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Sep 23, 2017

MCU Danny Rand, as presented in IF S1

And here’s everything about Danny -- facts, character, significant interactions, etc. For reference so I don’t have to go searching through the text again.

- Born April fool's day!

- Heir to 51% ownership in a valuable biochem company. A company his dad started with Harold Meachum. It's unclear what his role in the company is other than that -- he said he wanted to be involved, because it's his name, but I don't think he much does, really. He cares about his dad's legacy, and that it's a tool that can potentially be used for good, but that's about it. Happy to leave the daily grind to Ward.

- Homeschooled. Good lord.

- Pre-crash kid: Floppy hair. Played goalie on a co-ed soccer team with Joy. Danny spent a nonzero amount of time bumming around the office in his dad's wake. Stuck stickers under his dad's desk, bothered lowly legal interns, skateboarded down the halls in the front entry (after-hours?). Went on a business trip with his parents; hence being there for the plane crash. Was that a regular thing? We don't know. Also hung out a lot with Ward & Joy. They seem to have been his only friends / playmates. Went on family vacations together and everything. Ward was often saddled with babysitting. (Harold was kind to kid!Danny; hid his awfulness -- that was reserved for Ward. ...What happened to Ward & Joy's mom?)

- Danny was also a sweet-but-naive kid. Joy: "A good kid. Kind." Made a pottery bowl for Joy. Wanted to go to the frigging circus; that was a successful bribe for having to do a commercial. His parents regularly told him they loved him. Didn't get it when Ward broke the rules in the game, didn't know how to defend himself from Ward. That probably fuelled a bit of his desire to have power -- being victimized. I could see Danny even as a kid with half-formed revenge fantasies that he'd never actually follow through on because that's not him. Also apparently listened to mostly hip-hop on his iPod as a ten-year-old? Which is... interesting.

- Danny doesn't really bring the pain: I know people think the first fight with the security guards is lame, because who is this dude, basically doing spin-o-rama instead of one-punch-KO on the guards, but I actually think it's perfect. He doesn't want to hurt these guys. He's basically doing the bare minimum to get past them. He's annoyed, a bit hurt (emotionally), but not actually feeling threatened. He doesn't need to expend real effort on them. Spin-o-rama is the exact amount and type of force that is called for and required.

- Throughout S1, Danny doesn't really want to hurt people. He doesn't want to kill them. He doesn't want to do more than he has to to incapacitate them. That could be the "living weapon" thing -- a weapon doesn't keep hitting after it's done its job -- but it could also be Danny not wanting to hurt people, not really. I think a bit of both, but mostly the latter, given his horror once he realized how thoroughly he'd beat Zhou Cheng's face in, and his struggle with both wanting revenge (on Harold, on Madame Gao) and not actually wanting to exact it. And I wonder, with the thing about the red eyes / not kill Harold / dragon flashback, is that a thing Danny realized in the cave? That being the Iron Fist is not actually about just killing baddies? Or is that what Danny took from it because confirmation bias? (Similarly with the eagle or raven or whatever.) And when he talks to Colleen, he's all about the minimal force, and not getting hit, and basically being flowy in his martial arts. He's practically an airbender

- I think he just doesn't like shoes? And likes the flowy homeless dude garb, because it's mostly normal street clothes, but also kind of like his monk robes? Like, he wears sneakers all the time because he's willing to bend as far as "I guess I have to wear shoes because that's a thing here" but dammit if he's not going to at least wear something comfy. (Has no one introduced him to Vibram FiveFingers? God that would be awful and hilarious.)

- He's just excited and happy to see Ward and Joy! It's like, "Whoa, you're all grown up!" plus "Dudes, it's me!"

- First meets Colleen: Happy, personable, chatty, straight up asks for a job -- he's such a puppy. Everyone is a potential friend!

- Doesn't actually care about the money. Like, he'll take it, but he's not motivated by it. But once he has it, he mostly just wants to use it to solve all the problems, not aware of the impact that might have on other people. Not aware of the social connotations of spending obscene amount of money on people.

