Marvel Just Introduced a Female Iron Fist—And She Might Be Their Boldest Move Since Killmonger
Look. We've seen Marvel do a lot of retconning, retooling, rebranding—hell, even resurrecting—over the past decade. But every so often, they manage to slip something in that genuinely surprises me. No multiverse shenanigans. No star-studded cameos or clickbait fan theories. Just an idea that feels… cool.
And Eyes of Wakanda just did that with one flaming punch.
This Friday, Eyes of Wakanda drops all four episodes on Disney+ (August 1, for the calendar heads), and buried in the buzz is a seismic bit of character news: Marvel has officially introduced the MCU's first female Iron Fist. Voiced by the ridiculously underrated Jona Xiao. That name ringing a bell? Probably from her scene-stealing turns in The Flash, Raya and the Last Dragon, and the criminally under-watched Being Mary Jane.
And while the name of her Iron Fist hasn't been officially revealed, Xiao herself announced the role on Instagram with the kind of unapologetic hype that suggests this isn't just a one-off side character. “So stoked to reveal I'm playing the MCU's 1st ever female Iron Fist! Catch Marvel's Eyes of Wakanda, dropping on Disney+ August 1st!” she wrote here.
Now—before the Danny Rand stans throw their chi-soaked fists in the air—let's be clear: this is not a replacement. It's legacy. It's myth. It's a throwback. A story from long before the Netflix series, long before K'un-Lun got TV time. This Iron Fist is part of Wakanda's past, woven into a series about the Hatut Zeraze—those vibranium-hunting Wakandan warriors tasked with protecting the realm long before Shuri ever wore the suit.
So yeah. Let's talk about what that really means.
The Trailer, the Poster, and the Unspoken Power of Myth
The Eyes of Wakanda trailer—released just yesterday alongside a set of character posters—gives us our first look at this Iron Fist in action. She's not just background noise. She's moving with intent, fighting with purpose. The glow is unmistakable, the fists lit like solar flares in the night.
And while the series seems built primarily around Wakanda's elite warriors recovering stolen vibranium across time, the presence of an Iron Fist this far back in the timeline hints at something more audacious: Marvel is building a pantheon. A true mythological bedrock.
This is the stuff comics used to do well—layering histories on top of histories, giving every hero a lineage. In the comics, Wu Ao-Shi—dubbed the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay—held the Iron Fist title. The Netflix series passed the torch to Colleen Wing. Now? We've got something new. Something older.
And let's face it: the MCU desperately needs new icons with actual edge.
The People Behind the Pulse
Directed by Todd Harris—longtime Ryan Coogler collaborator and storyboard maestro behind Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, and even the John Wick franchise—Eyes of Wakanda carries serious genre muscle. It's produced by Proximity Media's Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Kalia King, and backed by the studio trinity of Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt.
You've also got a strong voice cast across the board: Winnie Harlow, Cress Williams, Patricia Belcher, Lynn Whitfield, Steve Toussaint, and Anika Noni Rose all show up here. It's like they took one look at the What If…? series and said, “Let's make this prettier. Deeper. And maybe—just maybe—cooler.”
No shade to What If…?, but Eyes of Wakanda feels like it actually matters. Not in the Infinity Saga kinda way, but in the way that someone in the writer's room actually cared about worldbuilding.
That alone makes it worth a look.
So What's the Endgame?
Will we ever see Jona Xiao's Iron Fist in live-action? I wouldn't bet my mint condition Tales of Suspense #39 on it, but Marvel doesn't plant seeds like this unless they're planning to water them. Animation is the new testing ground. The lab. The quiet place where bold ideas get to breathe.
And if audiences respond to this female Iron Fist the way they did to Miles Morales or Gwen Stacy in Spider-Verse? Yeah. You'll see her again.
For now, Eyes of Wakanda stands on its own. Four episodes. One trailer. One new legacy carved in iron and fire. And one long-overdue expansion of a mythos that still has room to grow—if Marvel lets it.
