There was a huge push from Asian-Americans to cast an Asian-American actor as Iron Fist, and it would have made this story more compelling for precisely the reasons you’re saying: The narrative of having an Asian-American going back to Asia after losing his parents as a metaphor for regaining power is a really great one. It feels like a missed opportunity.

Lewis Tan: It is a missed opportunity. That’s exactly how I feel about it, word for word. It would’ve been a brave thing to do, for sure, for Marvel. I can see how that was difficult to make that decision. I think, personally, it would’ve paid off. But I think it’ll come next because people are feeling underrepresented. People are like, “Yo, this was a perfect opportunity to represent us.” They chose not to, and it’s not even their fault. I see why they stuck to the source material because it’s very risky to move away from that, but they’ll move away from it in other areas and in other shows where they’ll take an Asian character and make him white. So you can’t really win with that argument. Because we’ve seen many times when they’ve taken Asian characters and made him white.