- Ward: Used to lock Danny in the freezer in the Rand cafeteria. Put a dead frog in Danny's sandwich at a company picnic. Ball-kicking when the opportunity presented itself... A lot of his aggression seemed to center around places they'd interact with their parents...

- When Danny loses control, he doesn't care about self-preservation. He hurts the person who hurt him, and he hurts himself too. He pulls himself back before he goes too far, though. And then immediately apologizes.

- Danny to Colleen: I want to challenge your master. It's protocol. Colleen: (who even is this guy?) I'm the master, and I don't accept your challenge. Danny: Oh, OK, um... (this is not how things are supposed to go...) But at least Danny is learning to be a bit evasive about his weird experiences. "Where's K'un Lun?" "You can't really get there from here." And the minute he perceives a challenge, he's all cocky "you wanna go?" but when she's like "no, pls leave, for realz" he's all "OK, fair enough, cool cool cool." Like, he's still got a bit of "whatever, dude" in his stance & tone, but also "OK, I can see that I misjudged this situation and am bothering you. I’ll stop that now."

- Colleen gives him shoes, which he puts on as soon as he's outside. Because he’s starting to accept that there are different rules in NY and the respectful thing to do is follow them?

- Things Danny never experienced in K'un Lun: coffee, sex, "material attachments, indulgent activities, romantic entanglements..."

- "Wait, you -- you took a vow of chastity?" Danny, amused, incredulous: "Yeah. *scoff* Of course." Like, who didn't? How else do you expect to get to be the best?

- Doesn't really get privilege. Doesn't "get" that he has it in scores, either. Because that’s just not the world he’s lived in for the past 15 years.

- Kind of innately trusts Colleen. Turns to her because there's no one else, but also because she's been kind to him. Really, Danny's default is trust in S1.

- When Danny's in the mental hospital and Colleen says she's out, he says "OK, I understand." If you could do me one last favour, I'd appreciate it, though. Just deliver this package to Joy. Like, he gets that his situation is fucked up and not everyone would want to be involved.

- Ward does try to have Danny killed in the mental hospital. And that's Ward's plan, not Harold's. It's actually Ward going against Harold's plan of "set him up in a penthouse, welcome him back, USE HIM."

- Just starts blasting the tunes while doing morning practice in Colleen's dojo after NOT clearing out in the morning. Despite Darryl being there, cleaning/tidying. So he doesn't have much of a sense of the impact his taking up space has on others, and isn't super considerate in that way. Just, so much self-centeredness. The thing that comes of not having to live on top of others, not really understanding how *crowded* poverty is and how to be considerate of others’ bubbles. And why didn't he go? "I'm worried for your safety." Because he sees himself as a better fighter than her, but also as responsible for everyone's safety.

- Tiger form -- "internal force, not external strength" -- I feel like that's what Danny loses over the course of the show. That centeredness.

- Cocky little shit who doesn't quite realize when he's being condescending.

- Likes gestures, esp. grand gestures. Demonstrative. (See the buddhist stoop apology to Joy, buying the dojo, etc.)

- Memories of his old life (pre-crash) "kept [him] going under very difficult circumstances."

- "Enough! The dojo is a place of respect!" Danny's clearly had that literally beaten into him. And responds as his teachers would have when he's mocked. "Is this a kindergarten? Or are you training warriors?" But when Colleen explains, he says "I'm sorry." She says look, I know things are rough for you right now, but you can't stay. He's pretty upset, honestly -- knows he done fucked up, sniffing back tears -- but bows, "sensei," and leaves. That's the story of Danny -- he can be taught. He can be trained. He seems ridiculous at first, but he is trying. Genuinely.

- Feels so fucking alone.

- His bed is too soft, at first. Sleeps on the floor.

- Training included regular fights, challenges, and being hit with sticks -- presumably to toughen him up / make him learn to deal with the pain? It seems to have been basically an ultimate fighter cult.

- Just wants Ward and Joy to be his friends! Just wants to have some fucking friends! (Davos was his friend in K'un Lun. He had at least *a* friend.)

