The first season of the American streaming television series Iron Fist, which is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, follows Danny Rand as he returns to New York City after being presumed dead for 15 years and must choose between his family's legacy and his duties as the Iron Fist. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise. The season was produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios and Devilina Productions, with Scott Buck serving as showrunner.
Finn Jones stars as Rand, alongside Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Ramón Rodríguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson, and David Wenham. Development for the series began in late 2013, with Buck hired as the series' showrunner in December 2015 and Jones cast as Rand in February 2016. Filming took place in New York City from April to October 2016, with a focus placed on exploring the "One Percent of the One Percent" through story, location, and costume design. The character's martial arts background is also explored, and each episode is named after Shaolin kung fu sequences. As the last of several Marvel Netflix seasons to release before the crossover miniseries The Defenders, it features set-up for that event and references to those prior seasons.
The season premiered on March 15, 2017, in New York City, with the full season of 13 episodes released on Netflix on March 17. It received generally negative reviews from critics, particularly for its pace and storytelling, and Jones's performance. The appropriateness of his casting and storyline in terms of race was also widely discussed, while the season's fight sequences were criticized as an important element that were poorly acted, choreographed, and edited. Conversely, Henwick's performance and the use of established characters Claire Temple and Jeri Hogarth did receive some praise. Third-party data analytics determined the series had strong initial viewership, but this dropped within a week. The series was renewed for a second season in July 2017.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto Sacha Dhawan as Davos Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple David Wenham as Harold Meachum
Recurring
David Furr as Wendell Rand Barrett Doss as Megan Alex Wyse as Kyle Marquis Rodriguez as Darryl Wai Ching Ho as Gao Ramon Fernandez as Kevin Singleton Clifton Davis as Lawrence Wilkins John Sanders as Donald Hooper Elise Santora as Maria Rodriguez
Notable guests
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace Suzanne H. Smart as Shirley Benson
Production Development In October 2013, Deadline reported that Marvel Television was preparing four drama series and a miniseries, totaling 60 episodes, to present to video on demand services and cable providers, with Netflix, Amazon, and WGN America expressing interest. A few weeks later, Marvel and Disney announced that Marvel Television and ABC Studios would provide Netflix with live action series centered around Iron Fist, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries based on the Defenders. In April 2015, the official title was revealed to be Marvel's Iron Fist, and that December, Marvel announced that Scott Buck would serve as showrunner. John Dahl, Cindy Holland, Allie Goss, Alison Engel, Kris Henigman, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley, Jim Chory, Jeph Loeb and Buck serve as executive producers on the series.
Writing Each episode of the season is named after Shaolin kung fu sequences. Quesada stated in July 2016 that "there's a lot going on" in the season, with Buck and the season's writers weaving together "some great legends from Marvel present and past" including what Quesada believed to be the most antagonists in a single season of a Marvel Netflix series. Buck likened Iron Fist to a mystery, saying, "It's very much about how do you go about proving who you are when there's no way to do that, and that's not just the story, that's also the theme of it". The season begins with Danny Rand returning to New York after having been missing, presumed dead, for 15 years. Buck said that much of the season was "about a journey of finding self ... in terms of what he wants to be as far as 'Who is Danny Rand? What is the Iron Fist?' and then, 'How do these things get together?'" Loeb described the structure of the season as building "through a series of sort of metaphorical fights, which is very important in a martial arts film, to sort of show how the character needs to grow from the innocent, wide-eyed person to someone who has to come to terms with 'this is the way the outside world works—how am I going to make it work for me?'".
Continuing on the idea from the previous Marvel Netflix series that New York City is a "fifth Defender", Loeb said the season would examine the high-end financial world of New York City, examining "the One Percent of the One Percent and how that affects our world on a day-to-day basis... high-level corporation, Big Pharma, things like that". Actor Finn Jones added the season examined "corporate corruption and corporate responsibility in the modern world, and... how much do corporations have impact on society? And what we actually look at in the show is the heroin epidemic of the city, and how corporations maybe actually fund the heroin epidemic, and what that means to society". In terms of Rand donning a comic-based costume in the season, Buck stated, "There was no good reason we could imagine to put Danny Rand in a costume. Because Danny Rand is still discovering who he is as a hero and where he is going to be, so he's not yet ready to put on a mask or a costume. [A]t the same time he is someone who is rather well known as a billionaire, so he can't necessarily go out in public and do the things he does without being recognized. It does become an issue for the character."
