Danny Rand returns to New York after many years away – but no one believes that he is who he claims to be…

The superhero market has definitely changed in the couple of years since Netflix burst onto the scene with the first season of Daredevil. It may not have been quite as perfect as many believed initially – some of the regular faults regarding dialogue and pacing can be seen there – but it set a standard that Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have maintained. (The second season of Daredevil seemed to be trying to fit too many elements in, and perhaps could have benefitted from some more time in pre-production.) Agent Carter vanished from the airwaves, and Agents of SHIELD has flirted with Inhumans, Ghost Rider and now LMDs. Legion is an incredible piece of story-telling; so was Logan on the big screen.

And now we’ve got Iron Fist – and things come crashing back to Earth. No, of course we’re not back at the level of the old Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man show (which you might think from reading some of the previews), but this is a show that doesn’t grab you in the first episode and make you want to watch more. Finn Jones’ Danny is not a character that you warm to at all – and no, it’s nothing to do with his being a while billionaire, as the actor himself has claimed. It’s to do with the way he’s written and portrayed – and that’s as an arrogant arsehole. I’m not going to get into the debate as to whether the character should have been rewritten completely for the screen, and been played by an Asian actor: there are so many ways in which the character could be kept the same as he was in the comics and still deal with those issues, but this – at least based on the early episodes – doesn’t do that.

It doesn’t help that the joins in the action are clear: you believed that Charlie Cox earned his lumps playing Daredevil; you don’t believe that of Jones as Rand. The best piece of martial arts in the opener comes when Danny puts on a mask, and you really don’t get a sense of that pent up power from Jones’ performance.

It also doesn’t help that the show feels like a corporate drama for so much of the time. It’s a  great idea not to overegg the pudding with multiple references to other MCU – or even Netflix – shows, but the Meachums feel clichéd (there’s a reveal halfway through the first episode that will come as absolutely zero surprise to anyone who’s watched an hour of American TV).

If you watch the opening episodes of the Netflix Marvel series to date, each of them grabs the viewer and makes them really want to know what happens next. This one doesn’t – and for a superhero show, that’s a cardinal sin.

Verdict: Marvel’s first real misfire? The second half of the season is going to have to be stunning to rescue Iron Fist. 5/10

Paul Simpson