Iron Fist Season 3 Hopes (Season 2 spoilers)

[Dasher10]

1. Stop grounding the show. Stop also taking it seriously. The premise is ridiculous even by the standards of the MCU. Thor: Ragnarok managed to take an established MCU property and embraced that Thor is a ridiculous character who shouldn't be grounded. Iron Fist Season 3 showed shades of this tonally towards the end. The final scene in Japan is more along the lines of the tone I want to see.

2. Embrace that it's a martial arts show, not a superhero show. In order to make Iron Fist stand out, make it more like Kung Fu, Walker Texas Ranger, Fist of the North Star and Into the Badlands. Turn Iron Fist into a big homage to martial arts cinema in the same way that Kill Bill was. Particularly since Orson Randall is all but confirmed to appear, take inspiration from Rocky, The Karate Kid and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin where Danny is in training because he recognizes that he isn't the ultimate hero that he's meant to be. Danny needed Ward to take down Harold, Misty to defeat Typhoid Mary and Colleen to defeat Davos. This also would give the show an excuse to show Danny fighting style changing to be more in line with actual wushu.

3. Split the characters up to speed up the pacing. Colleen needs her own villain and I'm hoping that it's Ricadonna who would be a Sicilian-American mobster with cybernetic implants giving her electric powers who Misty Knight is attempting to take down and wants the Amulets of Power from the Sons of the Tiger but in order to know what that is, Colleen needs to find an archaeologist which means meeting with her father and repairing her relationship with him and realizes that he has The Book of the Iron Fist in his possession thanks to being descended from Wu Ao Shi with The Last Dragon, Ong Bak and Big Trouble in Little China as reference points. Danny's story is mostly being trained under Orson as described above. Orson's story is one where we learn about his long rivalry with Zhou Cheng who has been hunting him for a century. Orson would be a Cockney-accented gunslinger who is equal parts Doc Savage and The Shadow mixed with the attitude of a streetwise Londoner. Zhou Cheng would reappear and be legit scary at times. Davos' story would have the most in common with The Street Fighter (the sonny Chiba film, not the video game) where Davos learns from Gao that Kun Lun has simply moved to another dimension and Davos joins The Hand so he may one day return home but in order to do so, he must claim the final city of heaven - K'un Zi - for The Hand and slay its champion. Since Danny got his Iron Fist back with time Davos would still have that power but would also now have the power of the Steel Phoenix. After returning to New York as the Steel Serpent to help reestablish The Hand (and work with Ricadonna to do it) he now needs to contend with Elektra seeking to atone for her actions by defeating Davos. The question of whether Davos or Elektra is the hero of that arc should be left up to interpretation with a morally ambiguous story where both may be seen as the hero. The story should be a slow burn up until the final two episodes where Episode 9 has Orson kill Zhou Cheng and realize that he may now come out of hiding since he no longer has a reason to run, Davos defeats Elektra without killing her and Ricadonna is arrested by Misty but the Sons of the Tiger lose their amulet out a window which is found by somebody in a trash can who will reappear in Harlem in Luke Cage. Danny earns the right to the Iron Fist costume after helping Orson defeat Cheng. The finale is a showdown in the City Hall Subway station where Gao reveals herself as the original Crane Mother who all the monks of the Seven Cities pledge loyalty to and that K'un L'un has always belonged to The Hand. Davos defeats Danny, Colleen, MIsty and Elektra and kills Orson. Davos then tells them to head to K'un L'un for a tournament because he must defeat the Iron Fist there to claim the city for The Hand in order to restore it. Ward and Joy enlist the help of Jessica Jones after learning that a mysterious organization (who aren't The Hand) are leaching funds from Rand Enterprises and the finale would have Ward heading to Bethany's house to warn her that she's been threatened only to find her dead and his child missing with a note attached saying to tell Danny Rand that K'un L'un belongs to them.

4. My suggestions for the casting of new characters would be Vanessa Ferlito as Celia Ricadonna, either Phillip Winchester or Christian Howard as Orson Randall and really small bit parts for Freddy Prinz Jr as Hector Ayala and Daniel Wu as Xao. (Hector would be a major player in Luke Cage and Xao would be an major antagonist in Iron Fist Season 4.)

