Marvel’s Iron Fist has long been anticipated by fans of the House of Ideas’ Netflix output. As the promotional material for the show has made clear, Danny Rand is the final Defender we have to meet before The Defenders mini-series – which unites Rand with fellow streetwise superheroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage – arrives this summer. Sadly, however, the hype might have been too much for the show, as it’s been met with a pretty scathing critical reception.
Obviously, other important areas like the strength of the narrative, action sequences and themes should be considered, too, but a big reason for Iron Fist‘s weaker reviews might be its cast of characters. Whatever your personal opinion towards the series may be, it’s hard to argue that it has probably the weakest central characters of any of the four shows. There are a couple of welcome returning faces, and one new standout, but overall, these guys lack a bit of charisma.
So, let’s go through the main players of Iron Fist (at least those that show up in the first six episodes – we’ll update this post once we’ve completed the season) and rank them from worst to best. Spoilers will follow, so if you haven’t made it through the first six outings yet, bookmark this page and come back later.