- We should be helping people! We should be making the world a better place!

- Says that once he learned of the Iron Fist, he wanted to be it. And everyone there said there was no way an outsider like him could do it, so he sort of gunned for it in defiance of that. But also, we see that Head Monk guy (Davos's dad) tells Danny of a prophecy that he believes applies to Danny, how that kid *does* become the IF. So Danny thinks that he, Outsider, will show them all! Now after the fact, he's seeing his success as his stubborn will rather than destiny -- his mistake, to believe that it was his destiny -- but he was literally told that it was destiny. So for him to assume full responsibility, and full blame, for pursuing the IF without really realizing what it meant for him? It’s in character for Danny -- he doesn’t really blame others for his situation -- but it’s not entirely fair to himself.

- "I fought the whole way for it. I earned it." "Was it worth it?" "Mmm... we'll see."

- Monastery room: 6x6, mat on floor, a blanket, a chamberpot. Walked a mile every morning with giant jugs to get his/his master's daily ration of water. Training, sparring, fighting all day every day. "Failure led to a beating. Victory led to the next fighting style, the next lesson." "It sounds like abuse." "Well. It made me what I am today." "Which is what?" "... I don't know. Another guy living in a deluxe apartment?"

- Has lots of experience dealing with, and righting, dislocations.

- After a fight w/hatchet men, comes to Colleen, sees her a bit of a mess. Greeting: "What happened to you?" C: "What happened to *you*?" "That's why I'm here. Can you keep an eye on Joy for me?"

- Colleen refers to him as a millionaire. He corrects her, serious tone -- "Billionaire." Why does he bother? Also corrects Joy -- he fought off men with hatchets, not axes. Why does he bother to be precise here? Is he just a precise dude -- doesn’t want to be misrepresented? Is it an honesty thing? Or is it something about these specific topics?

- Not judging Colleen for fight-for-cash -- fought in a few illegal fight clubs on his way back from K'un-Lun. So that's an interesting character tidbit. I wonder what that journey looked like.

- Comes in to the dojo; sees Colleen training Claire. Big fuckin' smile, like "Look at her. Isn't she so strong? And great? And such a good teacher! Her students all love her. She's so awesome. And she's my friend!" *flirt time now*

- "But I... ordered takeout." The only takeout I know. That... that dude. So thoughtful/thoughtless. And he ordered takeout because he wanted to talk to her. About helping him uncover evidence of the secret heroin operation within RandCo. And also he bought her building. Which... Danny, you don't get people at all.

- "Is this a date?" "What? No! Of course not! ...I mean, uh, unless you want it to be." "No." "OK." Unison: "Good."

- Offers thanks before eating.

- Only ate veg they grew in the monastery. But sometimes he & Davos would sneak out & grab a bite of donkey.

- Totally responds to Claire's "I" statements. Talking about martial arts cult / monastery life. "After everything you'd been through with the crash... I don't know, that would have been a really hard thing for me to have handled." She’s figured out how to get him to face some of his feelings, by opening the avenue with those “I” statements.

- Restless, wanting more -- "years and years training in K'un Lun, waiting on a threat that never arrived."

- Colleen comments on his reinstatement at Rand leading to a lot of public attention, which seems annoying. "I got used to it as a kid." -- so he kept that lesson, I guess. And it's not like he was unremarkable at the monastery.

- Colleen, re: Danny's newfound fame & riches: "People may try to take advantage." Danny: "You didn't." Colleen assumes people who just come into your life are kind of shitty. Danny assumes they're good and kind.

- When Colleen balks at guards armed with machine guns, Danny needles her -- she could leave, but what would she be going home to? She's like him. She wants this fight. Danny loves the idea of beating up bad guys. Like, fucking REVELS in it. But he also takes a moment later to apologize for prying or whatever, for getting at her about the whys of the fight club. He’s aware that he’s just learning where normal, (American) adult social boundaries lie, so he tries to be proactive about correcting any missteps.

- "Thanks for doing this." "Don't thank me yet." "It's just nice, having someone to count on."

