The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become immensely big since its inception with the first Iron Man film. My fellow Marvel fans, old and new alike are being given the honor of seeing their favorite characters come to life on the big screen. Marvel Studios then branched off into the small screen, with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC and then into Netflix.
With Netflix however, Marvel would use the same formula they used for the Avengers; introduce a few solo heroes then have them team up into one big team.
Carrying this in mind, Daredevil and Jessica Jones premiered on Netflix starring said heroes; both shows were critically acclaimed. Now the 2nd season of Daredevil will soon premiere, with Luke Cage and Iron Fist set to get their respective series. After these, all four aforementioned heroes will come together in one Avengers-esque team-up show known as the Defenders. But one of these heroes’ shows is getting a certain request from the public; that being Iron Fist.
But before we get in, allow me to answer the question some of you guys might have…
Who is Iron Fist?
Daniel Thomas Rand-K’ai (Or just Rand depending on who’s writing) aka Iron Fist is a kung-fu/mysticism based superhero created by writers Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in the 70s during the rise of Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies.
A billionaire blonde, green-eyed Caucasian, Danny travels to the mystical Asian city of K’un-L’un. Once there, he trains in Kung Fu and becomes the city’s champion, earning the dragon Shou-Lao’s chi (aka mystical martial arts energy) and becoming..well, Iron Fist. Danny then returns to America and uses his powers to fight crime, teaming up with his eventual best friend Power Man aka Luke Cage and even becomes an Avenger at one point.
Danny, like most non-ethnic superheroes is a Caucasian American, as superhero comics at the time were primarily being created for white American males.
But as time passed, American society became much more diverse and Marvel Comics followed society’s change; now Falcon, Captain America’s African American right-hand man is now the Star-Spangled Soldier, a Muslim-American teenager Kamala Khlan is the new Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers became CAPTAIN Marvel) and now Jane Foster (Natalie Portman’s role in the MCU) is the new Thor instead of the ACTUAL Thor. Not to mention Miles Morales, the new Ultimate Spider-Man.
Following this change, many fans have been asking Danny Rand to change with the times and become Asian-American in his upcoming Netflix show. This movement began with Nerds of Color head editor Keith Chow, who began the movement with the hashtag #AAIronFist on Twitter (you can read his article here)
However a recent tweet from Chow cost him some credibility;
Subsequently Chow lost a lot of followers, with many claiming that Chow only started the trend to attract more attention to his blog, Nerds of Color.
So how about a pro-AAIronFist article from an ACTUAL Iron Fist fan?
As an Asian-American comic book fan, I have loved Marvel comics (and Iron Fist, of course) since my own childhood. And while I never let it influence my love for good ol’ Danny or any of his stories, I always felt that he should have been Asian-American. Or at the very least, an alternate version of him should be Asian-American.
And before we go in, let me make it clear; I’m not just jumping on a bandwagon I think is progressive/cool; I actually believe an Asian-American Iron Fist can work. And here’s the hows and why it can work
Danny being an Asian-American still makes him an outsider
Odds are you have an Asian friend born here in America. And said friend’s parents or grandparents probably either don’t speak English or speak English with a heavy accent or speak English very brokenly. Adding on to that, the aforementioned friend probably has little to no connection with whatever birth culture his/her parents or grandparents were raised with.
I personally being a 2nd-generation Asian-American can attest to this. And with a little re-writing, the same can work with an Asian black haired and brown-eyed (or still green-eyed because power of Shou-Lao) Danny Rand.
Daniel’s family can be a forgotten lineage of K’un-L’unians who have been in America for quite some time, their mark on history being their successful family company, the Rand Corporation. And because of his upbringing in America, Danny grows up unaware of his mystical heritage. And when he finally arrives in K’un Lun, the native Asians at best only TOLERATE him because of his ancestry, but nothing else. He’s still an outsider in every other way; the way he thinks, acts etc. AKA Looking like us doesn’t mean you are one of us.
A lot of people think this doesn’t work simply because Danny as an Asian would look just like the natives. Like I said above, you don’t have to look different to be an outsider; classifying somebody as an outsider because of their skin tone is just proof that you are racist. This isn’t the 70s anymore.
It gets rid of the white savior trope.
The most problematic element given Danny Rand’s origin story is that when it comes down to it, it plays the old “white savior” cliché; this cliché invokes a Caucasian man going to some foreign land, mastering whatever skill the natives do and becoming their champion.
