Iron Fist
Release Date:
No Release Date at this Time
Danny Rand was brought up in mysterious kingdom of K’un-Lun where he was trained as a martial artist from an early age, eventually becoming one of the world’s greatest at the sport. His mastery was such that hew able to channel his energy into his fist to make it a potent weapon. This signature movie gave birth to the pseudonym “Iron Fist,” which he adopted when he moved to New York and donned a gaudy yellow and green costume to fight crime.
Iron Fist was part of Marvel Comics' attempt to cash in on the Kung Fu craze of the 1970s. I suspect the character of Danny Rand himself owes a lot to Chuck Norris and his popularity as an American martial arts hero at the time. He was never really a top tier character, perhaps most popular when teamed with his on again-off again partner Luke “Power Man” Cage (Marvel’s attempt to cash in on the Blaxploitation craze and also currently in development) as the team known as “Heroes for Hire."
Despite never really achieving the popularity of household names like Spider-Man, characters like Iron Fist are representative of a group of New York-based B-list superheroes that fight for the little guy while the big guns are foiling government conspiracies and alien invasions. This style of more down-to-earth super heroics is perhaps easier and certainly cheaper to adapt to the big screen. Still, the lack of name recognition will be Iron Fist’s biggest hurdle, assuming it ever starts filming.
At present it appears to be on the backburner, slated to begin filming in 2005 for a 2006 release. Details are sketchy at best, but it seems likely that Ray Park will play the titular character. This casting is inspired both in looks and abilities, although the accent might pose a problem. (Ash Wakeman/BOP)