 

[Mike Murdock]

I would love to bring Orson Randall into this. I'm sure that's an inevitability. The only thing is I don't want an entire season of New York City pretending to be Hong Kong or whatever.

I'd also love more Daughters of the Dragon. And I'd love either the Sons of the Tiger or the White Tiger added to the equation.

 

[Random490]

Dasher10, I love a lot of those ideas but I think the mere mention of the Hand return would create a collective groan from the audience. Though I love the idea of Davos and Elektra facing off for who controls the Hand.

For me the plot line would start with two storylines that collide into one as the season plays out. First one and the focus of the first episode would be Colleen as Defender of Chinatown, she and Misty have a Batman/Gordon thing going on and a supervillian show up in town. Not sure who just insert anyone who can hold half a season's attention, I'd like to get away from the organize crime stuff, let it be in the background but not a focus. I'd like whoever the villain is, to be tied to her family to make that a relevant subplot.

Danny's storyline picks up right where it left off, tracking down Orson Randall. After some resistance Orson decides to train Danny and teach him advance uses of the fist, like sealing away objects, healing, etc. as well increase his endurance in maintaining dual Iron Fists. Orson has a collection of Kun Lun artifacts and give Danny a ceremonial outfit to train in and mask, Danny states he never liked the mask and Orson says "You're the Iron Fist, wear the damn mask." About halfway through the season we learn why Danny still has the fist. The connection to the dragon can never be severed, the brand on his chest is a brand his very essence, but the dragon can only initiate one connection at a time. Though when a person reaches a certain age (let's say 33) they reach full chi maturity and can initiate the connection on their own.

Orson then reveal why he's been in hiding since leaving Kun Lun, there's an individual who can sense chi and hunts down people with a large amount to drain it from them to give himself immortality. So the more an Iron Fist uses his power against him, the stronger the villain gets and the weaker the Iron Fist gets. Orson has been training Danny to give him a fighting chance. Danny realizes with all uses the fist has had in NYC he might already be on his way there to get Colleen. The individual should be Zhou Cheng but the character was already wasted in season 1 and maybe reference another character from the comics. He's basically a chi vampire, also he should state he avoided the Hand since he didn't want to share his immortality.

It will take Danny, Colleen, and Orson working together to defeat this villain. The season would end with Orson dying leaving behind The Book of the Iron Fist and a cryptic warning as to why the villain never tried to invade Kun Lun. Because it was against the treaty of The Seven Cities of Heaven, hinting the next season story arc.

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Because I just want to get this idea out of my head for season 4 I want it to kick off with Davos' father, Lei Kung, showing up in NYC to track down the Iron Fist for the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities. Even though the path to Kun Lun is still sealed it's revealed that there are secret portals from all the cities. He learns of the chi transfer and that Davos is in prison, since Davos is about to turn 33 anyway they decide to break him out of jail and all of them go to Kun Lun for an episode or two. We see them have to deal with the consequences of their decisions, Danny abandoning his post, Davos going on a murder rampage, and Lei's strict adherence to tradition when it comes to the portal. Also there has to be a scene where Colleen sees a dragon flying in the distance.

One must be chosen for the Tournament. Colleen has the skill, Davos has the ferocity, and Danny has the power. I think Davos should be chosen because the idea of Danny having to train him in advance uses of the fist is too good to pass up. Doesn't necessarily matter because the tournament goes sideways anyway. The writers would need to work out why the tournament is so important and how a few cities will take advantage of it. But I have this vision in my head of Danny, Colleen, and Davos in a slow motion fight sequence with all three using their powers. In the end Davos atones by becoming the protector of Kun Lun, Danny is officially banished from the city and returns to NY with Colleen.

No idea what to do with Ward or Mary. I think Typhiod Mary should play out across multiple series not just Iron Fist.

 

[Dasher10]

Mary IMO should appear in Jessica Jones and Daredevil next.

 

[Dasher10]

Also, I really want to see Lee Wing appear and I want Sammo Hung in the role. And Elektra would be trying to destroy The Hand and bring back The Chaste.