- "I don't even know what I'm doing or saying until it's taken the wrong way, so..."

- At first, he wasn't sure about Colleen -- didn't quite see her as an equal -- but now he basically assumes she's capable of anything and everything.

- Also, he's so impressed with Claire, too.

- "I've been training my whole life for this." (re: fighting the Hand) So he defines it as his whole life, at least in his head. His life started when his plane crashed.

- Re: Mortal Kombat? I'll be fine! "I have a vision of total victory and nothing else. It's the reason I've gotten this far. Defeat has no place in my mind. ...Doubt leads to death."

- "The legend": A child, touched by fire, delivered from heaven to be our greatest warrior. Destined for victory.

- The Thunderer (in Danny's head): "Cast away your childish needs. Bury your mother. Bury your father. Tell me who you are." Explicitly, he is told that he was delivered to the monks by fate to become the Iron Fist, and that in order to do so, Danny Rand must cease to exist.

- During the Mortal Kombat, he assumes Gao is honourable, because she is using the conventions with which he is familiar -- the challenges. But it doesn't occur to him that she could/would co-opt them.

- Totally a big baby about stitches, etc. in front of Colleen. Eugenides-style, maybe? Or else he's just comfortable enough to let himself whine a bit?

- Used to sneak plum wine on winter nights w/his friend Davos back in the day. Colleen asks for more stories re: K'un-Lun: "I was there a long time. They aren't all great memories."

- Explaining his tattoo / Iron Fist status: It's a unique force used to protect K'un-Lun. It's passed down form generation to generation, and it's given to one student from the monastery to wield. "Why were you chosen to get it?" I wasn't chosen. I earned it. (But we know that he was chosen over Davos to go try, so.) "It lets me harness my chi. It enhances my strength. My focus. And it... makes my hand light up." He knows that part is a bit silly.

- "Are you sure?" "Yes. Definitely yes." The assumption is that he's a virgin because of vow of chastity, but a) what about after he became the IF? and b) what about during his trip to NY? He had time to get involved in illegal fight clubs (presumably to make some money to get himself back to the US), so what are the odds he never did *anything*? Of course, the morning after convo implies that at the very least, he probably never had full-on sex.

- ^It's actually pretty cute. Danny starts with "About last night..." and you can see Colleen bracing herself for "it was a mistake," but what he says instead is, "I've been living a very different life for many years. There are certain things I haven't.... But last night was -- I enjoyed it. A lot." And the look on Colleen's face is, *you dork you are so adorable and ridiculous* "I liked it too." Which... It's like, "sorry if I was bad at it; I don't have a lot of experience... but it was super nice and I like you a lot and I'd love to do it again..." And Colleen is all "yeah, I know, I like you too, dork."

- Gao: You left K'un-Lun of your own free will because you wanted to be Danny Rand. Which is true. But also, "K'un-Lun did not send you to hunt us down." Which doesn't sit well with Danny -- why make me a weapon that will never get used? If the Hand is out there, why *wouldn't* we go fight them? Why are we abandoning the rest of the world, if we have all the power? Haven't you guys ever read Spider-Man?

- Danny: Gao killed my parents! I have to go to China! Claire: This plan sucks. Danny: It doesn't suck, OK! (You suck!) Like, once it's about his parents, Danny gets stupid, because that wound never healed. His plan, again, is "I'll figure it out on the way to China." And "If you don't trust me, don't come." But he does apologize.

- His plan in the China episode is SO STUPID. SO SO SO STUPID. IT HURTS IT'S SO DUMB YOU IDIOT SO STUPID. (Episode 8 has a lot of important developments / character moments, but it also has the worst characterization. It's infuriating.)

- He's not sure whether he wants to capture or kill Gao. He doesn't want to face it. But he talks big. He's scared by the part of him that wants to rip her apart.