In fact, in the comics Hazmat of the Avengers Academy lampshades this, calling Danny “Mr. I Wish I Was Asian”
Now, Marvel has somewhat fixed this with writer Ed Brubaker’s Immortal Iron Fist…only to take a few steps back (see down below for what I mean)
Even in today’s society this trope is still seen among movies and TV shows; some prominent examples being 47 Ronin, The Last Samurai and even James Cameron’s Avatar (the Na’vi are all played by oriental American actors)
Having an K’un-L’un/Asian ethnic Danny going to his heritage land to learn from ‘his people’ will turn Iron Fist’s original story of cultural appropriation into that of cultural re-connection; Danny realizes his heritage and learns of his ‘true calling’, which is to be the Iron Fist and thus a hero. thus once his training is complete, he returns to America as a hero and a child of two lands.
And besides, Netflix has already done the “white guy in Asia” story;
This makes the MCU heroes actually diverse
A lot of mainstream media tends to check “diversity” on their TV show requirements list once one ethnic actor is cast. And in most cases said ethnic actor is more often than not, African-American.
Diversity in media doesn’t just mean one black character among a sea of white characters and that’s the end of it; it means all the ethnicities of one nation/culture all represented. Whether they’re black, Asian, Latino, man, woman, LGBT etc.
While I will admit there hasn’t been a Latino-American Marvel superhero yet (unless you count Joey from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Angela Del Toro aka White Tiger getting mentioned in Jessica Jones gives us hope that said Latina hero will one day appear (here’s what she looks likes for those curious;)
You might think “Well, what about Skye aka Daisy Johnson aka Quake, also from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? She went from white to half-Asian” (well, she’s treated as ‘pure’ Asian but that’s besides the point)
The publicity will work in Marvel’s favor
Disney and Marvel Studios may have started and expanded their Superhero Comic Cinematic Universe way ahead of DC, but as of right now they’re behind DC in one category; the minority heroes. In fact, DC has their female-led film (Wonder Woman in 2017) releasing before Marvel’s (Captain Marvel in 2018).
Even with Asian superheroes, Katana’s presence in Suicide Squad means DC’s still ahead when it comes to representation. What’s more, she is an Asian woman; historically Asian women have been on screen more than their male counterparts. So that’s why Quake doesn’t really count in the above argument’s stake.
So with all that said, by having the first on-screen Asian-American male superhero, Marvel would have much more publicity and praise. And with the rise of Asian movie markets like China, this will put them in their favor.
But no opinion is without disagreeing points. So let’s address the counterarguments, or CAs as they’re abbreviated in this article.
CA 1 – Don’t change Danny; just add Shang-Chi.
This is one of the main arguments people bring up; instead of race-bending Danny Rand, bring in the Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi.
Shang-Chi is another Marvel superhero created in 70s as part of the Kung Fu movie rage. Unlike Danny Rand, Shang-Chi has been Asian (more specifically, Chinese as he’s based on Bruce Lee) since his conception and is stated to be THE best martial artist in the Marvel Universe (as his title. Master of Kung Fu would imply); Black Panther even states so in Black Panther Volume 4, Issue 11;
While admittedly it wouldn’t be too difficult to change Shang-Chi’s origin from Chinese to Chinese-American, is there a reason why there can’t be more than one heroic ethnic character on screen? If that’s the case, why is there more than one Hispanic character in Modern Family? Why is Fresh Off the Boat still on air and not cancelled? How did Into The Badlands make it past idea-pitching?
Shang-Chi can still be in the show, and his role could be on the sort of the other angel-on-his-shoulder of Danny; he and Luke can be the two links to Danny’s heritage and home; K’un-L’un and New York City. Also, Shang-Chi can also work as an unintentional “better guy”/friendly rival to Danny, since they’re both chi-wielding martial artists but it’s proven Shang-Chi is better.
CA 2 – Making the one Asian guy a kung fu master is racist and stereotypical.
Newsflash, everyone; Luke Cage aka Power Man is black, born and raised in Harlem, and has a ‘ghetto’ accent. And that’s somehow completely ok?
That being said, Luke Cage isn’t seen as racist/stereotypical because he’s got an actual character outside of the aforementioned traits + “Danny’s black BFF”.
