The Defenders Will Complete Iron Fist Origin Story

Iron Fist was the last of Marvel’s four solo superhero shows on Netflix to go into production. So you might think that means its star Finn Jones knew how his character would fit in The Defenders as the latter got underway. That was not the case.

“They didn’t tell me anything past the first two episodes of Iron Fist,” Jones says with a laugh. “That’s what Marvel is like. They’re very secretive. I just took it on good faith that the showrunners at Marvel were going to do me right.”

Critics of Iron Fist noted how Danny Rand’s arc felt incomplete. As it turns out, this may be by design, and Danny could be the hero who learns the most from his time with The Defenders.

“At the end of Iron Fist, [Danny] doesn’t even know what a superhero is,” Jones says. “So then to suddenly be interacting with these three… [They] really make him kind of wise up and come to terms with his responsibilities a lot more. From the beginning where we see Danny in Iron Fist to where he ends up in The Defenders, he has made that complete origin arc. He has shed his immature self. The idea is, in The Defenders, he has in a sense become the Iron Fist.”

The only thing missing is the costume. But then again, with this particular group of characters, a costume could feel out of place. Even Daredevil, the one member of the team with traditional superhero gear, doesn’t suit up in the early episodes of The Defenders. Jones, who admits he would “love” to see Danny Rand wear the “classic yellow mask,” is coy about whether that will happen before The Defenders wraps up.

“The thing with all of these shows is not that we’re shy to bring the costumes,” Jones says. “It’s that we want them to feel authentic when it does happen. Danny’s on this journey to understanding what his responsibility is. And throughout all of [Iron Fist] season 1, he was in no state of mind to put a suit on. That would’ve been ridiculous because he was not fully accomplished as the Iron Fist yet and he certainly didn’t have the right or the responsibility to be putting on a superhero costume. He needs to work his shit out. And certainly by the end of The Defenders, it will feel right.”

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