Luke Cage and Iron Fist Do Denver Comic-Con

We here at BMD are about as subtle as freight trains. Because of that, no one has any questions on where we stand on Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Full disclosure; I actually really dug Luke Cage, but my opinions on Iron Fist were enough to get me labeled as a “DC Shill”. I’ll give you a moment to stop laughing about that before we get to the fun. As is the case with most criticism, none of our opinions on media carry over to the actors themselves. Every once in a while you get one that’s forthright with their dickishness, and that will certainly be called out, but neither Finn Jones or Mike Colter fall under that category.

At their recent trip to Denver Comic Con, the two Defenders sat down with a room with thousands of their fans to discuss themselves and their roles in the upcoming season of The Defenders. What they actually ended up doing was ragging on each other for the full panel, which is great on multiple levels. The first is the fact that Iron Fist is infuriating and it was delightful to see Colter get into pseudo character and rag on Jones. The next is because of the chemistry they exhibited. Danny Rand and Luke Cage are the best of friends, and when Iron Fist wrapped up there was no universe where I couldn't see the two of them teaming up and being buddies. While that’s still the case on a character level, it’s great to know that the chemistry needed for such a friendship exists in a very real way. Finally, and most importantly, it meant that we walked out of the panel with some hilarious stories under our belts.

Things unraveled quickly once Jones outed a (currently training) Colter for eating desserts. Colter had been sharing his protein plight with the fans when Jones suddenly cut in saying that he eats dessert all the time. Colter, not to be outed without some vengeance, told the audience to talk to Jones about his dolphin situation.

The story itself is basic enough; Jones was out at Venice Beach with a friend after auditioning for the role of Iron Fist, and knew he would be finding out one way or another soon. When he was out wandering, he saw two dolphins, and his friend insisted that they had to be a good omen. Jones got a phone call immediately after, and found out that he got the role.

Three guesses what Jones views as a lucky charm now. Three guesses which three co-stars now use that as ammunition to ridicule him.

Don’t think the littlest Defender can’t hang. He took the opportunity to quickly out Colter for his mani/pedi habit later on in the panel, and got him on the sweets again when he admitted to having a thing for gummy bears (Colter: Can I live?!).

Despite the two’s shenanigans through the entirety of the panel, the moderator (Claire Kramer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) did manage to keep them on task one or two times throughout the forty-five minutes. They didn’t make it to the show with a new trailer, despite some hopes that they might. Those with an eye on the calendar know that is because San Diego Comic Con is close, so look for a new tease for the upcoming season there. In addition to that, they mentioned that Danny and Luke would be fighting together a lot and there’s plenty to be excited about between the two characters; there’s also a scene at the end of the new season that is absolute chaos and took over a hundred extras, and a scene where Jones ended up kicking Colter over twenty times.

Kramer managed to get the boys to open up about their characters some. Neither one of them knew much about their Marvel personas going into filming, but each have a certain respect for the modernization of the two characters from the seventies. Where Colter says Cage is driven by a moral compass and cultural significance, Jones says Rand is driven by a fear of abandonment (Colter: is he ‘wonewy’?), vulnerability, and optimism. Jones also acknowledges that Danny Rand needs to get his shit together, and that he’s not a hero yet. He hinted that he might be learning a few things in The Defenders.  

Meanwhile, they’re already working on season two of Luke Cage. Colter has read about five episodes in, and they’re currently filming episode two. Obviously any actor is going to tell you that they’re excited for their upcoming project, but at the very least we can trust him when he says it’s going to have a tremendous new soundtrack.

Throughout all of this, the two men continued to get side-tracked with their jabs at each other. Evidently it hurts when a man kicks you twenty times in the same spot (Jones: look at me, I’m half your size!). Colter also took a moment to send some love to the MCU. He has oodles of appreciation for Tom Holland, and thinks he’s going to do great things as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Things closed out with Kramer asking the boys just who they thought would win in a fight, The Defenders or the Avengers. Jones let Colter field the question, which was fair, because his response was pretty solid: Where’s the Hulk? After some deliberation they decided that The Defenders could take on Hawkeye, assuming they managed to get his bow first. Colter would also like everyone to know that he thinks it’s hot nonsense that they work on these shows so hard and we all binge watch them in a day! He says we’re gluttons and that we should be ashamed of ourselves. He said this, presumably, while thinking about his next dessert.