A week and change away from its Netflix debut date, “Marvel’s Iron Fist” is getting treated like a punching bag by TV critics.
Everything from the show’s writing to its casting has been beaten up in the early rounds — an unfamiliar position for a Marvel series. Polygon called it “laughably bad,” while a number of TV critics simply settled on the word “boring.”
There’s also no shortage of writers killing the show for casting caucasian actor Finn Jones in the Danny Rand — a.k.a. Iron Fist — role. While Fist is a white man in the comic books, his Asian martial arts style and training ground had several fans hopeful for an origin story rewrite in the name of diversity.
Reviews, social media and message boards have been all over the issue, which bubbled over this weekend. Finn has defended the show vehemently, which boasts a female lead of Singaporean descent. Eventually, after finding himself on the ropes Sunday, the actor deleted his Twitter account. Can’t say we blame him, though he’s since reactivated it.
Below are some of the rougher memes and tweets to come from the early “Iron Fist” reviews. To be fair to Netflix, Marvel and Jones, there are just as many posts (if not more) that believe the noise about Rand’s race to be ridiculous.
Find out for yourself how good or bad the show is when it drops March 17 on Netflix.
I mean, maybe making Iron Fist Asian wouldn't have solved EVERY problem, but it sounds like it's a better alternative, going off reviews…
— Justin Carter (@GigawattConduit) March 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/sapphicyvi/status/839482704630546432
https://twitter.com/localcelebrity/status/839482268611670016
https://twitter.com/SodieEvolved/status/839472054025990144
https://twitter.com/DerfelBarada/status/839468576172015616
https://twitter.com/nikeshshukla/status/839396484806225920
I don't care if people watch Iron Fist or not. But what you not gonna do is hush people of Asian descent voicing their critique of the show.
— FilmFatale_NYC 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) March 6, 2017
finn jones: diversity and representation is important
everyone: why play iron fist then?
finn jones: pic.twitter.com/n9lZFr2xjE— janina (@robattinsons) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/djbenhameen/status/838595355767877632
https://twitter.com/murdocksmatthew/status/839484627098157056
https://twitter.com/untamedbananas/status/839483843665096704
Looking at these Iron Fist reviews like… pic.twitter.com/7ahb25Vr8g
— A Phizer A (@Aqua174) March 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/ahsokareys/status/839483090070355969