8 Reasons Why Iron Fist Isn’t As Bad As The Critics Say

4) The Most Fascinating Mythology Yet

Whatever the failings in execution, Iron Fist is by far the most ambitious of the Marvel Netflix shows. While Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are all fairly grounded, streetwise heroes, Danny Rand is a mystical warrior who fights dragons and hails from one of the seven cities of Heaven.

Sadly, the show struggles with handling that extensive mythos on its relatively small budget. Shou-Lao the dragon, for instance, is reduced to just a pair of threatening red eyes in a cave. While it’s hard to say that its commitment to skirting what we really want to see isn’t annoying, the show still has access to the one of the best Marvel mythologies that has previously not been touched in any live-action adaptation.

Danny’s powers and origin story are slowly drip-fed over the series which, while it might be frustrating to some, makes it so much cooler when the elements finally fall into place – like his first use of the Iron Fist and the reveal of his dragon tattoo. Let’s hope the show embraces its mythos more overtly in season 2.