- Claire asks whether Danny is actually going to kill Gao. "I spent the last 15 years learning to control my body, my mind, and my emotions. I think I'll be OK. ... But if I did kill her, I would only be fulfilling my duty as the Iron Fist." You really think you can justify committing murder? "I swore to protect the people of K'un-Lun from the Hand, okay?" Killing is wrong, no matter who pulls the trigger or why. Colleen: I wonder if you'd feel the same way if someone killed your mother and father. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It's an easy opinion to have when you're not the Iron Fist. Basically, Claire is team "don't kill people!" Colleen is team "sometimes you have to kill people." And Danny is team “I don’t know; everything is confusing; I’m supposed to want to kill people; why am I so angry all the time!?”

- ^But the Iron Fist is a choice, and it's one that doesn't actually sit too well with Danny. Also, he's sworn to protect K'un-Lun. No one else. And he hasn't sworn to get vengeance.

- Turbulence happens. And Danny shares his story with Claire and Colleen.

- Waiting is hard. Danny wants to crack some skulls.

- Tell me what I want to know. "Or what?" *punches next to Gao's head.* -- Seriously, Danny. Or what? Do you even know? I don’t think you do. I think she successfully called your bluff. This is why people usually try to have a plan first.

- The fact that Davos is dressed like a normal person reinforces the idea that Homeless Chic is just Danny.

- Colleen is all poisoned. "We're going to get out of here. Everything's gonna be ok." I don't know. "Say it. We're gonna be OK." We're gonna be OK. -- He’s one of those ‘repeat the outcome you want to make it true’ in a crisis people.

- Danny, waking up with Colleen, is pretty cute. *Where am I? Doesn't matter. Colleen is here, and she is amazing. I must touch her. Oh, dammit. I woke her up.* "Sorry."

- He really doesn't know the half of what he can do. Recharging his chi, healing people... it's kind of too bad he didn't stick around long enough for Bakuto to teach him more. (Bakuto's all, "You don't know how to do this?" And Danny's like, "Ah, yeah, my training went a little sideways.")

- He feels pretty betrayed once he finds out Colleen is with the Hand. And accuses her of only getting with him to recruit him, because of the Fist. That's all anyone wants from him. Which is... interesting, and certainly not what we've seen. But that's his fear -- that Danny Rand has disappeared into the Iron Fist.

- God, but Finn Jones -- Danny -- is a lanky fucker.

- "It's not what I thought." -- Danny, after getting the Iron Fist.

- Danny convinces Davos to help him try to wipe out the Hand. Because it's Danny's new goal. His new crusade. The new thing that's going to fill the emptiness indside him.

- Danny doesn't want to hurt Darryl. Wants to go back to help him/make sure he's OK. (Darryl, for his part, doesn't want Danny to be hurt either.)

- Claire suggests Danny heal himself when he comes to her with his wounded side. Danny: "What?" Like, it doesn't even occur to him. Maybe because he can't anyway? But also, he's a puncher, not a healer. (Mentally. At the moment.)

- Danny is super upset and betrayed by the whole "Colleen is Hand" situation, freaks out at Claire when she tries to defend Colleen, say there must be mitigating circumstances, because they know Colleen is good people. Is Not In Control. Pulls himself back together, grinds out "I'm fine," because he doesn't actually know how to deal with his emotions.

- Upon seeing the bullet hole in Luke's shirt: "Is your friend OK?" Immediate concern for others if he thinks they might have gotten hurt.

- He just needs to "restore his chi."

- Danny wanted to be the Iron Fist because he felt empty, and thought that maybe being the IF would fix him. Surprise! It didn't! After he becomes the Iron Fist, he realizes that he actually doesn't want it. At all. To stand out there, day in day out, guarding the pass. It doesn't give him purpose like he'd hoped.

- He doesn't want to be touched by Colleen, but he hasn't written her off -- says Bakuto is using her, using the kids, he's a bad dude.

