Danny discovers a Russian chemist that synthesized the new brand of heroin that Madame Gao and The Hand are pushing, but he is working for them against his will, as his daughter has been taken as a sort of insurance policy. Danny fights off the chemist’s guard, but the chemist is stabbed by the guard during the fight. With Colleen trailing the mobile shipping container that the fight took place in, Danny flees with the chemist and he and Colleen take the wounded man back to Colleen’s dojo where Claire meets them and does her best to provide medical care while being very concerned to learn that the situation involves The Hand, who Claire directly encountered in Daredevil: Season Two. As for the man that Danny bested in the fight, he is stabbed to death by Madame Gao.
Decent episode overall here. This series works best when it focuses on being a superhero Kung-Fu fighting show as opposed to trying to be a corporate legal drama.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Immortal Emerges from Cave – Directed by RZA. Written by Dwain Worrell.
So, just gotta say, the episode titles for this series are kinda dumb.
Nonetheless, Iron Fist finally found its emotion in its sixth episode, and I very much enjoyed the efforts by all involved here!
The emotional stuff is found in the story arc involving the wounded Russian chemist and his kidnapped daughter. Seeing this man barely clinging to life and his only concern being the wellbeing of his daughter and expressing that she is all that matters was heartbreaking and actor Olek Krupa did an outstanding job conveying his raw and sincere torment at the thought of her being hurt, and as a parent, how can you not relate to that!? Furthermore, Danny answering The Hand’s challenge in an effort to rescue the chemist’s daughter gave me something to really cheer Danny on for, and that raised the stakes of his fight and made it matter more to me as a viewer.
Danny basically endures three stages of Hell in the challenge and not only were each of the sequences well-shot and well-performed, but seeing Danny come face-to-face with Madame Gao and witnessing her fascination with him was pretty cool. Then, we get some actual character depth to Danny beyond his happy-go-lucky gullible persona as we see him refuse to take the life of his final opponent, to the apparent dismay of the monks who trained him. Danny turns out to be very much like Matt Murdock in that his respect for human life trumps all of the other proverbial cards in the deck, and for all of his obvious gratitude, there seems to be some degree of animosity within Dany for his masters and their ways.
Then, Madame Gao, impressed by Danny’s resolve, frees the chemist’s daughter and not only reveals that she has too been to K’un-Lun, but also that Danny is not the first Iron Fist that she has encountered! She also displays the enormity of her own powers by easily overpowering Danny before fleeing the scene. Great stuff all around.
Elsewhere, even Ward was not so bad in this episode. I thought a scene in the previous episode where he defiantly flipped off Harold to a presumed camera was pretty funny, and then this week, he and Danny actually share a team-up of sorts as they go out looking for the chemist’s daughter. Ward shows just a little bit of personality in this sequence and is terribly rattled by the discovery of the decapitated head, which does nothing for his ever-increasing stress.
We also got some good stuff with Claire and Colleen as they take the chemist to the hospital and Claire encounters some of her former colleagues and the chemist falls back into the hands of The Hand. Again, Colleen Wing is a badass and anytime Rosario Dawson is on the screen as Claire, this show, like the ones that preceded it, is better for it.
For me, this was easily the best episode of Iron Fist yet.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Felling Tree with Roots – Directed by Farren Blackburn and Written by Ian Stokes.
This episode opens with Harold Meachum being assaulted by two Hand operatives due to his withholding of knowledge pertaining to Danny Rand’s identity as the Iron Fist. Danny arrives in time to join Harold in fighting the men off and is disturbed by Harold’s decision to kill the men. Harold chops off his own fingers to make it appear as though the men did what they came there to do and Ward later happens upon the scene as Harold is cleaning up the mess, and Harold has an appalled Ward dispose of the bodies. Moving on, Danny and Colleen finally consummate their relationship, and I continue to really like them together.
Madame Gao fully steps out of the shadows, venturing to Rand to warn Dany against interfering with her affairs any further, threatening both Colleen and Claire should he fail to comply. Danny has no intentions of backing down of course, as he has quickly become convinced that Gao had something to do with the deaths of his parents. Danny reaches out to Hai-Qing Yang for backup against The Hand, and Yang offers Danny his full support.