Actually for that matter, why is everyone saying just get Shang-Chi instead of race-bending Danny when Shang-Chi’s BEEN an Asian kung fu master since his creation?
All that aside, an Asian-ethnic Danny can still work without becoming stereotypical; the series can show Danny actually training and struggling to become the Kung Fu master he’ll one day be, instead of just being a master at Kung Fu because Asian.
He can be shocked at finding out his heritage is essentially a living stereotype; and despite his training and being chosen as Iron Fist, he rejects his heritage, not wanting to be a walking racial trope.
Thus a big part of the show can be Danny learning to accept his K’un-Lunian heritage; with his rejections resulting in a destabilized chi and thus exhausting him every time he uses his chi attacks (This is a legitimate plot point in the comics; for a while, Danny couldn’t use his chi attacks that much as it took too much of his stamina)
Some studios think the best way to avoid the potential stereotyping is to just get rid of the ethnic group entirely; perhaps a reason why Tilda Swinton, a white woman was chosen to play the Ancient One in the upcoming Doctor Strange film (traditionally drawn in the comics as a Tibetan man). Buy why not just get the ethnic group? But give them actual character outside so that they’re more than just a supposed stereotype thus giving them a chance to break the image of said stereotype.
Which is exactly what AMC’s Into the Badlands is doing.
CA 3 – Most of Iron Fist’s supporting cast/villains are Asian, so here’s no need to change Danny
Another popular argument. To address this, let’s take a look at three of the important characters of Iron Fist’s supporting cast and villains, starting with Lei Kung the Thunderer;
Lei Kung the Thunderer is an immortal martial arts teacher that has taught many students, one of them being Danny. It’s further revealed in the Immortal Iron Fist storyline that he trained many previous Iron Fists.
Next is Jeri Hogarth.
A straight, middle-aged lawyer, he organizes the day-to-day duties of the Rand Corporation (Danny’s company) from time to time as well as typical legal actions.
Does that name and job sound familiar? well if you’ve watched Jessica Jones, you’ve already met his MCU counterpart; the lesbian lawyer lady, Ms. JERYN “Jeri” Hogarth.
Now, it’s the guy who’s the closest thing Danny has to a nemesis; Davos aka Steel Serpent.
Davos is the son of the aforementioned Lei Kung the Thunderer. Davos trained alongside Danny to become the next Iron Fist, only to fail and subsequently exiled when he tried to kill Danny. Fueled by jealousy and hatred, Davos then became a major thorn in Danny’s side.
You might have seen his symbol in the first episode of Daredevil.
But those are only descriptions, so what’s my counterargument to this?
As you might have gathered from this short list, only Danny’s Mentor and nemesis are Asian while a friend/co-worker is white.
Unintentional or not, this argument is implying that Asians can never be heroes or their people’s chosen one; instead, they’ll always be playing second fiddle, helping their non-Asian savior to be better than them or be an obstacle to said non-Asian savior. So if this is the case, why is a stereotype that Asians are martial arts masters? Also, Lei Kung and Davos are ‘native-born’ Asians, not Asian-Americans. In case it wasn’t obvious enough, being Asian and Asian-American are two VERY different things.
And if the world can live with a gender and sexuality-flipped character, I think an Asian Danny Rand won’t be the end of said world.
CA 4 – Danny being white is crucial because it accentuates him being an outsider, a rich guy, being in an interracial relationship with Misty Knight and having white privilege.
CA 4-1: Danny being white is crucial because it accentuates him being an outsider
No, it doesn’t. Being an outsider in a different culture doesn’t necessarily have to be him being the one Caucasian among an Asian population. Like I said above; classifying somebody as an outsider because of their skin tone is just proof that the people who say/think/believe this are racist.
But let’s take a scenario; let’s say hypothetically MCU Danny Rand is cast and is an Asian American. Do you still want a white Iron Fist? Lucky for you, there is one; and that’s Orson Randall.
For those who don’t know, here’s a little background; In Ed Brubaker’s Immortal Iron Fist comic, said writer changed the Iron First mantle from a simple ‘chosen one and only champion’ to ‘chosen legacy passed down throughout time and history’. Thus came many Iron Fists, all who came before Danny Rand.
And here’s where they took a few steps back; Danny’s direct predecessor as Iron Fist is Orson Randall, a veteran of WWI…and another Caucasian man. Despite doing away with most if not all of the potential racial implications, Brubaker making Danny’s predecessor another white guy did raise a few eyebrows.
