Despite a months (née years)-long campaign to have Marvel and Netflix consider Asian American actors for the role of Danny Rand in their upcoming Iron Fist show, it was announced that Game of Thrones star(?) Finn Jones had been cast in the role.
Honestly, is anyone actually surprised?
I’m not gonna rehash everything I’ve said (both here and on twitter) over the last two years. My main reason for writing the original article wasn’t to cause some mass movement on twitter, but just to present the possibility that Asian Americans could also be nuanced, heroic characters and that white maleness doesn’t have to be at the center of every superhero narrative. Or any narrative, for that matter. Alas, that point was lost on many. As evidenced by some of the gloating fanboys showing up in the NOC mentions and at the #AAIronFist tag.
In the end, Marvel decided to go with Finn Jones, the British actor best known as Ser Loras Tyrell on Game of Thrones. And for what it’s worth, at least the actors we pitched were, you know, American. Anyway, here are some of the reactions to the casting on twitter:
On Jones’ Whiteness
https://twitter.com/marcbernardin/status/702943006819639296
https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/702944324166799360
On Orientalism and Cultural Appropriation
https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/702958840602632193
https://twitter.com/marjoriemliu/status/702962092303892480
https://twitter.com/Wheeler/status/702956197293338624
Hollywood’s History of Centering Whiteness in POC Stories
https://twitter.com/wneilscott/status/702948323703988224
Whitesplaining Racism to Asian Americans
https://twitter.com/fionastaples/status/702996878036578305
https://twitter.com/ubeempress/status/703105591078572033
https://twitter.com/skrishna/status/702946703746453504
Accusations of Fake Geekness
https://twitter.com/Devindra/status/703107676088066048
https://twitter.com/marcbernardin/status/702943988865585152
Hey at least we got a badass Daredevil trailer featuring Elodie Yung as Elektra!
https://twitter.com/jrome58/status/702974739044659202
Oh wait…
https://twitter.com/opsimathist/status/702965138748530688
So, #AAIronFist was fun while it lasted. Now that another white British dude is playing a Marvel Superhero, fanboys can rest assured that their 21st century superhero television shows look exactly like their 40-year old comic books!
Meanwhile, we’ll move on to the next cause. Namely, getting Megalyn E.K. her own live action Vixen show! And if Greg Berlanti and company happen to be reading this, I got an idea for how to bring in an Asian American Richard Dragon to be Mari’s co-star/love interest…