Videos by ComicBook.com
Many of these shows were met with critical acclaim upon their release. All three seasons of Daredevil were beloved, and it remains the most popular of the MCU projects. Luke Cage received positive reviews across both seasons, and the first seasons of Jessica Jones and The Punisher were acclaimed as well. However, not all of the Netflix MCU projects were met with such a warm reception, and now is the chance to address the universe’s biggest controversy.
Finn Jones As Iron Fist Was The Netflix MCU’s Most Controversial Aspect
Iron Fist is easily the most panned project in Netflix’s MCU slate, and much of it is thanks to the controversial casting of Finn Jones in Iron Fist (via Geeks). Jones played the titular superhero, aka Danny Rand, a spoiled son of a wealthy businessman who is taken in and trained by the warrior monks of K’un-Lun after his plane crashes. This is the typical backstory of Danny in Marvel Comics. However, even before the show came out, the casting led to a lot of discourse.
Three years before Jones was cast as Iron Fist, an online campaign was started by Keith Chow that had the goal of getting Netflix to cast an Asian-American as Iron Fist. Chow and others who were part of the campaign argued that the trope of a white man appropriating Asian mysticism has been overdone, and that it would be better for the story to be about a second-generation Asian-American reconnecting with his roots.
While there have been Asian Iron Fists in the comics, it wasn’t surprising that Netflix went with a white one based on how popular Danny Rand is. Despite the controversies about the character’s backstory, however, Finn Jones still wasn’t a great pick. His performance was one of the weaker ones in the series, with him getting outshone by his co-stars like Jessica Henwick.
The martial arts are one of the most important aspects of Iron Fist, and unfortunately, Finn Jones didn’t do them justice. The action scenes in the show are incredibly choppy and poorly shot. Iron Fist stunt coordinator Brett Chan even implied that Finn Jones didn’t want to train for the show, leading to some of these action scene issues.
