It was just reported that Marvel almost cast Chinese-American actor Lewis Tan to play the role of Danny Rand in Marvel's Iron Fist series for Netfliix, but as we already know, Finn Jones ultimately got the role, but many fans are still not happy that an Asian actor didn't get the role. This is interesting because Danny Rand has always been white in the comic books. You can't please everyone - There would have also been a controversy if an Asian actor was cast for the role.
During an interview with Inverse, Iron Fist co-creator Roy Thomas shared some brutally honest thoughts about the people who were complaining about the casting of Danny Rand. Of course, people will probably be offended when they hear what he has to say:
"He was a character for a comic book at a different time. It's very easy to second-guess anything. You can argue about Tarzan, you can argue about almost any character who came up then is bound to be not quite PC by some later standard or other. Okay, so you can make some adjustments. If they wanted to kill off white Iron Fist and come up with one who wasn't Caucasian, that wouldn't have bothered me, but neither am I ashamed for having made up one who was. He wasn't intended to stand for any race. He was just a man who was indoctrinated into a certain thing."
The co-creator added that Iron Fist is a character from a different time, and said that he's not ashamed of the character he created.
"He was a character for a comic book at a different time. It's very easy to second-guess anything. You can argue about Tarzan, you can argue about almost any character who came up then is bound to be not quite PC by some later standard or other. Okay, so you can make some adjustments. If they wanted to kill off white Iron Fist and come up with one who wasn't Caucasian, that wouldn't have bothered me, but neither am I ashamed for having made up one who was. He wasn't intended to stand for any race. He was just a man who was indoctrinated into a certain thing."
Thomas went on to say that some people just have too much time in their hands, too much time to criticize, and he says that those people should create their own characters instead of changing someone else's:
"Now if something is really racist or degrading to a sex or race, an ethnic group or something like that, that's something else, but Iron Fist isn't that and never has been. It's all about a fictitious race, a fictitious place like a Shangri-La, and one person who happens to be its emissary. There's no reason why he can't be Caucasian."
He also defended the creation of Iron Fist:
"Now if something is really racist or degrading to a sex or race, an ethnic group or something like that, that's something else, but Iron Fist isn't that and never has been. It's all about a fictitious race, a fictitious place like a Shangri-La, and one person who happens to be its emissary. There's no reason why he can't be Caucasian."
He also explained that if Marvel decided to cast an Asian actor to play his character, he would have been cool about it.
Despite what you think about the whitewashing controversy, Thomas made some strong points about the creation of his character and the criticism against Marvel's casting for their Netflix original series.
Read: 15 Best Easter Eggs From Season One Of Iron Fist
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