- To Colleen on the rooftop: "How can I ever trust you again?” When she can't answer (mostly just looks at him, stricken), he gets all hard-faced. “I am the Iron Fist. Protector of K’un-Lun. Sworn enemy of the Hand.” Danny gets really bitchy where his broken-hearted sense of betrayal is concerned. “Did Bakuto tell you to do that?” is his constant refrain. Which is meant to wound, but also, I think, reveals his secret fear that no one would love Danny Rand for Danny Rand’s sake. Because Danny doesn't. He doesn't even know if he wants to be him -- spent a lot of years trying not to be. And he turns away from her, won't look at her, but can't help watching her go. Because he's hurt, but he's sad, too, dammit!

- It's OK for Danny to drive without a license, because he's rich. Which… he doesn't care about stupid “rules” and “laws” when he knows that what he's doing is fine -- he knows how to drive -- and the consequences will be minimal, so who cares?

- He gets flashes of anger. They're getting harder and harder to control.

- Danny sees Colleen escaping the Hand compound and immediately runs to her. She's freaking out, all “Destroy me! I'm Hand!” And he just grabs her in a “don't hurt me or yourself with the weapon, please” hold and says he knows what it's like to have it all come crashing down on you, it not be what you'd thought and hoped. Then, once she's deflated, “We have to stop fighting. We have to stop running. We have to stop destroying everything.” And holds her close. She needs all the hugs, and he wants to give them.

- And then he’s touching, touching, to soothe and ground -- neck, shoulder -- but when Davos goes off at her, he lets go to move towards Davos and focus on him. But comes back, because Davos was his past but Colleen is his future. He’s cradling her face, stroking her hair… Danny has good instincts for a kid who hasn't experienced much tenderness since the age of 10.

- It's Danny’s turn to tend to Colleen’s wounds. He says he's going to put Colleen up in a hotel because she's been through enough tonight, but totally accepts is when she says no, she wants Bakuto dead too, she wants to be a part of their mission.

- “I don't even know what I'm meant to be.”

- Danny also is not a killer. Doesn't want to be. Will if he has to. Maybe.

- The iron fist wasn't meant just for K’un-Lun. “I'm Danny Rand. And I'm the Iron Fist.” But he also apologizes to Davos, because he hurt him. And he can't go back to K’un-Lun just like it was before, turn his back on this world, so he’s preemptively apologizing abandoning them again, too.

- After the falling out with Davos is complete, Colleen asks, “You OK?” And Danny responds, “I’ll work through it.” He's moving toward a more emotionally healthy perspective.

- When Harold asks where Danny will be, he glances at Colleen. She nods slightly; Danny nods back, and says, “at the dojo.” He's kind of asking if it's OK, if Colleen still wants him around. And she says yes.

- He's been looking for a family. In K’un-Lun, with the Meachums… but he found Colleen. And she feels right. And she feels the same way about him. And that makes him grin like the giant dork he is.

- Their joint morning forms/training, man. They both just love it. Doing this together, ramping up the sexual tension, appreciating each other’s moves…

- Gao pinpoints how Danny's survivor’s guilt is still eating at him, never having been properly processed.

- Danny kept trying to escape K’un-Lun because he hoped that his mom was out there somewhere, alive. Because he never saw her body. Though he could hear her, calling out through the impassable blizzard.

- Danny is prone to weird flashes of memory, like vivid, hallucinatory daydreams. Maybe something to explore?

- He wants to go back to K’un-Lun, finish his IF training, and maybe convince Lei Kung that the IF isn't just supposed to be a WMD. And he wants Colleen to come with.

- “I spent my whole life feeling like my parents were watching over me.”

- And K’un-Lun is just straight-up gone. And Danny says “it's all my fault.” Sure, Danny. The entire monastery of warrior monks weren’t a match for whatever caused this, but if *you* were there, the outcome would have been different.

- When Claire says Colleen and Danny are a lot alike, they both look pleased, like “we’re so cute.” And then when she clarifies that no, that’s not a good thing, they’re psychologically damaged lost kids who are prone to solving their problems with violence, they’re all, “Oh…” *sad face* But not defensive, interestingly. Because I think they do recognize that about themselves.

#oh good lord this is long #posting for future reference #danny rand #iron fist #character breakdown #mostly in chronological order #my thoughts #i have feelings about shows

jammica-jones