Casting The main cast for the season includes Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum, Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum, Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto, Sacha Dhawan as Davos, Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, and David Wenham as Harold Meachum. Dawson reprises her role from previous Marvel Netflix series.
Recurring throughout the season are David Furr as Wendell Rand, Danny's father; Barrett Doss as Megan, a Rand Enterprises secretary; Alex Wyse as Kyle, Harold Meachum's personal assistant; and Ramon Fernandez as Kevin Singleton, Harold Meachum's bodyguard. Wai Ching Ho as Gao, reprising her role from Daredevil, and Marquis Rodriguez as Darryl, reprising his role from Luke Cage. Clifton Davis, John Sanders, and Elise Santora portray Lawrence Wilkins, Donald Hooper, and Maria Rodriguez, respectively, members of the Rand Enterprise board. Also returning from previous Marvel Netflix series are Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace, and Suzanne H. Smart as Shirley Benson.
Design Stephanie Maslansky is the costume designer for Iron Fist, after serving the same role for the previous Marvel Netflix series. Maslansky noted one of the differences with the season compared to the other Marvel Netflix series, was the neighborhoods it spent time in ("the wealthier neighborhoods; Midtown, Upper East Side, that sort of thing") compared to Hell's Kitchen for Daredevil and Jessica Jones and Harlem for Luke Cage. As such, Rand wears more suits than the other heroes, and given the amount of fighting he does in the season, a lot of spandex was added to increase the suits' flexibility. Rand's look evolves throughout the season, with Maslansky noting, "When we first meet him he's clearly traveled a long way. I wanted people to look at Danny and not be sure exactly what he was. A backpacker, or a homeless man. His look needed to reflect a variety of culture [and almost feel] otherworldly." Once Rand enters the corporate world, he settles on an "Urban Cali" style, which is "a little looser, little more relaxed. But it's still a suit. His tie is never tied tightly and he always wears sneakers." This relaxed style for Rand also provided "a strong contrast" to Ward Meachum who is a "far more corporate looking person." The monk costumes and Rand's warrior costume was based on "real Shaolin warrior monk costumes... I took that distinctive silhouette from the Shaolin warrior monk clothing, and we combined it with the traditional colors of the Iron Fist, green and gold." Regarding Gao, Maslansky stated "Her particular look is influenced by ancient China," particularly the Terracotta Army and further progresses the "villainy" look of the Marvel Netflix series of "surround[ing] themselves with [money], with beautiful things."
Filming
Marvel announced in February 2014 that the series would be filmed in New York City, with Quesada stating in April that the show would be filming on location in addition to sound stage work. Photography began in April 2016 in New York City, with the working title Kick. Manuel Billeter served as director of photography after doing the same for the first seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.
Filming locations included Mariners Harbor and Sailors' Snug Harbor on Staten Island, which served as Bakuto's compound; 28 Liberty Street for the exterior of Rand Enterprises, while some interiors were filmed in the MetLife Building; 19 Gramercy Park South for Joy Meachum's home; City Hall Park; Chinatown, including Mott Street; the lobby of the General Electric Building for Harold Meachum's penthouse; the Manhattan Bridge; Green-Wood Cemetery; Bank of America Tower; Bryant Park; the Presidential Suite in the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel, serving as Rand's temporary apartment; the STK Midtown restaurant; Brooklyn Navy Yard; Pelham Bay Park; the Bayonne Bridge, which doubled as Anzhou, China; and Sutton Place Park. Filming wrapped on October 8, 2016.
Iron Fist was filmed in high dynamic range (HDR), which Billeter stated added "a learning curve" to his work, forcing him to rethink how he would shoot certain scenes, such as a car lights or street lights, which become much brighter in HDR than previously. To compensate, lights would be painted on set to help "bring down the highlights". Post-production vendor Deluxe worked on the season to adjust colors the filming team did not have the chance to tweak on set.
Fight training and choreography Brett Chan was the stunt-coordinator, fight choreographer, and second unit director for the season, having "full involvement in all the episodes". Buck wanted the fighting in the series to be mostly Wing Chun but with the animal styles of kung fu as well, and Chan worked alongside Buck and other Marvel executives during development of the fights. As a second unit director, the amount of creative input that Chan had depended on the episodic director he was working with. Chan was influenced by the works of the Shaw Brothers, Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Bruce Lee, and Yuen Woo-ping, but avoided being "floaty or wire-like" per a request from Marvel; wire work and CGI were used minimally for fights.