REPORT: Marvel Was Considering Asian-American Iron Fist

[shgs]

So, we're now saying that Asian people couldn't have come up with martial arts and their culture and philosophy on their own and had to have it done for them by aliens? And that's LESS offensive???

You know what, yep. That's it. You got it. That's exactly it. Very perceptive of you.

[Rene Narciso]

So, we're now saying that Asian people couldn't have come up with martial arts and their culture and philosophy on their own and had to have it done for them by aliens? And that's LESS offensive???

This is a very complicated issue, but the short answer is that there are "aliens" and "aliens".

A story that has ancient Vikings influenced by aliens that look remarkably like them and are basically just super-vikings is a lot less offensive that a story about Mayans or Egyptians that are influenced by aliens that look nothing like human beings, much less like human beings of the same race as the Mayans and Egyptians.

If the aliens in K'un-L'un are just super-Asians in the same way as Asgardians are super-vikings, then I don't see the problem.

[Monsoon]

I don't really care one way or the other. I just want Shang-Chi as a supporting character.

This has been my exact thought on the series! I so want Shang-Chi to appear on the series, it's too bad he probably won't be a defender, as he'd be an awesome addition.

[gwangung]

I'm quite glad they say both white and Asian American actors for this. (I do know that a lot of Asian American creators like Marjorie Liu and Greg Pak are quite supportive of casting an Asian American actor).

Personally, while I wouldn't mind too much a white actor if they address areas of appropriation, I'd lean toward an Asian American actor....

[Miracleman]

I got a better response to all this......You're all racist if you want danny rand to be white and you're still a racist if you want an asian playing the part. The first you are subliminally saying that only a white man can achieve a higher status in an art that was developed and created by a minority group. 2nd you are still a racist by promoting that only a martial arts centered character with asian derived tones should only be done by an asian,by also suggesting all asian's do is martial arts.

So essentially,everyone either for or against it is racist. Wow,I can just sense the white guilt in the room. Let's all hold hands while JJ Abrams lead's us in a chorus of "God forgive us for our lack of melanin"

Adios and goodnight.

[RikWriter]

You know what, yep. That's it. You got it. That's exactly it. Very perceptive of you.

It's not me saying it, it's Marvel's latest ret-con, apparently, and I doubt they've put enough thought into it to realize that it's offensive.

[Mr.Majestic]

I don't really care one way or the other.

if a white Iron Fist is cast, that's great

we start championing for characters like Jimmy Woo to be on the next Marvel cinematic series.Hey Marvel, ya listening to Tien Long?! You solve a hell of a lot of problems if you put Jimmy Woo on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or the next Netflix series!

Agents of Atlas would be a good follow-up series to Agents of Shield. Bring on the Woo.

They had a show based on SHIELD and didn't feature the 2nd biggest Shield agent of all, he's starred in 3 different title, Jimmy Woo. Woo could also have been part of the Peggy Carter show since the eras almost match but we get neither hide nor hair of him.

Cinematic/TV Marvel has proven time and time again that it will actively avoid having any east Asian guys in any of its casts. There are no active east Asian guys active at all in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure that could happen but the fact that they had to erase some characters to make it that way is troubling.

You will not see Jimmy Woo while TPTB are running this.

I think they should do a Shang Chi series. The more interesting character is Shang-Chi, no idea why Marvel would go with Iron Fist

This has been my exact thought on the series! I so want Shang-Chi to appear on the series, he'd be an awesome addition.

Once again Cinematic Marvel has constantly sought reasons to not have east Asian guys in any of their products. Any possible reason has been good enough to ignore or erase them.

In addition my main fear with Shang is that they'll get a Chinese national in and he'll be once again someone that barely speaks English. Once again making sure the only male east Asian character in the MCU would be an eternal outsider.

Interesting. Seems like most of the people on this thread almost got their wish. I wasn't completely against an Asian American to play Iron Fist but I wasn't all for it either. I personally like having the actors look the part of their comic counterparts. However I also acknowledge that some actors do a phenomenal job with there roles despite their race like Michael Clark Duncan with Kingpin, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury or even Jamie Foxx as Electro.

So White to Black is fine by you but you weren't completely against White to an east Asian guy? That's nice of you.

I'm fairly recent to reading older issues of comics, so I haven't read a lot of older Iron Fist--but isn't part of the point of his character that he's a contradiction? I'm not sure that he needs to be White, as such, but it seems like he shouldn't be Asian American, at least not East Asian. I do love to see Asian-American characters who are non-stereotypical, but I actually think that an Asian-American Iron Fist leans into the stereotypes rather than away from them.

My problem is people appear to keep looking for reasons to exclude east Asian guys instead of reasons to include them. Any reason seems justification enough to keep them out. The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be a White guys only party with the random White lady and token Black dude sprinkled in.

Well now that's good,making sure that quota check get's noticed so as to make sure the SJW and uber liberals are somewhat satiated. Only thing is,technically speaking the casting of Luke Cage and DareDevil were both racist. Why didn't they hire someone who is a double amputee albino eskimo with narcalepsy for DD. They just put in another white anglo male. That is just so racist.