Back at Rand, Joy convinces Ward to take a much-needed break from the company, promising her full support and Ward (rapidly losing his grip on his own sanity), agrees that this would be best for him. Danny ruffles even more feathers within Rand though, when he announces the shutdown of the Staten Island cancer-causing plant, with each employee retaining their salaries as the safety of the plant is investigated. The Board of Directors at Rand have had enough of Danny’s corporate campaigns to save the world and they vote Danny, Joy, and Ward out of the company.
In the meantime, Danny, Colleen, and Yang’s forces invade a Hand stronghold and reunite with the Russian chemist that was retaken by The Hand from Metro-General. He is dying now, and after Danny and Colleen inform him that his daughter has been saved by Rand, he allows himself to concede to death’s embrace, but not before revealing that Madame Gao has fled New York for China, landing at the same place that Danny and his family were flying to when their plane went down. This further fuels Danny’s belief that Gao had something to do with the crash that forever changed Danny’s life.
Elsewhere, Harold seizes Ward’s financial assets in an effort to prevent Ward from taking his corporate leave. This sends Ward over the edge, and consumed with rage, he repeatedly stabs his father, apparently killing him (again), and then disposing of Harold’s corpse.
A lot happened in this episode, but all of the corporate stuff – while important to the narrative – dragged it down quite a bit from the excellence of the previous episode.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
The Blessing of Many Fractures – Directed by Kevin Tancharoen. Written by Tamara Becher-Wilkinson.
Knowing that The Hand are sure to make a retaliatory strike against Danny that targets the people closest to him, this episode opens with Dany desperately trying to warn Claire about the pending danger, and though he is unable to reach her in time to do so, Colleen does, and Claire and Colleen make a strong stand against their assailants. Danny then discovers much to his dismay that Harold has been killed. Ward happens upon the scene and pretends to have had no idea about the fate of his father, and because he’s so sleazy and immoral, he actually chastises Danny and blames him, feeding into the guilt that was already rising within Danny. Assuming that The Hand were to blame, The Iron Fist vows to avenge Harold, prompting Ward to insist that Danny stay away from his family. When Danny leaves, Ward begins cleaning up Harold’s blood.
From there, Dany, Colleen, and Claire give chase to Gao, venturing to China. They experience a great deal of turbulence en route which rattles Danny, but Claire helps him calm himself. The three of them also share a philosophical debate over the lengths that Danny has prepared himself to go to. Danny has at this point allowed himself to at least begin to consider killing Gao, something that Claire insists can’t happen, but that Collen supports. This was a nice little sequence that shined a light on the moral conflict that had arisen within Danny and Colleen both, while Claire tries to be a moral conscience to them both, just as she had been previously for a couple of other New York heroes. Good stuff.
In China, Danny and Collen infiltrate another Hand facility. They both have individual fights against skilled adversaries. I especially enjoyed Danny’s showdown with the highly entertaining drunken Hand operative. Danny soon comes face-to-face with Madame Gao and after all of his suspicions of her are confirmed, he brings himself to refrain from killing her and instead vows to return to her to the United States.
Back in the United States, we get a lot of corporate stuff with the Meachum Family. Joy and Ward are both offered respective severances of $100 million to walk away from Rand without protest: the same amount that Danny was offered by them, which I will admit was a nice piece of writing, as Joy finds said offer insulting. Ward nonetheless finds the offer appealing. He in fact visits Lawrence Wilkins at Rand and offers to take a reduced rate of $30 million and to pay Wilkins $500,000 in exchange for a separate severance. Wilkins reveals that Joy had already declined the offer on both of their accounts though, infuriating Ward. He confronts his sister with intentions of lashing out at her for what he perceives as sabotage, but her kindness and confessed admiration of him sways him to back down and she then reveals that she hired a PI (none other than Jessica Jones) to stalk the Board members and that she had uncovered plenty of dirt that with which she and Ward can fight back against the Board.
