Why do the comic-accurate masks in Iron Fist season 2 look so weird? Fans had to wait until the sophomore season of Netflix’s kung fu Marvel series to see Danny Rand (Finn Jones) don the signature yellow Iron Fist headgear. Now it’s here, though, not only will Danny be wearing the mask but so will his former best friend turned arch foe Davos a.k.a. the Steel Serpent (Sacha Dhawan). Iron Fist Season 2 promises flashbacks that will depict the combat between the two students of Lei Kung for the right to face the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying in order to possess the power of the Immortal Iron Fist.
However, getting that power didn’t gift Danny his iconic comic book mask. There was an overall negative reaction to Iron Fist season 1, and while accuracy was the least of the Netflix show’s troubles, it certainly annoyed fans that Iron Fist never looked like Iron Fist. That will change in season 2, with Danny fully suiting up like his comic book counterpart, something that on paper would win some fans around… Except that from the footage seen so far, the masks look weird when Danny (and Davos) wears them. Even the corpse wearing the Iron Fist’s mask briefly glimpsed in the season 2 trailer looks a little strange.
Perhaps the issue is simply facial hair. In the new Iron Fist season 2 trailer, Danny and Davos face each other in ritualistic combat as they compete for the power of the Iron Fist. Both are wearing yellow masks, but what makes them look weird is that both have beards; it exaggerates the lower-half of the face and makes the mask look more ill-fitting. The classic comic book Iron Fist look is the mask covering the upper half of Danny’s face while his jaw is clean shaven. The masks simply look odd when the wearer has facial hair - something that makes sense given the Himalayan-setting of K’un-Lun.
Even if Danny and Davos look a bit off with the yellow shrouds over their heads, this isn’t an issue with the masks themselves. Though they lack white eye slits (but then, so do Batman’s movie masks), the headgear is properly yellow with black, edged borders over the eyeholes. This is certainly Iron Fist’s comic book mask, which is as intrinsically linked to the Living Weapon’s signature look as Daredevil’s red suit and horns are. The TV series did the masks right, despite how unusual they look when worn by the actors.
Indeed, the yellow Iron Fisk mask is definitely an improvement over the look Danny adopts as the street-level Defender of New York. Since replacing Daredevil as protector of the city after he was given the mission by Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) in The Defenders, the billionaire has opted to wear a hoodie and a mask that covers the lower half of his face when he hits the streets to fight crime.
The hoodie and mask getup is an arguably even stranger look for the Immortal Iron Fist, which is why fans hope that Iron Fist season 2 will make good on Finn Jones’ tease that Danny will finally don a version of the kung fu fighter’s classic green and yellow costume. But what would probably help his overall look the most is if Danny shaves his beard if and when he finally goes full Iron Fist.
Next: Iron Fist Season 2 Promises More Of Luke Cage’s Danny Rand
Iron Fist season 2 premieres September 7th on Netflix.
