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Finn Jones? Is Iron Fist, Actor Officially Confirmed For Marvel/Netflix — Finally!

By Stephen Jordan
Published on: 05:30 PST, Mar 17, 2016

It’s been reported for the last couple of weeks that Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones had been cast to play Iron Fist/Danny Rand in Marvel/Netflix’s upcoming solo show, Iron Fist. There was no official statement or confirmation from either Netflix or Marvel, at least until now, according to Entertainment Weekly. Marvel has come forward and finally publicly confirmed casting Finn Jones as Iron Fist. In fact, Marvel is calling him “the perfect choice” for the role.

“Danny Rand is a very complicated character,” Scott Buck, the Iron Fist showrunner and executive producer, said. “He’s a billionaire New York Buddhist monk martial arts superhero who’s still trying to figure out what exactly that all means.”

He added that actor Finn Jones “is able to play all these levels in such an honest, revelatory way that as soon as I saw him I knew he was our Danny.”

Making the announcement on Thursday morning is perhaps a pretty brilliant marketing maneuver, with Netflix’s second season of Daredevil finally debuting at midnight tonight. This will no doubt make some viewers even more curious to check out Daredevil if they weren’t already planning on doing so. And it also wouldn’t be surprising for there to be a subtle reference to Iron Fist during the second season of Daredevil as there was with the first season (with the character of Madame Gao) and in Jessica Jones (Carrie-Anne Moss’ Hogarth character).

“Finn wonderfully blends confidence with vulnerability, making him the perfect choice as he struggles to find his place in the world,” Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb added. “Now that we’ve found our Danny Rand, we’ve completed our principal cast for the upcoming Defenders on Netflix and we are thrilled to continue to show audiences unexplored corners of the Marvel Universe.”

There was somewhat of a controversy over Jones’ casting, with some internet users suggesting that Marvel/Netflix should have cast an Asian actor to play the role of Iron Fist instead. In fact, there were several write-ups being created even before the casting announcement hit the internet, with the hashtag #AAIronFist becoming popular on Twitter.

Iron Fist was originally created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in the 1970s, born out of that decade’s martial arts movie craze. Danny Rand’s father discovers a mystical, ancient city (consisting of Asian people), where Danny is raised in the ways of martial arts and becomes the kung fu master known as Iron Fist after defeating a dragon. What many have said is that this is the “white savior trope,” where a white character steps into another culture and ultimately becomes their hero. The result being that the Asian culture itself is simply a colorful background used to empower the white character, while the people and characters of that specific culture are relegated to supporting roles or even background characters.

Loeb didn’t specify when exactly the Iron Fist series would be making its debut, or if Finn Jones will pop up prior to then in the second season of Daredevil or in the debut season of Luke Cage. There have been some rumors floating around suggesting Jones will appear in the final episode of the first season of Luke Cage. This would make sense as Luke and Iron Fist were friends and worked together as “Heroes for Hire” in the comic books.

Along with the announcement of Finn Jones being cast as Iron Fist, Marvel also released a promotional image with the main question being, “Who is Danny Rand?” This almost looks as if this may be the show’s marketing campaign, stirring up the mystery of who Danny Rand is.

Finn Jones? Confirmed As ?Iron Fist For Marvel/Netflix - Finally!
Our first bit of ‘Iron Fist’ marketing. [Image via Marvel]
In the comic books, the Meachum and Rand families are business partners in Rand-Meachum Incorporated. In Iron Fist/Danny Rand’s tragic childhood origin, Joy Meachum’s father, Howard, betrays the Rand family while they are on a hike in the mountains. Howard killed Danny’s father, Wendell, and while Rand himself was eventually able to avenge his father, this led Joy Meachum to hate Iron Fist.

Are you satisfied that Finn Jones has finally been confirmed as Iron Fist?

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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