Joy’s love and passion prompts Ward to decide to finally come clean with her and he takes her to Harold’s penthouse, but ultimately can’t bring himself to tell her about their father after all. As Joy presses, Ward angrily lashes out at her and tries to spin the story of why he brought her there before cruelly dressing Joy down and leaving an emotional Joy alone to dwell on his words.
This was a nice bounce-back episode. All of the China stuff worked for me and there was actually even a little chemistry between Ward and Joy at long last, and I think I need to fairly praise Tom Pelphrey for the wide range of emotions he displayed in his role throughout this episode. Ward was almost likable when he was being kind to Joy, while unhinged Ward seems to be the best possible version of the character. Great effort from all involved here!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
The Mistress of All Agonies – Directed by Jet Wilkinson. Written by Pat Charles.
Harold Meachum is back from the dead … and this show is immediately worse for it. Harold stumbling through the city in a confused state and muttering words and fragmented sentences like “I’m Rand” was really goofy, and his ensuing apology to a stunned Ward felt disingenuous and forced, and while I’m sure it was supposed to be on some level, it was just a poorly acted sequence. Ward is concerned by Harold’s newfound willingness to allow him to walk away from all of his responsibilities and consequent promise to replace him with Joy. Ward seeks out information on Harold’s information from Hai-Qing Yang, who ominously informs him that those who return from the dead are “worse” each time that they return. We see this on screen when Harold murders his assistant with an ice scream scooper after which he has heroin planted in Ward’s car, prompting Ward’s arrest and institutionalization into the same facility that Danny had resided in earlier in the Season. From there, Joy is lured into a reunion by Harold and quickly discovers that her father is still alive. To each their own, but I hated pretty much everything about the performance of David Wenham throughout this episode.
Meanwhile, Madame Gao has been taken back to Collen’s dojo where illness quickly befalls Colleen. Danny and Claire deduce that she has been poisoned amidst taunts from Gao and Colleen urges Danny to contact her sensei, assuring him that he will be able to help. Bakuto arrives with Collen on the brink of death and much to the annoyance of Madame Gao. He informs Danny that as the Iron Fist, Danny boasts the power to heal Colleen, which Danny obviously did not know. Bakuto coaches Danny through healing Colleen and then he and his men whisk her, Danny, and Gao away.
Elsewhere, we are introduced to Davos, who has arrived in New York City in search of Danny Rand.
Unfortunately, this series continues to be akin to a roller coaster ride.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Black Tiger Steaks Heart – Directed by Peter Hoar. Written by Quinton Peeples.
So, for everyone that didn’t see it coming (which I doubt is many), Bakuto works for The Hand and Colleen Wing has been a member of The Hand all along. Bakuto has obviously used her to obtain information on the Iron Fist, whom he knows is a key component in The Hand’s plans as either an ally or an adversary. He would prefer him to be an ally, and he treats Danny with kindness during their initial interactions, but Danny quickly deduces that things aren’t as benevolent as they seem and after an interaction with Gao (who has no love loss for Bakuto, who runs a different branch of The Hand than she does), discovers the truth about where he has been taken and the people who have taken him there.
Danny feels betrayed by Collen and an escalating bad situation is prevented from getting too worse by the arrival of Davos. Danny and Davos team-up against Bakuto and his students and fight their way out of the compound with an assist from Colleen. Bakuto stabs Danny however, costing Danny his ability to summon the Iron Fist. Davos insists that Danny must return to K’un-Lun.
Back in New York, Danny discovered that Harold was back alive and that he and Joy were now openly working together. Bakuto visits Harold and reveals that Gao is out of the picture and that Harold will be answering to him now, offering Harold an opportunity to lead a public life once more if he submits. Harold goes on from there to kill Lawrence Wilkins and cover it up as a suicide. A panicked Rand board reinstates the Meachum Family to their previous power.
