Fan encounters usually last for a sentence—and you probably end up spewing some sort of cliche statement. But what can you actually say to Marvel’s latest minted superhero when you meet him?
Do you talk about how you were just writing about him a few days before, going into detail about the Marvel easter eggs embedded in the 13-episode Netflix series “Iron Fist”? Or do you go on about how you loved that his character allows viewers and fans to witness how Danny Rand grows and matures?
Or perhaps you feel like showing off your binge-watching prowess and tell Finn Jones, the 29-year-old actor who plays the Immortal Weapon, that you finished watching “Iron Fist” in a day?
“A day?!?” Finn Jones asks me.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I just couldn’t stop watching.”
“A day. Wow. That’s really good to hear,” he says.
While most critics have blasted the series for its casting, lack of action and shortage of emotional intensity, I found the series to be engaging as it was character-centric. It showed a lead that was imperfect and impulsive in all aspects—and may have even overdone it.
But Netflix creates Danny Rand as an outsider—in K’un Lun, in New York, and even in The Hand’s ranks. With the push-and-pull characters in the show, there is no one who can be trusted, which leaves Danny vulnerable to the worlds he has yet to feel he belongs in.
I’ve strongly felt that Danny Rand needs to be an outsider—and needs to feel that he is one—for his character to become resilient, or to even explain his longing to be back home, his attachment to his name and his past.
Danny understands destiny—but hasn’t quite wrapped his head around why fate has brought these consequences together. And that is the journey his story is trying to deliver and a journey that it’s trying hard to involve its viewers in.
That’s what I love about Danny, he still has so much to learn as the Iron Fist—for one, he can only use one fist at this point—and we’re all going to witness how it happens first hand.
I wish that’s what I told Finn Jones instead. But I didn’t think he’d be interested in my argument as to why it’s okay for a white guy to be cast for the lead role.
When we first met the leads of the series, Finn Jones was the least comfortable and most guarded with his answers, even though the press wasn’t allowed to field questions about the show’s unexpectedly low ratings. Unlike the Meachums who have warmed up to the media crowd, Finn was close to stoic and seemed like he wanted to leave the room as soon as he can.
Before the presscon was wrapped up, a journalist cornered the Iron Fist and asked him exactly what everyone had in mind: What were his thoughts about reviews revealing that the show was bad?
That’s when Finn Jones acted out and defended the series. “It’s a matter of who you’ve talked to,” he quips. ”What I’ve heard from people on the street have been great,” he adds.
Before the presscon was wrapped up, a journalist cornered the Iron Fist and asked him exactly what everyone had in mind: What were his thoughts about reviews revealing that the show was bad?
That’s when Finn Jones acted out and defended the series. “It’s a matter of who you’ve talked to,” he quips. ”What I’ve heard from people on the street have been great,” he adds.
But we met a completely different person come night time. Finn traded his blazer for a signature Danny Rand outfit in the evening: a hooded jacket, polo shirt and pants. He even gave his personal phone to the DJ, saying he prepared a handpicked playlist for the evening’s guests.
Finn Jones is taking his fans’ phones for selfies, offering fist bumps and even photobombing Jessica Stroup (Joy Meachum) and Tom Pelphrey (Ward Meachum) as they snap away during the meet and greet. He was chuckling at this point, and his eyes have a different twinkle as he shook his fans’ hands.
“The first photo I took of us was blurred. Sorry, I don’t do selfies a lot. I got surprised when you balled your hands into a fist,” I tell him.
He scoffs and teasingly rolls his eyes and tells me, “Gimme that.” I immediately hand him my phone. “Let’s do a fist bump,” Finn Jones instructs.
And that is how Finn and I channeled our chi to our fists.
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