Before we get into the series, we need to look back on what happened before cameras were rolling and before any real plans were put into place. Back in the year 2000, Marvel was planning on making an Iron Fist film that would star Ray Park (who had played Darth Maul in the Phantom Menace and was a very skilled martial artist). But this was way back in the day when they thought Ben Affleck as Daredevil was a good choice (it wasn't). The project went through multiple directors until it was put indefinitely in development hell. Marvel started hiring writers to work on their less known properties like Iron Fist and in 2010 Rick Wilkes, writer of the xXx Vin Disel films, was hired to write a new draft for the film. Three years later, Marvel said an Iron Fist project would be happening in the near future.
That project however, was not a full length feature film, but a live action series for Netflix. Near the end of 2013 Marvel announced that it would be preparing series for the characters of Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and yes, Iron Fist. These four series would lead into a Defenders miniseries that would happen after each show had finished. It would be two years until the public heard anything about the Iron Fist series as rumors were circling that Marvel was planning on canceling the series in favor for a Punisher series. Those rumors were debunked as a Marvel executive said that they were holding off on Iron Fist news until Jessica Jones finished, probably to see if the format was the success they thought it would be.
Iron Fist was supposed to come out after Jessica Jones but instead was replaced by Luke Cage after the charcters' breakout performance in Jessica Jones. Scott Buck, a writer and showrunner for the show Dexter, was brought on as the showrunner. This choice, in my opinion, is a large reason why Iron Fist failed as a show but I'll get back to Scott later. It was announced in 2015 that Finn Jones of Game of Thrones fame would be playing Danny Rand/Iron Fist. Immediately cries of white washing ran afowl as Danny Rand in the comics was Asian and was going to be portrayed by a white male as what was seen as a role for an asian actor being turned into another white male savior role.
To be fair, Finn Jones is decent as Danny Rand. I think the writing is to blame for Danny's unlikable at times whinny character. This is where I believe the one of the big problems lie in not only Iron Fist but also in the upcoming Inhumans series and that problem is Scott Buck. Buck, for all your Dexter fans out there, was the showrunner in the three final and worst seasons of Dexter, season 6 being the lowest reviewed out of 8 seasons Dexter had. He had worked previously on the show as a writer, even getting nominated for some awards, but once he was promoted to showrunner the wheels started falling off. Bad storytelling and writing plagued Buck's first run as showrunner and those issues are present in Iron Fist. But Scott Buck is not the only one to blame, some of the blame lies on Marvel themselves.
The truth is, Marvel had no solid plans for the show or the character. What started out as big budget movie was turned into a small budget web series. Also, keep in mind the MCU had not delved into the mystic arts before they announced Iron Fist and the plans for Doctor Strange, Marvel's first attempt at exploring mysticism in their world, were not solid yet. Basically, Marvel had put themselves in a corner. If Doctor Strange bombed financially and critically, mysticism and Iron Fist would be swept by the wayside for other characters and stories. However, Doctor Strange proved to be a success so Iron Fist moved forward. The problem was that now they had to rush everything and rushing never leads to a good product being put out. Add to that the poor choices for writers, both for the movie and the show, as well as a bad choice in showrunner and you have a disaster on your hand.
Can Iron Fist be saved? Yes it can. I believe Finn Jones can do this character right if he has good writing behind him. Marvel has already made the smart choice of removing Scott Buck from the show and replacing him with Raven Metzner, who most recently worked on the show Sleepy Hollow. Hopefully Metzner will breath new life into the show and the character of Iron Fist. Sadly, Scott Buck is still a part of the Marvel family and his poison is once again striking with the victim this time being the Inhumans show. Criticism over the pilot have been scathing and looks like once again Marvel is paying poorly for their decision to put Buck with another set of characters they had no idea what to do with. Clearly the Buck needs to stop here and Marvel needs to bring on people who are passionate about the characters in order to put out a good product. Scott Buck may be a talented writer but he lacks the passion and skills to do the characters justice as well as put out a good show. While the show Iron Fist lacks focus, what it needs is passion behind it.
