Iron Fist

I kind of covered this when I reported that Netflix had cancelled ‘Iron Fist’, but it’s getting a lot of traction on social media, so maybe there’s more to discuss.

In a joint statement, Netflix and Marvel Television wrote, “While the series on Netflix has ended, the immortal Iron Fist will live on.”  Many are interpreting this literally and anticipate that ‘Iron Fist’ will move to another outlet, with most assuming that will be Disney’s upcoming streaming service.

That will not happen.  According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, this service’s “priority is going to be reaching our core Disney fan,” and that all content on it will be all-ages and family-friendly.

NONE of the Netflix Marvel qualify.  They’re all incredibly violent, sexual, include profanity– ‘Daredevil’ includes overt religious themes.  None of these shows can ever be shown on the Disney streaming service.

Disney COULD produce a third, PG-rated season of ‘Iron Fist’ but why bother?  If they can’t offer the first two seasons in order for viewers to get caught up before new episodes, that means they’d have to basically reboot the entire thing from scratch, but once again, why bother?  This is already a show that was cancelled by the biggest streaming service in the world.  It’s not like putting it on a smaller, more niche, family-oriented service is going to be the magical outlet this show needs to succeed.

Think about it– were you planning to subscribe to Disney’s service?  If the answer is no, would them offering a third, all-ages ‘Iron Fist’ season entice you to subscribe?  NO!  It was cancelled by Netflix because no one watched it!  The few that did aren’t going to pick up another streaming service just to continue following it.  Having been cancelled, it now has the stench of failure on it.  If Disney wants a Marvel TV series, they own about a million other characters that are not proven flops that they can choose from.

As I stated in my previous article, the best chance that fans will get to seeing Finn Jones carry on as Danny Rand/Iron Fist, is if they decide to incorporate him into another Netflix show.  I should point out that ‘Luke Cage’ has not yet been renewed for a third season.  That’s a little unusual, as Netflix is usually quick to announce renewals, typically within a couple of weeks or so after the latest batch of episodes hits.  That makes me wonder if they were holding off on renewing ‘Luke Cage’ in case the powers that be decided that instead of a third season of a ‘Luke’ solo show, they needed to retool it into ‘Heroes For Hire’ to add Danny.

That wouldn’t be ideal, because in my opinion, ‘Luke Cage’ is incredibly strong as it stands, and has a definite, singular point of view.  Turning it into ‘Heroes For Hire’ would dilute, if not outright negate that.

Another, better option would be to let Danny slip into the role of secondary character.  Fans have been clamoring to see Jessica Henwick‘s Colleen Wing and Simone Missick‘s Misty Knight team up as the ‘Daughters of the Dragon’.  Let these strong ladies headline their own series, and include Danny as a supporting character.

Either way, the ending of ‘Iron Fist’ Season Two opened the door to a lot of possibilities to explore.  It would be nice if Netflix and Marvel Television can figure out a way to pick these threads up elsewhere.

Do you want to see more of the immortal ‘Iron Fist’?  And if so, how and where?