Then they had the audacity to allow Luke Cage to be stereotypically filled by a black man,when they should have been more diverse and hired a "Transgendered PERSON" so that Luke Cage can more embody the spirit of the repressed man by being expressed as a man becoming a woman.

So as the usual,Marvel is being racist and discriminatory,i am going to go write on my blog about it while drinking at starbucks and mocking other's for their white priveledge. TOOTLES.

I got a better response to all this......You're all racist if you want danny rand to be white and you're still a racist if you want an asian playing the part. The first you are subliminally saying that only a white man can achieve a higher status in an art that was developed and created by a minority group. 2nd you are still a racist by promoting that only a martial arts centered character with asian derived tones should only be done by an asian,by also suggesting all asian's do is martial arts.

So essentially,everyone either for or against it is racist. Wow,I can just sense the white guilt in the room. Let's all hold hands while JJ Abrams lead's us in a chorus of "God forgive us for our lack of melanin"

Adios and goodnight.

Thanks for these 2 comments Miracleman. That reminds me of what some of us are fighting against.

[TheVileOne]

There wasn't this outpouring cry of diversity for when they were casting Daredevil, with the two main major characters, hero and villain, played by male white actors. Or Doctor Strange for that matter.

There's literally no reason these characters can't be played by minority actors if you think about it. If the problem is under-representation, and I would agree it is a problem, why is it being isolated to just Iron Fist?

Now there was this talk coming around when Spider-Man was being cast for the new film. Part of that is the Ultimate comics introduced a bi-racial Spider-Man named Miles Morales. Then Jeff Snyder falsely reported that Marvel and Sony were looking for an ethnic type for the role and he was 95% certain that would happen. That was flagrantly false, and not only that, there was that check list saying any version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the new movies had to be 1) Caucasian and 2) Heterosexual.

Now in Fant4stic, you had colorblind casting in the case of Johnny Storm, played by Michael B. Jordan. Who is a great actor. But that's a failed franchise now which will never see future installments.

I also question the source of these arguments. Some of these tirades appear to be launched by fairweather, cherry-picking fans with an agenda.

If you look at what Marvel Studios has done as of late, they will racial bend and gender bend supporting characters or villains. However, they will not do the same to the main, marquee heroes.

I still maintain that casting Idris Elba as Heimdall was a waste of his talents. Not to mention the fact that Elba seemed to be disgusted he had to go and shoot more of Thor 2 when he was working on the Nelson Mandela film.

[Growup]

They had a show based on SHIELD and didn't feature the 2nd biggest Shield agent of all, he's starred in 3 different title, Jimmy Woo. Woo could also have been part of the Peggy Carter show since the eras almost match but we get neither hide nor hair of him.


My problem is people appear to keep looking for reasons to exclude east Asian guys instead of reasons to include them. Any reason seems justification enough to keep them out. The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be a White guys only party with the random White lady and token Black dude sprinkled in.
Thanks for these 2 comments Miracleman. That reminds me of what some of us are fighting against.

One of the biggest part of Agent of Shield is Daisy, she is half-chinese, got power, and is leading her Secret Warriors.
The Badass of the team is May and she is asian too.
Aos had Jiaying as villains and Daredevil had Nobu and Madame Gao as villains.

And in minor roles in the movies, Hogun from The warriors three ,in Thor and Thor 2, is asian and James Morita from The Howling Commando in Captain America 1 and one episode of Agent of shield, is also asian. And also Helen Cho in Age of Ultron.


In Netflix, Luke Cage will have his own show in 2016.
And Luke Cage was already a big part of the show Jessica Jones and he wasn't at all the only black in Jessica Jones.
There was also Deathlok in Agent of Shield.
In Civil War, There will be 3 black superhero Black Panther/War Machine/Falcon. And Black Panther will have his own movies in 2018.
And Nick Fury has been important in the Mcu.

Jessica Jones got her own very good show in 2015.
Agent Carter got her own show in 2015, her season 2 in 2016.
Mockingbird from Agent of shield have her own spin off planned, Most wanted.
All the best warriors from Agent of Shield are female, May/Daisy/Mockingbird.
Elektra is coming in Daredevil Season 2.

Guardians of the Galaxy add an asian female to the team.
The sequel to Ant-man is called, Ant-man and the Wasp for 2018.
The Movie with a female lead, Captain Marvel is planned for 2019.

[Iron Fist]

One of the biggest part of Agent of Shield is Daisy, she is half-chinese, got power, and is leading her Secret Warriors.
The Badass of the team is May and she is asian too.
Aos had Jiaying as villains and Daredevil had Nobu and Madame Gao as villains.

And in minor roles in the movies, Hogun from The warriors three ,in Thor and Thor 2, is asian and James Morita from The Howling Commando in Captain America 1 and one episode of Agent of shield, is also asian. And also Helen Cho in Age of Ultron.


In Netflix, Luke Cage will have his own show in 2016.
And Luke Cage was already a big part of the show Jessica Jones and he wasn't at all the only black in Jessica Jones.
There was also Deathlok in Agent of Shield.
In Civil War, There will be 3 black superhero Black Panther/War Machine/Falcon. And Black Panther will have his own movies in 2018.
And Nick Fury has been important in the Mcu.

