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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
@Theokal, Full blooded American but raised in Asia since childhood, if I remember correctly. Basically the face if your average stereotypical all American hero with whatever stereotypical traits of honor and whatever cliche and vaguely uncomfortable traits we associate with Asian dudes.
It's part of what makes the friendship with Cage so unique. It's sort of like the Rush Hour movies if Chris Tucker wasn't loud and annoying and Jackie Chan is exactly the same but white.
If they do go with that particular route a challenge will definitely be making sure he is a guy that was genuinely raised in those cultures rather than some guy that came along and appropriated them.
The Blog The ArtAs someone mentioned already, adapting Shang-Chi would also be a good way to finally bring the Mandarin in for real as part of a Pragmatic Adaptation, since his Archnemesis Dad Fu Manchu was a big part of his character and it's not like Marvel can exactly use Fu Manchu anymore. Plus having heroic Shang-Chi and a non-Asian Iron Fist would help dilute the stereotypes from two angles.
Trying to think of how to express this:
So I'm not averse to an Asian-American Iron Fist but that has its own issues/seems to lead to a message that some people may consider good but it's a bit YMMV.
Basically, besides the All Asians Know Kung Fu, with an Asian American Iron Fist, you have a story of an "Americanized" person who gets thrust into embracing his "traditional" culture. It's not necessarily a bad message (it's basically the aesop of American Born Chinese), but IMO it has a negative edge to it- you know, the idea of criticizing someone for "acting white"- not sure if there's a trope for that.
edited 9th Dec '15 1:18:48 PM by Hodor2
This is my argument about having a non-white Iron First.
I don't think they would need to go that way, actually. Because Danny Rand actually rejects K'un L'un in the end and chooses "death" over immortality.
edited 9th Dec '15 1:16:00 PM by alliterator
I read a great article a while back about how there are lots of Asian cultures and therefore the idea that Asian!Danny learning Asian!martial arts means embracing his own "traditional" culture is kinda nuts.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.![]()
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Category Traitor or The Whitest Black Guy? Which it's true are full of Unfortunate Implications done badly as well. EDIT: In the sense that they suggest there's one true way to act Asian. It's different from the problems Mighty Whitey has.
Yeah if Danny Rand was Asian, but South or Southeast Asian instead of East Asian, I think that would avoid a lot of the stereotypes. If he's the latter maybe he can make a crack about the idea that All Asians Look Alike too.
edited 9th Dec '15 1:27:00 PM by AlleyOop
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East Asia is officially defined as: China, Taiwan, Japan, the Koreas, and Mongolia. So I guess we could have a Mongolian Iron Fist too, since Mongolians are more likely to be stereotyped as backwards Genghis Khan horsemen than kung fu/karate/taekwondo. Vietnam is also considered culturally part of East Asia, though geographically and ethnically Southeast Asia, and tend to get stereotyped more along Vietnam War lines.
An Iron Fist who's Ainu, Okinawan, Taiwanese Aborigine, Uyghur, or any other such group considered a minority within East Asia would also be cool. Though since Xinjiang is such a touchy subject in Chinese politics and Marvel's banking hard on the Chinese market they probably won't go there.
edited 9th Dec '15 2:12:28 PM by AlleyOop
Oh, I still say that'd be a great casting choice. But I've accepted that it's no hill to die on.
My various fanfics.About IF's origins:
IIRC, the IF in the Ultimate Spider-Man show had him be one of those American guys who's filthy rich, but not really satisfied with the high life, so he travels to K'un L'un in one of those finding oneself things. Maybe they could try something like that?
Also, if I can just say something else, I honestly hope they ditch the flats and have go straight to wearing boots. The flats plus the pants that don't cover the ankles kinda looks silly if I'm honest.
edited 9th Dec '15 4:40:51 PM by TargetmasterJoe
No, Ultimate Spider-man cartoon Iron Fist is a douchebag. At least the original comics Iron Fist grew up in the culture rather than sought it out out of boredom.
According to my research his parent died whilst traveling so the people there raised him. He returned to America and took over the big fancy company his dad once owned. Much more humble, slightly less mighty whitey than some jackass kid coming along because he was bored and claiming the Iron Fist.
The Blog The Art

How is Shang Chi the greatest martial artist in the MU? Has he fought every martial artist in the MU to prove that claim?
For the record, I'm equally questioning of Batman's "world's greatest detective" status.