But there was still something interesting with his origin; Despite being another “white guy among an Asian population”, Orson’s backstory is that his parents crashed in K’un-L’un while his mother was pregnant with him. A month later, Orson was born in K’un-L’un and despite his non-Asian heritage, the people accepted him as a ‘born and raised’ son so to speak. Upon being trained in martial arts by Lei Kung (who was mentioned above), Orson became the Iron Fist and left to fight in WWI. Later in the present day, he came to find Danny to give him the Book of the Iron Fists (a book detailing past Iron Fists and their techniques) and to warn him about the Tournament of the Immortal Weapons.
So considering this aforementioned importance to Danny, he’ll be in the show one way or another. And it can be an interesting take on the ‘white savior’ part of Iron Fist; not only has there been one, Orson can also become a second mentor and a potential future image of Danny since Orson’s stronger. But this time, the white guy (Orson) isn’t better because he’s white; it’s because he’s older, wiser and has seen plenty of s%*+ compared to the younger, less-experienced non-white guy (Danny).
You know, almost like Adonis and Rocky’s relationship in Ryan Coogler’s Creed.
And here’s something to get in your head; Comic Danny will stay white (at least until Marvel says otherwise); the MCU ultimately, is just one more multiverse in the numerous Marvel universes.
CA 4-2: Danny being white is crucial because it accentuates him being a rich guy
Since when can only white people be rich? Please try and enlighten me; my popcorn’s ready.
CA 4-3: Danny being white is crucial because it accentuates him being in an interracial relationship with Misty Knight
To put this in perspective, here’s who Misty Knight is;
Mercedes “Misty” Knight is one of Marvel’s few black female superheroines. A ‘normal’ superhero like Black Widow and Hawkeye, she has fought alongside many of the Netflix heroes and is set to appear in Luke Cage, portrayed by actress Simone Missick.
But in perspective to this argument, one of the things that stood out for Misty was that she was usually Danny Rand’s girlfriend (and wife in some occasions/stories); it was one of the few times there was an interracial couple in comics, alongside Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
And this argument is saying that Danny HAS to be white for this to work.
So white guys are the only non-black ethnic men that can date black women?
So I guess this never happened between John Cho’s Demetri Noh and Gabrielle Union’s Zoey Andata in FlashForward…
Come on; in today’s society, any ethnic man can date any ethnic woman, least of all an African-American woman.
In short, I think a lot us want to see something different; so how about an AMBW couple as opposed to the usual WMBW couple we usually see in shows like Scandal?
CA 4-4: Danny being white is crucial because it accentuates him having white privilege
What is your definition of white privilege? It may be different, but let’s go with activist Peggy McIntosh’s definition;
White privilege can be described “an invisible weightless knapsack of assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks”. But for white people only.
Yes most of America is white. And yes, I will admit cases with this quote-unquote “white privilege” happens, but that’s another thing. Comics and Pop culture as a whole have a responsibility to teach the people that many wrong things still exist and how we must change it. Being white doesn’t mean you deserve something more than ethnic people. Our society’s changed since the ‘70s, and it’s time we learn that every race is equal, good AND bad.
And besides, outside of K’un-L’un there’s BARELY any mention of Danny’s race. In fact, him being a billionaire is brought more attention.
“Rich Guy Privilege” can be the substitute for “White Privilege”, considering the latter is what gets more focused on anyway. So you really can’t argue that him being white is crucial. Unlike Luke Cage, Shang-Chi, Black Panther or even White Tiger Danny’s race ultimately matters little to his character.
I don’t expect everyone who reads this to immediately take my side and tweet #AAIronFist.
And I do understand why some of you guys reading this don’t want the change; a character you’ve loved for so long suddenly changing with the times and you don’t want that; you want the one that you remember growing up with.
But comics are changing to reflect our society; no longer are women and minorities ‘just there’, they can be actually be good heroes in their own right.
I ask you to at least consider the positive effects of an Asian-American Iron Fist. If done right, this can be a great change; in the same veins as Kamala Khan becoming the new Ms. Marvel
So if you agree with me, all the power to you, friends.
And if you don’t agree with me, I hope that you at least now understand why a lot of people, myself included are asking that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Danny Rand to be an Asian-American.