New Trailer for 'Marvel's Iron Fist' Mixes Martial Arts With a Heavy Dose of Batman
Stop me if you've heard this premise before: A young man studies ancient martial arts secrets before returning to reclaim his ludicrously rich father's company, named [redacted] Enterprises, all while using the tragic death of his parents as motivation to fight crime with his newfound knowledge. Yeah, that's Batman Begins. It's also Netflix's newest foray into Marvel's Hell's Kitchen TV-verse, Iron Fist, which happened to release a new trailer today.
Setting aside the obvious similarities between Danny Rand and a certain caped crusader's alter ego, Netflix actually does a great job of selling the more unique aspects of this new series in this new trailer. The welcome highlighting of several Asian actors and characters should go a long way toward silencing some of the show's critics after the hullabaloo around casting yet another Caucasian (emphasis decidedly not on the "asian") as the superhero lead despite the story's deep connection to martial arts and Eastern culture. Thankfully, that connection is precisely what makes this show feel like its own entity. Maybe if the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Netflix TV-verse could learn to play together, we could get an interesting Doctor Strange crossover at some point, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
Rosario Dawson shows up yet again as the Agent Coulson of this subset of Marvel super-heroics, and her inclusion, as well as the giant-block-text emphasis on Iron Fist being the final Defender, shows that Netflix has been playing the long game with their gritty brand of comic book action. I can't tell if Dawson actually has a larger part here than in her extended cameo appearances outside of Daredevil, but something tells me this series may act as an extended backdoor pilot for The Defenders series in a way that Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil did not.
As with the aforementioned related Marvel shows, the action choreography and special effects each look top notch (especially that crazy ground-pound at the end), and Finn Jones comes across as affable, if a bit forgettable, as the titular magical martial artist. Netflix and Marvel are in the home-stretch of their impressive lead up to The Defenders, and it's a little hard to believe that this show won't have that extra spark that made their previous efforts so binge-able. As it stands now, I can't wait for the full-costume reveal. Here's hoping that and the obvious wire-fu don't ruin things this time out.
Netflix will release the first season of Marvel's Iron Fist on March 17, 2017.
