Marvel hires Rich Wilkes to write Iron Fist movie

by Liam on August 25, 2010 · 4 comments

iron fist movie In June Marvel hired Conan scribes Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write a script for a Dr. Strange movie, and now Rich Wilkes (xXx) has been given the job of writing a screenplay for Iron Fist, according to Deadline.

For those unfamiliar with Daniel Rand and his powers here’s a rundown from Wikipedia:

When Daniel was nine, his father Wendell Rand organized an expedition to seek out the mystical city of K’un-L’un, taking his wife Heather, his business partner Harold Meachum, and Daniel. During the journey up the mountain, Daniel slipped off the path, his tie-rope taking his mother and father with him. Meachum, who also loved Heather, forced Wendell to plunge to his death but offered to rescue Heather and Daniel. She rejected his help, preferring to journey without him or die.

Heather and Daniel come across a makeshift bridge that appears out of nowhere and are attacked by a pack of wolves. Heather throws herself on the wolves to save Daniel and is killed even as archers from K’un L’un attempt to save her. The archers take the grieving Daniel to see Yü-Ti, the hooded ruler of K’un L’un. When Daniel expresses his desire for vengeance, Yü-Ti apprentices him to Lei Kung, the Thunderer, who teaches him the martial arts.

Daniel proves to be the most gifted of Lei Kung’s students. Rand conditions his fists by plunging them into buckets of sand, gravel, and rock to toughen them. At 19, Daniel is given the chance to attain the power of the Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon known as Shou-Lao the Undying, which guarded the molten heart that had been torn from its body. During the battle, Daniel throws himself against the scar of Shou-Lao, which burns a dragon tattoo into his chest. Having killed Shou-Lao, he enters its cave and plunges his fists into a brazier containing the creature’s molten heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist. It is later revealed that there have been many Iron Fists before Daniel, making him the modern member of a long lineage of Iron Fists.

Iron Fist is one of those movies that has been trying to get made for years, and at one point Ray Park (Toad in X-Men, Darth Maul in Stars Wars) was attached to the role.

Iron Fist and Dr. Strange are part of Marvel’s post-Avengers line-up with new owners Disney. Paramount will no longer be distributing after The Avengers, which gives Disney free reign over the characters they paid $4 billion for.

Are you interested in seeing an Iron Fist movie?

  • terry

    im up for a Iron Fist movie but this screen writter does not give me any confidence. if they do this movie they need to do a Luke Cage movie first then Iron Fist solo movies and after both characters join force and create Heroes For Hire.

    Ray Park should not play Iron Fist cause his just a good martial artist but he has no real acting chops. the best person for the role is Ryan Phillippe his a actor and martial artist best of both worlds.

  • http://twitter.com/aeghast [A]

    ..though NOT written by the XXX guys

  • http://twitter.com/aeghast [A]

    “Are you interested in seeing an Iron Fist movie?” –a loud, resounding yes.

  • http://twitter.com/winwordsclyde Clyde Bailey

    While I’d love to see an Iron Fist movie, I fear there just aren’t enough mid-forties comic book fans turned directors/producers to go around anymore. The guy who wrote xXx? I fear another Affleck Daredevil. Yeesh.