2) Look To The Source Material (Just Not The One You Think)
There are a lot of great Iron Fist comics that the series can draw inspiration from, most notably Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction’s all-too-short run as co-writers. But if Marvel and Netflix really want an angle from which to approach the character and his extended universe, the smart move would be to look back even further.
Classic martial arts fiction, and the multitudes of films it spawned mostly notably in the 60s, 70s and 80s made extensive use of a concept called the “Jianghu.” Alternately called the Martial Arts Underworld, the World of Martial Arts or simply the Martial World, the Jianghu refers to a kind of subculture or sub-society made up of practitioners of the various martial arts, which exists mostly independently of normal society. The Jianghu has its own hierarchy and social structure, customs, laws, systems of enforcement and an ever-changing web of alliances, feuds, and politics. There are secret temples, wandering heroes, internal power struggles and intrigue aplenty.
A phenomenal way to introduce not just Danny Rand but virtually every part of the martial-arts themed Marvel universe would be to introduce the concept of the Jianghu. In fact, so many of the familiar elements of the Jianghu already exist in Marvel that it’s honestly surprising that no one’s thought of it already.
You’ve got wandering heroes beholden to no master but living by a strict code of righteousness and justice (Shang-Chi), ancient evil clans bent on spreading mayhem and overthrowing normal society (The Hand, already confirmed to be appearing in Daredevil season 2), secret cities and temples (K’un-Lun) – all the elements are there, they just have yet to unified under the concept of the Jianghu.
The idea of a secret society operating just outside of our own is nothing new to North American fiction. There’s the quasi-mystical London Underground of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, for example. There’s the criminal underworld of John Wick, with its own currency, rules and convenient body-disposal services. You could even cite something like Highlander, with a secret society of globe-trotting, sword-swinging immortals as an example of a similar phenomenon. Introducing the Jianghu wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for audiences who’ve been raised on similar ideas.
By establishing the idea that the Jianghu of classic martial-arts fiction continues to exist in a more modern form, you instantly have a framework from which to introduce a ton of characters, organizations and concepts with minimal required exposition. With some careful and deft world-building, the stage is instantly set for countless stories, featuring Iron Fist or any number of other martial-arts themed characters. And speaking of stories……
