Iron Fist Kingpin. Kilgrave. Black Mariah. Who Should Be The Main Villain In Iron Fist?

[Stark Bauer]

I have a feeling that Harold Meachum is going to be positioned as the one percenter corporate CEO villain who has either taken over his family's company or is trying to stage a hostile takeover.

Steel Serpent seems like the best choice. I doubt it will be Master Khan, he'd probably be perceived as too much of a Yellow Peril type of villain like the Mandarin.

Great point about yellow peril. I thought about that too. I'm leaning more towards Steel Serpent.

 

[Webhead2006]

no reason they wouldnt use both for season 1. Meachum for his foe at the corp/family level and normal real world issues. And then steel serpant following him from kun lun and what not. So you bring two sides into it. Then leave others stuff like master khan, the heaven cities and what not for later stories. As we likely see meachum get taken down during the season. Danny gets his family company back from him. Harold goes to jail. But steel serpent gets away to tango with danny more later. Maybe do a team up with that master khan character.

 

[Stark Bauer]

Daniel Wu from Into The Badlands as Steel Serpent aka Davos. Never mind Daniel Wu can be a different character in Iron Fist.

 

[BarryAllen]

I have a feeling that Harold Meachum is going to be positioned as the one percenter corporate CEO villain who has either taken over his family's company or is trying to stage a hostile takeover.

Steel Serpent seems like the best choice. I doubt it will be Master Khan, he'd probably be perceived as too much of a Yellow Peril type of villain like the Mandarin.

Yeah, but with good writing you can make him a more than that.

 

[gildedmuse]

It pretty much has to be Meachum. I don't want to drag in the whole "casting an Asian-American actor" debate, but let's assume, as seems likely, that they go the whole blonde hair, blue eyed route with Danny. A lot of his villains are steeped in Oriental-ism and Asian imagery which makes sense as they tend to tie back to Kun-Lun, but if you use them as your main threat you are essentially saying, "Okay, making the main character an Asian martial artist is racist so instead we'll cast Asians as the ancient, wise martial artist mentor, the nameless ninjas he'll fight, and the kung-fu bad guy and that's all fine so long as the hero is still a white dude." I have just enough faith in Marvel to believe that someone, somewhere along the line would stop and point out how absolutely terrible that would be.

I'm not saying that those villains aren't usable and can't be fully developed, compelling characters that go beyond just being a yellow peril stereotype but I just highly doubt that they want to start the show off by presenting the story like, "So here is a white kid who goes to Asia, wins one of their warrior titles, then spends the rest of the show beating up evil Asians." It would actually come off even worse since this show will be on the heels of Luke Cage, a series that is sure to deal with racial issues.

Meachum not only makes sense as a reason why Danny would be brought to New York, he just presents less problems than other possible antagonists. Use the others, fine, maybe start to set up Davos because, yeah, he can be a great part of the Iron Fist story. But mostly stick with making Meachum and business interests the main conflict.

 

[Web-Head]

Davos

 

[Pokkle]

Davos + Meachum, I guess.

 

[spidey-dude]

it has to be Meachum as the overall big bad surely? If not it should be Iron Fist trying to clear his name after Meachum's murder (I would have it orchestrated by Davos in an attempt to ruin Danny)

 

[Webhead2006]

i still bet it will likely be meanchum for issues with dealing with being back to the real world and getting his family business back. Then we likely have a threat from kun lun in steel serpent so we toss in a little of the mystical element in the show. Then we slowly build more on the mysterical stuff for season 2/defenders.

 

[Dasher10]

Where are Harold Meachum and Xao?

 

[fallingend44]

I think it will be Steel Serpent

 

[BarryAllen]

The Meachums + Steel Serpent for the big bad.

 

[Dasher10]

It pretty much has to be Meachum. I don't want to drag in the whole "casting an Asian-American actor" debate, but let's assume, as seems likely, that they go the whole blonde hair, blue eyed route with Danny. A lot of his villains are steeped in Oriental-ism and Asian imagery which makes sense as they tend to tie back to Kun-Lun, but if you use them as your main threat you are essentially saying, "Okay, making the main character an Asian martial artist is racist so instead we'll cast Asians as the ancient, wise martial artist mentor, the nameless ninjas he'll fight, and the kung-fu bad guy and that's all fine so long as the hero is still a white dude." I have just enough faith in Marvel to believe that someone, somewhere along the line would stop and point out how absolutely terrible that would be.