Really didn’t love the twist of Colleen being in The Hand. Really didn’t love the performance of Ramon Rodriguez in any of the scenes that he was featured in, and my goodness has Harold Meachum drug this show down over the course of the previous two episodes. I don’t find myself very intrigued at all by where all of this is going ….
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Lead Horse Back to Stable – Directed by Deborah Chow. Written by Ian Stokes.
This episode opens with a flashback to K’un-Lun and when Danny became the Iron Fist … Don’t get too excited if this sounds like it’s something you’d be into. We don’t get to see much of the Heavenly Realm, aside from some snow and a cave, and we don’t get to see any dragons either. They are merely alluded to. The purpose of this sequence is simply to shine a little light on the relationship between Danny and Davos, which isn’t all that complex or interesting: Davos accepted Danny even though he was an outsider and they shared many childhood adventures together, but Danny was ultimately chosen to be the Iron Fist by the Elders, stealing from Davos what Davos believed was his birthright and Davos was willing to forgive and move on until Danny abandoned K’un-Lun and returned to the Earthly Realm that is the physical 616-Universe. Now, Davos is jealous and resentful, yet still wrestling with feelings of obligation to be loyal.
Davos and a wounded Danny reach out to Claire, who staples Danny’s wounds together while encouraging him to more than a destroyer. She is stunned to learn that Collen is a member of The Hand but decides to speak with her nonetheless when Colleen too arrives at her apartment. Colleen is under orders from Bakuto to report back Danny’s location to him once she finds him, but she has no interest in doing such. She simply wants to make right by Danny. Seeing how badly he is wounded inspires her to try and retrieve some antibiotics for him from one of her former students that has gone on to become a doctor. The doctor reports Colleen’s action to Bakuto however, who sends an escort to bring Colleen back to him. Enraged by Colleen’s love for Danny, which he views as betrayal, Bakuto orders two more of Collenn’s former students to submit their sensei to a bloodletting. They were a little too anxious to comply for my liking, but it was cool to see the direct callback to Daredevil that this was.
Meanwhile, Danny and Davos meet up with Joy and Harold, who is no Captain America with his little punching bag sequence and I did not appreciate that callback, because Harold Meachum sucks. Anyway, Harold and Joy have devised a scheme to zero out all of Bakuto’s funds within Rand and they hope this will draw Bakuto out and allow him to be captured and to be dealt with by Danny and Davos. Danny seems to be completely on-board with killing Bakuto (“cutting off the head of the snake”), which makes absolutely no sense given his recent interactions with Madame Gao, so that was a huge miss for me. Regardless, Danny and Davos stake out Bakuto, but their mission is interrupted by the emergence of a fleeing Colleen. Danny and Colleen share a nice sequence in the pouring rain where they make amends, but Davos is none too thrilled about it.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Bar the Big Boss – Directed by Andy Goddard. Written by Scott Reynolds.
This episode opens with Ward suffering hallucinations in the mental hospital. It’s obvious that he is terrified about the fate that may potentially befall his sister Joy, and after desperately trying to pay off his nurse to help him flee the facility, he is greeted by Bakuto, who stabilizes him with a revolutionary Hand drug and then offers him complete control of Rand in exchange for helping him kill Harold and take down the Iron Fist.
Ward soon ventures to Harold’s Penthouse, where Harold is pissed to see that he is free. Ward walks a line here between trying to sweet talk Joy into leaving with him and openly mocking Harold. Somehow, someway, the Ward character has become my favorite part of this series and I don’t really know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but Ward works for me as the defiant son who can no longer tolerate his father’s bullshit and when Harold tries to enforce his superiority and not allow Joy to leave, Ward pulls a gun and demands that Joy be allowed to leave with him …or else. What is maybe my favorite sequences of the entire show involving the Ward character is interrupted by the charisma vacuum that is the Bakuto character. He has of course set Ward up and he enforces his power, having his men gun-down Harold’s men and then shooting Joy in the stomach while threatening to decapitate Harold (which will apparently actually kill him) in order to lure Danny there.
