Marvel Comics’ legendary King of Kung Fu Danny Rand, better known as the Immortal Iron Fist, will finally make the same leap to live action that so many Marvel and DC characters have done! Marvel Studios is currently teaming with Netflix to begin a series for Iron Fist which will be featured on Netflix! His fellow Marvel characters Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones will also each be featured in their own individual series, after which all four will appear in the crossover mini-series “The Defenders”, also to be featured on Netflix!
Iron Fist is a beloved and popular comic book character in the martial arts world, and for good reason! In addition to being a master of countless martial arts, Danny Rand bears the power of the iron fist, the immortal weapon of the mystical city of K’un Lun. After defeating the powerful dragon Shou-Lao the Undying in single combat, K’un Lun’s chosen warrior assumes the mantle of the Immortal Iron Fist, granted him the ability to focus and manipulate his internal energy, or chi, taking his already formidable fighting skills to superhuman levels. The iron fist also grants him the ability to focus his chi into his fist, making it, as Danny Rand himself puts it, “like unto a thing of iron!”
The character of Iron Fist first debuted in Marvel Comics in 1974, created by comic book legends Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. Marvel had attempted to get an Iron Fist movie off the ground in the early 2000’s, with Ray Park ready to assume the role of Marvel’s mightiest martial artist, but the film struggled through several false starts, making the news of the upcoming series all the more refreshing! For martial arts lovers also enamored with the world of superheroes, this is certainly cause for celebration, and will hopefully pave the way for Marvel’s other great martial arts hero, Shang-Chi, to jump from the comics to flesh and blood, as well. The Man of Tai Chi himself, Tiger Chen, would certainly do the role proud, and who wouldn’t love to see Yuen Woo-ping serve as action director for one or even both?
