If every Asian character in Marvel Comics was good at martial arts — something that was almost certainly true once upon a time — it’s a problem. It’s not true of their Asian characters nowadays, although they have other issues in that regard, starting with their EIC pretending to be one when he was a writer.

A bigger…

Why not have said new Iron Fist be an African American? Or east Indian? Or Brazilian?
Heck, even Indonesian and base the character on Iko Uwais.

I’m with you, up until the end of the post lol. Many Indonesians are also Chinese-descent, and many of us hate being stereotyped into martial artists too. Iko Uwais isn’t Chinese-Indonesian, though, so it could still work, but it still leans into the stereotype.

Having Iron Fist and martial artists characters only be Asian feels just as racist as making them white. It’s basically invoking the stereotype that all Asians are good at martial arts.

How about an Egyptian Black Panther? Is it racist too?

Having Iron Fist and martial artists characters only be Asian feels just as racist as making them white. It’s basically invoking the stereotype that all Asians are good at martial arts.

I think you got this in one. While it’s always been problematic for Danny to be Iron Fist (I mean, how many stories are there where a white dude shows up to be the absolute best at an art that defines someone else’s culture?) I think they could’ve thought a little outside of the box here to a more satisfying result.

“Having superheroes be from the culture their theme is based on is the REAL racism”