Jessica Jones got her own very good show in 2015.
Agent Carter got her own show in 2015, her season 2 in 2016.
Mockingbird from Agent of shield have her own spin off planned, Most wanted.
All the best warriors from Agent of Shield are female, May/Daisy/Mockingbird.
Elektra is coming in Daredevil Season 2.

Guardians of the Galaxy add an asian female to the team.
The sequel to Ant-man is called, Ant-man and the Wasp for 2018.
The Movie with a female lead, Captain Marvel is planned for 2019.

I think the main point is that there are very few women or people of colour leading franchises now, they're mostly relegated to side kicks. There are have been 12 MCU movies and none of them have a woman or person of colour in the title or lead role, and we won't get a woman in the lead role until the MCU hits 20 movies, won't get a person of colour in a lead role until the MCU hits 18 movies.

The tv verse of the MCU is actually way more balanced but the tv verse is largely considered inconsequential and that's the reason they're taking such 'risks' by not making all those properties white sausage fests.

Marvel could have avoided all of this criticism by just making a Black Widow movie early on, but instead they're choosing to perpetuate the self fulfilling stereotype that female lead comic movies can't make money.

[shgs]

It's not me saying it, it's Marvel's latest ret-con, apparently, and I doubt they've put enough thought into it to realize that it's offensive.

What retcon?

And its not offensive. Every society creates myths, which often attribute human achievements to higher powers (think Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and giving it to man). All Marvel has done is pick aspects of Asian mythology (and Norse, and Greek and Roman, and pagan, and Christian, and their own original myths like Galactus and the celestials) and say in our universe these are all real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunlun...in_(mythology)

One of the biggest part of Agent of Shield is Daisy, she is half-chinese, got power, and is leading her Secret Warriors.
The Badass of the team is May and she is asian too.
Aos had Jiaying as villains and Daredevil had Nobu and Madame Gao as villains..

He did say Asian guys.

[Growup]

I think the main point is that there are very few women or people of colour leading franchises now, they're mostly relegated to side kicks. There are have been 12 MCU movies and none of them have a woman or person of colour in the title or lead role, and we won't get a woman in the lead role until the MCU hits 20 movies, won't get a person of colour in a lead role until the MCU hits 18 movies.

The tv verse of the MCU is actually way more balanced but the tv verse is largely considered inconsequential and that's the reason they're taking such 'risks' by not making all those properties white sausage fests.

Marvel could have avoided all of this criticism by just making a Black Widow movie early on, but instead they're choosing to perpetuate the self fulfilling stereotype that female lead comic movies can't make money.

It can, it's why they are already making a Captain Marvel and a Black Panther movie.

Iron Fist is in an tv show, and 2 tv show are already lead by female, one another female lead is planned, and Luke Cage show is for 2016.
The cast of these show is already diverse.

Marvel movies and tv show are adaptations.
If Japan do a good Dragon ball adaptations (not like the other one), yes there will be more males than females, more asian than white/black/latino or nameks, the lead will be Goku and not Bulma because it's what Dragon Ball is about and look like. You can make Bulma more usefull for representation but turning Goku into female for representation is pointless and it isn't an adapatation anymore.
Ask for Pan spin-off and I will understand.

For me, all this energy online should be use for asking for a real asian superhero getting his own show.

[RikWriter]

What retcon?

And its not offensive. Every society creates myths, which often attribute human achievements to higher powers (think Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and giving it to man). All Marvel has done is pick aspects of Asian mythology (and Norse, and Greek and Roman, and pagan, and Christian, and their own original myths like Galactus and the celestials) and say in our universe these are all real.

The retcon that all Asian culture and martial arts were created by the aliens that founded K'un L'un. And it's one thing to say the gods of myth were aliens, it's another to say "we got all our culture and knowledge and arts from aliens" which implies they weren't smart enough or inventive enough to come up with it on their own. It's the same sort of casual racism that assumes that ancient Egyptians weren't smart enough to build the pyramids without help from aliens.

[shgs]

The retcon that all Asian culture and martial arts were created by the aliens that founded K'un L'un. And it's one thing to say the gods of myth were aliens, it's another to say "we got all our culture and knowledge and arts from aliens" which implies they weren't smart enough or inventive enough to come up with it on their own. It's the same sort of casual racism that assumes that ancient Egyptians weren't smart enough to build the pyramids without help from aliens.

No, it really isn't. Because the people who assume the Egyptians couldn't build the pyramids are talking about real life, and here we are talking about a fictional universe where myth and magic is real.

In other words, no one is saying Asians couldn't have come up with martial arts on their own. Except you, who seems determined to repeat that point over and over.

[RikWriter]

No, it really isn't. Because the people who assume the Egyptians couldn't build the pyramids are talking about real life, and here we are talking about a fictional universe where myth and magic is real.

In other words, no one is saying Asians couldn't have come up with martial arts on their own. Except you, who seems determined to repeat that point over and over.

I didn't write the plot, Marvel did. And they're the ones saying it with the plot they wrote. You denying it doesn't erase its existence.