I'm not saying that those villains aren't usable and can't be fully developed, compelling characters that go beyond just being a yellow peril stereotype but I just highly doubt that they want to start the show off by presenting the story like, "So here is a white kid who goes to Asia, wins one of their warrior titles, then spends the rest of the show beating up evil Asians." It would actually come off even worse since this show will be on the heels of Luke Cage, a series that is sure to deal with racial issues.

Meachum not only makes sense as a reason why Danny would be brought to New York, he just presents less problems than other possible antagonists. Use the others, fine, maybe start to set up Davos because, yeah, he can be a great part of the Iron Fist story. But mostly stick with making Meachum and business interests the main conflict.

You also forgot Colleen Wing as the Asian-American best friend, Shang-Chi as the Asian sidekick/rival and the other Immortal Weapons as the Asian heroes of their own stories (except Prince of Orphans who's the other outsider, in this case a black guy). In an Iron Fist series, most of the cast is Asian, not just the villains. If anything, it's a show where the protagonist is the token.

 

[gildedmuse]

You also forgot Colleen Wing as the Asian-American best friend, Shang-Chi as the Asian sidekick/rival and the other Immortal Weapons as the Asian heroes of their own stories (except Prince of Orphans who's the other outsider, in this case a black guy). In an Iron Fist series, most of the cast is Asian, not just the villains. If anything, it's a show where the protagonist is the token.

Right,okay, so add Asian sidekick to that list. That's not a trope that has recently taken a lot of heat or anything.

While it's great that IF will have a lot of roles for actors of color, there is still something sleazy about the fact that you have all these Asian characters and only one white guy and yet he is the hero protagonist. Setting him up against a white corporate baddie at least puts Danny in a less terrible light. It's easy to root for him when his father was killed by this guy. Send him up against a native inhabitant who is keep a hold of his culture in the face of a white outsider? That could really easily be misread. I mean I just did.

You can still use those characters I would just suggest that smart money says to hold off until you've established the character as a hero taking on non-Orientalist threats first.

 

[Pokkle]

Right,okay, so add Asian sidekick to that list. That's not a trope that has recently taken a lot of heat or anything.

While it's great that IF will have a lot of roles for actors of color, there is still something sleazy about the fact that you have all these Asian characters and only one white guy and yet he is the hero protagonist. Setting him up against a white corporate baddie at least puts Danny in a less terrible light. It's easy to root for him when his father was killed by this guy. Send him up against a native inhabitant who is keep a hold of his culture in the face of a white outsider? That could really easily be misread. I mean I just did.

You can still use those characters I would just suggest that smart money says to hold off until you've established the character as a hero taking on non-Orientalist threats first.

I don't see any terrible light to fight the xenophobic Davos.

 

[Nayt Navare]

It makes sense for Meachum and Davos to be working together, if not with intents to betray another.

 

[Webhead2006]

for me its still likely to go like this danny real world threat will be meachum like fisk was for daredevil. But to tie into the mystical stuff and kun lun steel serpant likely will have followed danny back into the real world to cause him trouble there for what ever past beef the show will have with them. So we likely see both as the major threats for the season one of iron fist.

 

[chamber-music]

Iron Fist will be facing off against Steel Serpent, Zhou Cheng and Ward Meachum from the sound of things. There are probably some other villains as well.

 

[Dasher10]

I don't see any terrible light to fight the xenophobic Davos.

I've never seen him as xenophobic. He's nationalistic and dislikes Danny for being an outsider who took the mantle of the Iron Fist which should have been rightfully his but he's also willing to work with people who aren't Chinese and only holds a grudge against Danny.

And considering that Danny IS an American who went to China and was raised by Davos' father the Thunderer as his own son and then became Iron Fist before returning to America instead of staying in Kun'Lun or even staying in China, Davos has some very legitimate reasons to feel resentful.

Steel Serpent is an antagonist but (in the comics at least) he's never been villainous. He's actually Lawful Neutral.

 

[Hypestyle]

Craig Geraghty is identified on IMDB as "Ringmaster". Anybody know anything about this at all? If it's Ringmaster then I'm not sure what angle is going to be explored with him. I guess we'll see, right?

 

[Mike Murdock]

I'm always septical of IMDB before an episode airs.