Trivia / Iron Fist (2017)

• Billing Displacement: Briefly. The day after the show premiered, Netflix replaced Danny Rand with Colleen Wing on its selectable icon, most likely because early critical reviews raved about her while Finn Jones was criticized. After the audience reviews proved to be more positive, they switched it back.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Lewis Tan screen-tested for Danny Rand. He would eventually go on to portray Zhou Cheng in "The Blessing of Many Fractures".
• Channel Hop: From Netflix to Disney Plus in early 2022, after Netflix lost the distribution rights.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Upon the release of The Defenders (2017), Charlie Cox and Finn Jones were given some IGN comments to read, including one complaining about Iron Fist not having his costume. His reply: "I get it. You want to see the costume, I want to see the costume. So keep complaining to Marvel and Netflix and maybe you'll get it."
  • In August 2021 during an interview with JAMCast, stunt coordinator Brett Chan talked about how difficult it was to work with Marvel Television and some of the cast, though he had nothing but praises for Jessica Henwick:
    You know, [we] spent 21-22 hour days trying to make it work and having directors say, "Ah, no" or having Marvel say, "Ah, no". Everyone is fighting and the actor doesn't want to train. And it's like, "Guys, throw me a bone. Give me something to work with here".
  • It's unclear who "the actor" is referring to, but many suspect it's Finn Jones.
• Dear Negative Reader: Finn Jones has been defensive about the negative reaction towards the series, from saying that critics don't "get it" and that the show isn't made for them, but for the fans (ignoring the same critics' positive reception of previous Marvel shows) to saying that the unpopularity comes from the presidency of Donald Trump and his superficial similarities to Danny. Making that last one especially weird is that it's Harold Meachum far more than Danny who's likely to remind people of Trump.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Finn Jones did extensive training in various martial arts such as Kung Fu, Wushu, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do and Mixed Martial Arts for the second season, having five months to prepare in contrast to only having one month for the first season. The resulting fight scenes were praised for being much more fluent and believable than in the first season.
• Executive Veto: According to an interview with Daredevil actor Tommy Walker, Doug Petrie, the showrunner from season 2 of Daredevil (2015), pitched a version of the series that would have Danny Rand be mixed-race, if not fully Asian-American, but it was rejected.
• Fake American:
  • Brits Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick as Danny Rand and Colleen Wing.
  • Australian David Wenham as Harold Meachum.
  • Brit Alice Eve as Typhoid Mary in season 2 although she became a US citizen in 2017.
• Reality Subtext: Davos' complaints about Danny taking the Iron Fist's power and then abandoning K'un-Lun feels very much like the long-running controversy over the character's Mighty Whitey aspects.
• Saved from Development Hell:
  • Plans to bring Iron Fist to live-action are over a decade in the making, with Ray Park once in the running to play Danny Rand.
  • Marvel had trouble finding ways to introduce mysticism into the science fiction-heavy MCU, especially considering the show would interact with the gritty and somewhat realistic Netflix shows such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones. There were rumors for a while that the show was not even going to be made. There were also rumors of it being turned into a Netflix movie instead of a TV show. By the time it was released, the MCU had eased into more supernatural elements with Doctor Strange and the Ghost Rider arc on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Clark Gregg from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had stated that he very much wished to have a crossover with Iron Fist, but "corporate stuff" kept him from appearing on Iron Fist or vice versa.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Tom Pelphrey, who plays Ward Meachum, has a pretty similar facial build to David Wenham, who plays Harold Meachum.
• Stunt Double: David Armstrong and Jared Burke were stunt doubles for Finn Jones.
• Those Two Actors:
  • Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick previously worked on Game of Thrones, although neither of them shared scenes.
  • Tom Pelphrey and Hoon Lee were castmates on Banshee.
• Troubled Production: The first season had a shooting schedule so insanely tight that Finn Jones was often given his fight choreography just fifteen minutes before filming started^note Of course, learning the choreography right before shooting a scene isn't unique to Iron Fist; Charlie Cox and Élodie Yung have discussed how they had to learn fights pass by pass as they shot Daredevil (2015) season 2 because of the fast turnaround time. The differentiating factor is that Charlie Cox has a background in stage combat, plus had plenty of time to train and prepare in general building on his training from Daredevil season 1, and Elodie Yung is a black belt martial artist, so their combined experience shows in the final product. With Finn Jones in Iron Fist, the time between him landing the role and starting production was ridiculously short, and he didn't have as much fight training/background to fall back on, on top of the general difficulties the stunt team had with the creative team on executing their vision. This certainly helps explain the many complaints about his unconvincing fighting. Fortunately, The Defenders (2017) would greatly redeem many of the reservations people had about Danny's skill due to being helmed by Marco Ramirez and Doug Petrie, the showrunners from season 2 of Daredevil (2015), instead of the notorious Scott Buck.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Ryan Phillippe was the first choice for the part of Danny Rand before Finn Jones was cast^note Phillippe has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do while Jones had little to no martial arts experience when he was cast. Jones' lack of martial arts prowess in the first season was a common complaint by fans and critics. Phillippe previously auditioned for Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger.
    • Alain Moussi, Christian Howard, Luke Bracey and Erryn Arkin were also considered for the part of Iron Fist before the casting of Jones.
  • Initially, Marvel was looking to cast Shang-Chi to act as a rival to Danny Rand, but nothing came of it. Shang-Chi would later get his own movie set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe portrayed by Simu Liu.
  • They briefly considered involving Moon Knight in the second season but felt the season was already busy enough. Presumably, his role was taken over by Typhoid Mary.
  • The show was originally going to be the third of the Netflix series to premiere. Then when Luke Cage became a Breakout Character in Jessica Jones, Marvel decided to swap his show's spot with this one to ride off the popularity. This wound up working against the show, as it allowed Doctor Strange and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to introduce the mystical elements to the MCU before the premiere, only for the show to largely exorcise most of those mystical elements from an active role.

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