HERO OF THE WEEK: IRON FIST (Marvel)Real Name: Danny Rand
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #15 (May, 1974)
Fight Club Ranking: #18
Featured Fights:
- vs SABRETOOTH: Iron Fist #14 (Aug 1977)
- vs CONSTRICTOR & SABRETOOTH: Power Man & Iron Fist #66 (Dec 1980)
- vs UNUS THE UNTOUCHABLE: Power Man & Iron Fist #90 (Feb 1983)
- vs UNUS THE UNTOUCHABLE: Power Man & Iron Fist #90 (Feb 1983)
- vs MAN MOUNTAIN MARKO & EEL: Power Man & Iron Fist #92 (Apr 1983)
- vs AVENGERS: Civil War #3 (Sep 2006)
- vs DAREDEVIL: Daredevil #87 (Sep 2006)
- vs BARON ZEMO: Thunderbolts #105 (Oct 2006)
- vs THE HAND: New Avengers #27 (Apr 2007)
- vs MIGHTY AVENGERS: New Avengers #36 (Jan 2008)
- vs LUKE CAGE: New Avengers #2 (Sep 2010)
Iron Fist officially arrives on Netflix later this week (March 17th), adding the final piece to the puzzle of what will become The Defenders. It should've been a triumphant debut for the long awaited martial arts hero, but it seems the wind is slowly leaving the Netflix sail -- a range of issues creeping into initial, muted response.
Of all the bones to pick with this one, mine remains pretty similar to the rest. The visual dynamism so crucial to comic books doesn't seem to be translated in any of these series. A likely costume-less, and myth bare Iron Fist, could line up to be the worst offender. Iron Fist in name alone.
There may yet be a costume waiting for actor Finn Jones at the end of his first series, much as there was for Daredevil. A meandering cliché arguably awaiting ridicule from a wiser future.
After everything these characters have been through -- on Netflix, and the big screen -- it seems Iron Fist should be ready to jump feet first into its world. Alas; Comic Book Resources report the dragon Shou Lou won't be in the show. A disappointing detail that suggests Iron Fist will tone itself down, trying to look like everyone else, rather than being a defiant trendsetter that reinvigorates a genre.
It's been more than a decade since The Matrix helped breathe new life into the next millennium of martial arts cinema in the West. Disciplined indulgence by its cast of recognized actors thrust the high kicks of credible technique into a world of commonality. Its influence meant every actor was to be prepared to don a wire harness, and earn their yellow belt. Jean-Claude Van Damme was suddenly facing competition from Drew Barrymore in a world of suspended animation, viewed in pirouette. It was the best of times, and the worst of times...
British stuntman Ray Park made a splash as Darth Maul the same year The Matrix took the world by storm. For a long time he was attached to bring Iron Fist to the big screen, even as he became a green-skinned Toad opposite Iron Fist foe Sabretooth in 2000's seminal Marvel ensemble: X-Men.
The Matrix got everyone talking about its heavy Asian influences, but it inarguably also set out to reinvent the conventions of the cinematic superhero. Its imprint was evident in what would become the dawn of a new era of comic book movie dominance. X-Men did its best to ape pseudo-bullet time, while replacing "yellow spandex" with Matrix-inspired black pleather. Likewise; it's difficult to imagine Sam Raimi's Spider-man achieving the same quality of success two years after, without the understanding of film techniques made commonplace by The Matrix.
Superhero comparison came to the fore in 2003 sequel The Matrix Reloaded. Here, protagonist Neo did his "Superman thing" freely, having completed the hero's journey in the first film. A few months later, the franchise wore out its welcome with The Matrix Revolutions - a movie culminating in the kind of aerial, city destroying battle echoed ten years later by Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.
The sequels relegated The Matrix to a cultural cap on the previous century, rather than a defining influence of the new one. The perceived failure was a ding to the martial arts genre, as well. The rise of licensed comic book superheroes on screen would be the way of the future, consuming all action heroes and kung fu fighters in their wake. Eastern mysticism was to be supplanted by the genetically engineered progeny of nuclear age heroes. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - among the last refuges of fusion cinema before the defining turning point came with 2005's Batman Begins.
Christopher Nolan rewrote the conventions of superheroes and martial arts in cinema with a heavy burden of post-9/11 pseudo-realism, and an aggressive anti-style that reached its definitive peak with The Dark Knight. The director brought the world flexible body armor, and the Keysi Fighting Method -- a widely unreferenced, unglamorous style of deconstructed martial art. Yes, it comes in black.
Those inclined to take inspiration arguably did it in the worst way, creating a monotony of aesthetically barren, joyless, absurdly self-serious films. Even as comic book icons like Spider-man and Iron Man pushed back against the relentless tide of threadbare Nolan imitators; the cultural landscape was irrevocably decimated. Color and fantasy - endangered exceptions in genre cinema.
Ironically, after starting the boom of new Hollywood martial arts cinema, Keanu Reeves was present for its death knell. 47 Ronin did its darndest to reinvigorate the genre with a purported $175 million budget, and an Asian twist on the proven cinematic flourishes of 300. In 2013, it was an unmitigated flop. A disappointment that gave studios good reason to run from likeminded projects, even if its spending was evident in beautiful costume design, good visual effects, and promising aesthetics.
It's possible the shockwave of 47 Ronin had some impact on Iron Fist - directly, or indirectly. Disney and Marvel have had the chutzpah to invest in some reasonably risky big screen prospects, but it never seemed like they were really following through on the Iron Fist movie. If it wasn't for the aspirations of The Defenders, and the urban trappings of its Avengers-like assembly, its conceivable Iron Fist wouldn't have even come to pass in its current form.
47 Ronin was ahead of its time as a box office flop impacted by racial impropriety. Interest wasn't high enough -- and social discourse, not delirious enough -- to cause the kind of overwhelming unrest that will almost certainly damage this month's Ghost in the Shell. That said; although Japanese voices have been unfazed by the casting of Scarlett Johansson, inaccuracies in the 47 Ronin mythos started its doomed theatrical journey off to a sour note. It was simply too inauthentic.
Iron Fist has taken plenty of lumps for the "mighty whitey" trope of an American unlocking mystic brilliance in a foreign land. International audiences are conditioned to expect this brand of insular glorification from American productions, but unease surrounding cultural appropriation seems to be working to generate domestic anxiety, if not genuine introspection.
Cultural appropriation in and of itself isn't a negative, but the crime of inauthenticity justifiably grinds on an audience. For the most part, Iron Fist has always worked as a Marvel Comics martial arts myth. Inoffensive in a wider world replete with original Asian martial arts epics on screen, and in print, but subject to the same measure of quality, and authenticity. This will be true of the Netflix series, which seems to be starting behind the eight ball -- particularly if it excises Iron Fist's origin, and the presence of the figures who form the character.
If Iron Fist fails to navigate its way to martial arts genre success, there could be a Warner Brothers rival waiting in the wings to scoop the trend. The DC Extended Universe may be a hot mess, but WB are currently sitting on another pop IP they acquired earlier in the decade. A landmark martial arts movie franchise that, if rebooted with care, could surpass their DC failures: Mortal Kombat.
It's been a lot of fun diving into martial arts cinema, but it's time to move on! March is a month of martial arts mayhem on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths! If Netflix isn't doing it for you, you can find our Hero of the Week in action this Friday! Be sure to hit links throughout this post for more classic contests featuring Iron Fist and friends, and dive into the Archive Index for even more!
No comments:
Post a Comment