Danny arrives and Bakuto decides to simply leave with him without further incident, which was one of the most anticlimactic moments of any of these now former Netflix shows that I have watched up to this point. I mean, I was really hoping we’d see Harold get decapitated, but no such luck. With The Hand gone, Harold and Ward rush Joy to the hospital for treatment where Harold makes fun of the sick people around him and praises Ward for having the ambition to betray him as he had. Harold then asserts that the Meachum Family will be back on top of the world together … once the Iron Fist is eliminated.
From there, Danny accesses the power of the Iron Fist to break free of Bakuto and a fight ensues in which Danny is joined by Colleen and Davos. This wasn’t bad at all. I loved seeing Danny kick the crap out of Bakuto, and then I loved even more seeing Colleen have a showdown with her sensei in the pouring rain. She bests Bakuto, but stops short of killing him … something that Davos quickly remedies. This provokes Danny and Davos into a fight that I didn’t enjoy. Davos angrily leaves and denounces Danny in the name of K’un-Lun after which Danny and Colleen discover that Bakuto’s body is gone. Meh, I never expected him to stay dead anyway.
Danny contacts Harold and informs him that their Bakuto problem has been solved and Harold thanks him for his efforts … then tips off the Drug Enforcement Administration, who come after Danny and Colleen at her dojo. Danny and Collen flee under duress, but only because Ward had tipped him off to Harold’s actions (nice touch there).
It looks like the Finale could revolve around Danny vs Harold, which isn’t entirely awful as long as David Wenham doesn’t do a lot of talking and of course, Danny wins. Wouldn’t mind at all if Ward is the person that actually takes Harold down permanently, but I suspect that it will be Joy.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Dragon Plays with Fire – Directed by Stephen Surjik. Written by Scott Buck, Tamara Becher-Wilkinson, and Pat Charles.
Danny is wanted and on the run for drug crimes as Harold prepares to reveal to his company – and the world – that he is still alive. Jeri Hogarth attempts to take Danny’s defense case by the reins and meets with Ward Meachum, who surprises her with his willingness to vouch for Danny’s innocence. Harold soon arrives and Jeri is stunned to see that he yet lives. When she leaves, Harold proclaims to Ward’s dismay that he has been toying with Danny far before his return to New York. In a meeting with Hogarth, Danny deduces that Harold has digitally altered the company’s records to make it appear that Danny was responsible for all of The Hand’s activities. Jeri insists that there must be a digital fingerprint somewhere, and Danny states that if there is, it would be on a tablet that he confiscated from Madame Gao … and then gave to Harold … who locked it away in a safe at Rand.
On a mission to prove his innocence, Danny and Colleen venture back to Bakuto’s Hand compound, which has been abandoned. They find Gao still locked up there, and she reveals that Harold Meachum was the architect behind the demise of Danny’s parents. Vengeance begins to consume Danny.
In the meantime, Ward visits Joy in the hospital with news of how Harold has framed Danny. Joy sees evil and corruption only in Ward though, until she visits her father and comes face-to-face with the monster that he has become. She leaves in tears.
From there, Ward and Danny conspire to infiltrate Rand to confiscate the tablet and potentially take Harold down together, prompting Harold to violently assault Ward with a golf club. Danny (with Collen) soon comes crashing through a window in what was a pretty cool arrival, and we finally see the power of the Iron Fist in all its glory as he punches the floor and unleashes destruction, upending the balance of everyone in the room. Harold flees to the roof while Danny gives chase and Ward and Colleen confiscate the tablet.
Danny vs Harold feels far too evenly matched for my liking and is full of dialogue so bad that it rivaled Luke Cage vs Diamondback from the Season Finale of Luke Cage: Season One. Ultimately, the sequence is salvaged by a satisfying conclusion when Danny uses the Iron Fist to ricochet a bullet and Ward arrives to blow Harold away (I thought it would be Joy, but I’m glad that it was Ward), sending him falling off the roof. Ward and Danny would go on to oversee Harold’s cremation and Hogarth would have all of the charges against Danny dropped.
