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Critics Pound Marvel’s Iron Fist, But Can Fans Redeem It?

Netflix series starring Game of Thrones alum Finn Jones scored a mere 18% on the Tomatometer, which some see as unfair.

by Andrea Reiher | March 28, 2017 | Comments

Iron Fist, the fourth Netflix series focusing on one of Marvel’s superhero troop the Defenders dropped on Friday, March 17 — and reactions have been a really mixed bag.

On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 only reached an 18% Tomatometer score with critics (as of this writing). To compare to the other stand-alone Defenders shows, the first seasons of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage all scored over 90 percent fresh. The second season of Daredevil dropped to a 76, but that’s still over four times the Iron Fist score.

Turning to the fans, Daredevil and Jessica Jones’ Audience Scores on RT are over 90% for all seasons, while Luke Cage sits at 85 and, despite having 2,000 or more user ratings than each of its Netflix comrades, Iron Fist brings up the rear at 83.

While the discrepancy isn’t nearly the same with viewers as it is with critics, there are still multiple and varied complaints that fans are levying against the fourth installment in the Defenders series of shows, which is making for some really fun social media posts.

On the serious side, there is a debate raging about the “whitewashing” of Iron Fist with the casting of curly-topped Game of Thrones alum Finn Jones, which is an interesting criticism, since the character has been Caucasian since his debut over 40 years ago — the argument is that in this day and age, he should have/could have been a person of color.

https://twitter.com/BlackIce392/status/844018921757917184

https://twitter.com/Hermit_Hwarang/status/843985633613758464

Adding fuel to the fire is former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who co-created Iron Fist in 1974 with artist Gil Kane, saying in an interview, “Don’t these people have something better to do than to worry about the fact that Iron Fist isn’t Oriental, or whatever word?”

https://twitter.com/JSoAbove/status/844210746926030848

But some fans still don’t have a problem with this particular issue.

https://twitter.com/quackerducker/status/844456065735540737

https://twitter.com/funmzire/status/844185563586609153

On a more fun note, one of the biggest beefs fans have with Danny Rand is that he’s such a Burning Man dude-bro.

https://twitter.com/ravikanodia/status/844734862758100992

https://twitter.com/chrisbearfield/status/843395573961187329

https://twitter.com/CEOJebailey/status/844053117096345600

https://twitter.com/Gerald_AWO/status/843626181526245377

https://twitter.com/ItsDanSheehan/status/843343541220884480

Some fans are annoyed the show creators couldn’t get any more creative with the storyline, calling the show boring and unimaginative.

https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/844014896983498753

https://twitter.com/OpTic_DKarma/status/844423795645595648

https://twitter.com/TheArnold_SoM/status/843642710275907584

Even among people who generally like the show, the lack of good fight scenes is problematic.

https://twitter.com/CaptFiction/status/844741938733568000

https://twitter.com/MQumane/status/844558268441788416

https://twitter.com/davechensky/status/845035992218136576

https://twitter.com/GailSimone/status/844433814734716929

Vidan Tran, Daniel Wu, Aaron Gassor in Into the Badlands (Carlos Serrao/AMC)

So, what’s a martial arts–TV fan to do? Some online commenters offered alternative viewing suggestions, including AMC’s Into the Badlands (pictured) and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC.

https://twitter.com/greatthealexis/status/844724971217694720

https://twitter.com/DanaLeighBrand/status/844115053901037568