The Defenders: Finn Jones on How Iron Fist Fits Rallies the Team

We continue to learn more and more about Marvel’s The Defenders, as the upcoming Netflix event series begins its official promotional campaign. A recent photo gallery and cast interview with EW has revealed a lot of the interesting character and team dynamics that The Defenders will explore; each of the four Marvel superheroes on the team (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist) will be coming from a different place after the events of their respective solo shows – with a big new threat to tackle.

One piece of the road to The Defenders that has yet to be paved for fans is Iron Fist, the final of the solo character lead-in series. From what we’ve seen of Iron Fist so far, that show will deal directly with the threat of The Hand ninja clan, and the mysticism surrounding them. Knowing that The Hand will show up to threaten New York during the miniseries, it leaves question as to wear Danny Rand’s character arc in Iron Fist ends up. Iron Fist star Finn Jones recently opened up about the subject, describing wear how Iron Fist factors into The Defenders storyline.

MORE: Iron Fist’s Key Role in The Defenders

As Jones tells EW, Danny both wants to be part of The Defenders – and doesn’t: “Here’s one of Danny’s contradictions again. On the one hand, he’s craving desperately for family, for help, for guidance, for people to learn from, and for a team. He’s looking for that deeply. But because of what happens in Iron Fist, he’s very untrusting of a lot of people, and he has a very independent spirit, and it’s really his way or no way.”

When it comes to The Defenders, then, we’ll apparently see Danny getting over his trauma and settling into his destiny – including having a band of warriors to fight at his side. According to Jones:

“What we’re seeing [in The Defenders] is Danny is definitely becoming more at ease, I’d say, and more comfortable with his environment because he has others around him, because he’s not going at it alone anymore. You get to see Danny’s brighter side coming out, and he’s not so tormented by this, but also because he’s found his purpose… He drives all of the Defenders to get behind him to solve this… [Pauses as the publicist looks up] issue.”

Reading between the media trained lines of Jones’ answer, what it sounds like is the threat of The Hand – that began in Daredevil seasons 1 & 2 – will grow bigger in Iron Fist, but still won’t reach its peak until The Defenders. Since the MCU version of Iron Fist is being crafted as a mythical deterrent to The Hand, it would make sense that Danny Rand is the central figure around which The Defenders rally.

Marvel’s’ Iron Fist premieres on Netflix on March 17. Marvel’s The Defenders comes to Netflix later in 2017.

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