What's going on with Marvel's Iron Fist: Season 2?

On September 7th this year, Netflix will release the second season of Marvel's Iron Fist - a series almost universally panned since the release of its first season last March, and heavily criticised even in its early stages of development. Since then, the character was better received in Marvel's The Defenders cross-over miniseries, but was still seen as a weak link. More recently though, the character guest-starred in the second season of Marvel's Luke Cage, to which the general fan response has been one of acclaim. Personally, while I'm still not 100% sold on Danny Rand as the lead in his own standalone series, that Luke Cage guest appearance reworked Danny into a much more likable and entertaining character, and one I hope to see again in his own series.

Interestingly though, Marvel Television and Netflix seem determined to play-up how different (and how much better) the second season of Iron Fist will be. The San Diego Comic Con panel introduced fans to the new showrunner (replacing the frankly awful Scott Buck), as well as confirming a recurring role for Misty Knight (played by Simone Missick), and emphasising the season's "spectacular" fight choreography, courtesy of an expert who worked on Black Panther.  Considering Buck's duties as showrunner, not to mention the surprisingly weak fight sequences drew a lot of criticism from fans, the production team are clearly trying to rectify this, with Misty Knight's inclusion serving as the icing on the cake. Mention has even been made of a Daughters of the Dragon team-up between Knight and Colleen Wing, which if handled correctly would certainly be received well by fans.

Two teaser trailers have been released as well, both showcasing the season's emphasis on fight choreography, as well as a new logo and the famous comic book costume - the only thing I recognised about Iron Fist prior to the release of the first season. The second teaser also confirmed that Sacha Dhawan's Davos from the first season will return as a main antagonist, alongside new villain Typhoid Mary (actual name), played by Alice Eve. Quite how they enticed Eve to join this series I have no idea, but they're clearly trying to demonstrate that this new season will be a vast improvement in terms of quality. The production values already look far improved from the first season (which had the lowest budget of any Marvel/Netflix series, reportedly). Part of me even wonders if we'll finally get to see the giant dragon after all. 

Another announcement to come out recently though was that this new season would comprise of ten episodes, as opposed to the usual thirteen for these Marvel/Netflix shows. While some may argue that that is still too long, it certainly demonstrates that the production team are listening to fan criticism, and trying to improve the pacing of this new season. Will it work out for the best? We have yet to see, but given that Marvel's Netflix output has been much better with The Punisher, Jessica Jones: season 2 and Luke Cage: season 2 compared to the slump it faced beforehand, it could be that we're about to see another strong outing for the shared universe. Here's hoping Iron Fist: season 2 will win us all over. Now, what's going on with Daredevil: season 3?

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