Ward and Danny make amends and Ward actually encourages Danny to join him in running Rand. but Danny has decided to return to K’un-Lun … with Colleen. When they arrive however, they find the gates to the Heavenly Realm closed. The corpses of several Hand ninjas scattered about the mountain lead Danny to conclude that K’un-Lun has been attacked and that it is his fault that it was vulnerable. Meanwhile, Davos has aligned with Joy Meachum in a campaign to kill Danny Rand.
Whew, Iron Fist: Season One is over! This was a chore to get through at times for me. 13-hours of what was a very mixed bag of a show. At times, I honestly felt that this series had been wrongly criticized. At others, I completely understood the hate that garnered it a 20% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and I was reminded of an impassioned comment from a fellow MCU fan on Instagram last year when the now former Netflix shows first arrived on Disney+ and how repulsed this person was over the notion of The Defenders Saga being made MCU canon, largely due to his specific hate for Iron Fist. I have to admit, some of the writing here is inexcusably bad and many of the performances are embarrassing. The score wasn’t anything to write home about, the corporate drama dragged everything down, and Marvel TV missed a big opportunity with the decision to not lean into the fantasy elements that this plot offered, though to be fair, that was most likely due to budget restraints. Nonetheless, everything came together to create an oftentimes slow and boring series that felt absolutely underwhelming due to the previous excellence that Marvel TV showed in the production of its earlier Netflix projects. A case could probably be made that with each project that Marvel TV released in this Saga, the quality decreased. If I were ranking these shows, that would certainly be what my ranking would show, bookended by Daredevil: Season and Iron Fist: Season One.
Still, it wasn’t all bad, and I think if you were to cut this down to a 4–6-hour series, it might actually be good. Taking it as is though, it is largely a miss, and I can understand why some fans never wanted this to be part of the Shared Universe that Kevin Feige built, and I can understand some of Marvel Studios’ hesitation to formally incorporate The Defenders Saga into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but maybe part of the reason that decision was formally made in late-2023 was due to Marvel Studios’ own creative missteps; something that was largely foreign to Kevin Feige and his team from 2008-2019. Sure, some things were better than others, but there really wasn’t a critical “dud” until Eternals and there wasn’t an outright box office disaster until The Marvels. In between there, we also got Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion. So, perhaps it was Marvel Studios’ own failures that inspired them to embrace The Defenders Saga, or maybe it was simply done to appease the fans of these shows, which I’m sure said fans appreciate, and I most certainly do when it comes to the likes of Daredevil and Kingpin and Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and even Colleen Wing, who was introduced in Iron Fist.
As someone who has so thoroughly enjoyed the ride that has been this 15-year MCU journey, I certainly understand that fans don’t want to see this Shared Universe get watered down, nor do those of us who do annual re-watches and whatnot, have to feel like we need to endure the viewing of some unsatisfying television show just because it’s part of the greater narrative, especially when it comes to shows that were made by people who weren’t the caretakers of said narrative. Let’s be honest though, there have been worse things that have been made MCU canon since The Infinity Saga than Iron Fist: Season One. Sony Pictures’ already-released Morbius is MCU canon as will be Madame Web and Kraven. And again, so is Marvel Studios’ own recent lackluster productions, from certain episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, to Secret Invasion. Was Iron Fist: Season One really as bad as any of those productions? I don’t think so. I will therefore embrace it and its mythology, but I will also call a spade a spade. This show was poorly executed. Bad writing. Bad acting. Some bad storytelling. Even the score was awful, in my opinion.
But it exists, and I therefore thought I needed to give it a chance in fairness to this site.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Iron Fist: Season One:
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
Chemistry Between Jessica Henwick and Finn Jones
Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum (Second Half of the Season)
Danny Rescues the Daughter of the Russian Chemist
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth
Colleen Wing Dominates in the Fight Club
Wai Ching Ho as Madame Gao
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Danny Rand. The Iron Fist. K’un-Lun. Rand Enterprises. Harold Meachum. Ward Meachum. Joy Meachum. Colleen Wing. Bakuto. Davos. Wendell and Heather Rand.
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