Marvel’s last Defender arrived on Netflix late last week. Marvel has been consistently releasing impressive anti-authoritarian movies and television shows as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – which might be the greatest idea the market has ever discovered. I’ve only seen the first few episodes, but Iron Fist seems to be a departure from this anti-authoritarian streak.
Big business, rather than big government, is the ultimate antagonist in this series.
A plane crash with his parents left a young Danny Rand to be raised by Chinese monks. Fifteen years later he comes back to Hell’s Kitchen as the Iron Fist and tries to reclaim the business his dad created – Rand Corporation.
His childhood friends, who now run Rand Corporation, are reluctant to allow him to back into the business his father created. At first, you feel bad for Danny Rand, who desperately wants his name back. His property. Rand Corporation.
There’s only one problem: Danny Rand is a socialist.
After struggling to recover his identity, the key that will grant him his right to his father’s inheritance, he immediately begins destroying the business with his socialistic ideas. Marvel’s writers did an egregious job explaining it.
After Rand Co. worked for 10 years on a cure to a disease, they finally brought the drug to market. Danny didn’t allow them to sell it for a profit. The businessmen and women in the room disputed that “this is not how business works.”
That’s it. No talk about all the money they have invested in this drug. Or the labor that went into creating this drug. No explanation whatsoever, just “this is not how business works”.
I find it ironic that the writers of this script didn’t realize Danny Rand was both fighting for his property and promoting socialist views. Two diametrically different ideas.
Despite its downfalls, I still find this series enjoyable. I hope Marvel decides to take a more anti-government stance when Danny Rand meets up with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage to form The Defenders.
Source: Gimme Liberty