Iron Fist has been the most mysterious entry in Netflix’s roster of street-level Marvel heroes for a while now, with casting news and plot details trailing out well behind Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and even the upcoming Defenders. We got a tease of the show at San Diego Comic Con back in July, but today, at the show’s panel at New York Comic Con, the streaming service finally gave us our first real look at superhero Danny Rand.
Who’s apparently just kind of a guy who hits things, as far as the trailer is concerned. Punching dudes, punching women, punching doors: other than some portentous voice over and shots of the show’s supporting cast, we get more out of “living weapon” Finn Jones’ fists and feet than his mouth. Meanwhile, the trailer also lacks in any big stylistic hooks, like the ones that pulled in interest for Jessica Jones or Luke Cage, or even much mention of Rand’s back story. (He’s a rich kid who disappeared when he was young, for the record, only to return to New York after being trained in magical martial arts by a city of reclusive warrior monks.) Luckily, the officially released trailer wasn’t the only footage show today, with Marvel’s Jeph Loeb peppering the panel with clips from the show that dug a little deeper into its world.
We saw Jones’ Danny Rand—barefoot and dirty—trying to enter his family’s building and getting kicked out, only to return and employ his fighting skills against some hapless security guards. Speaking of kicking ass, the panel was also treated to a sequence in which Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) took down two burly dudes in a cage match. (At one point she wraps her legs around a guy’s arm and breaks it. Yikes.) There were even some non-action sequences, centered on the villainous Meachum family, with Danny challenging siblings Ward and Joy (Tom Pelphry and Jessica Stroup) at a fancy restaurant, and—in the most chilling scene shown today—David Wenham’s Harold Meachum taunting Rand as he’s chained to a bed.
Iron Fist is currently scheduled for a March 17, 2017 debut.