Two sort of related articles:

I thought this was an interesting way to view Superman.

Re-imagining classic characters as nonwhite may not always be as much of a stretch as the purists would have you believe. Take a closer look at some of the most popular comics franchises out here, and if you cock your head ever so slightly, you'll start to wonder if white really is the only color that matches these stories.

For starters, set aside the way Joe Shuster and hundreds of comics artists since have rendered Superman, and take another look at the hero's backstory: a dark-haired refugee from a distant, exotic place, where people have weird, hyphenated names like Jor-El and Lor-Van. Once he arrives in America, he is transracially (trans-specially?) adopted by parents in the Heartland, and raised to "fit in" with everyone else, but also to preserve and appreciate his hidden heritage.

He moves to the big city, where he hides behind dorky glasses and displays a humble, passive persona to his co-workers. But in his spare time, he embraces his true self, gathers with others like himself and lets it all hang out.

To sum up? That dude Asian.

Then i read this about the casting of a white Iron Fist.

When it comes to Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist, his story is essentially one of being an outsider in a mystical Asian city and learning the ways of the city's people. (It's steeped in Orientalism, but that's lengthy, separate discussion on its own.) Obviously Rand being white makes him stick out, and there are elements of his backstory, like his wealth, that are key to his experience -- a hero forged from painful experiences and having everything taken away from him.

What's tricky is coming up with a reason other than "this is the way it's always been" to explain why Rand must be a white guy to fully tell Rand's story. A half-Asian American boy or a black teenager or even a Latina girl from pretty much any American city would be just as freaked out and feel just as isolated if they were dropped into a magical Asian city. (Other characters, like Misty Knight, Rand's love interest, have already been cast. Changing Rand's race and gender would inevitably alter that story, and interactions he has with other characters. But let's just go with the hypothetical here.)

I don't buy that Danny Rand's whiteness is as integral to his character as Storm or Luke Cage's black skin, or Magneto surviving the Holocaust.

I'm kinda on the fence about the whole thing. I mean you've got the mystical kung fu city where the white guy shows up and is the best of the best. But would casting an Asian person in the role of Daniel Rand have made it better? Cause now you've got "Asian Guy Who's Really Good at Kung Fu". But any chance to get an Asian actor cast in a prominent role should be grabbed, so...i dunno. I'm sure i'll enjoy the Iron Fist mini-series as much as i've enjoyed Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Would i have cheered a bit to see a minority play the hero? Prolly.

Please please please just don't put him in those stupid slippers. Please.

Also wit, Carrie-Ann Moss' gender-swapped, lesbian Jeri Hogarth was amazing.

I think that casting a Chinese or Chinese-American actor as Iron Fist would improve the Marvel Cinematic Universe more than casting a white actor would bolster Iron Fist. Honestly, I think Marvel made a mistake however-many years ago when they made him white. They were just trying to ride the coattails of the exploitation genre, they should have gone whole hog.

As for his origin, I don't even think it's particularly important. Just have him show up and be a badass. It's not like they wasted time having Luke Cage explain his origin to Jessica. It's more interesting that way, anyway.

please! no more 'splaining!
https://youtu.be/tuo65b1MRp8?t=11m41s

No reason to make him non-white as a solo character, but - I'd hate if they closed off possibility of the Power/Fist team inn the future, where the horrific racial decisions that went into their respective creations made something sorta beautiful in juxtaposition. Fist not being a pasty white white boy on top of the naivety of his otherdimensional upbringing would loose something.

I'm not sure about the whole "white Iron Fist" controversy. I think changing his race would make it harder to tell the classic Iron Fist story (assuming that's what they're going for). Personally, I'm hoping Shang Chi shows up (and maybe Leiko Wu and Shen Kuei as well); that would give us some cool Asian characters and stay true to the original comics (though they may want to leave out Black Jack Tarr).

Now I just want a MOKF movie...

(I accidentally left off a 'not' in "No reason to make him non-white as a solo character"...)

Skullcrusher would be tricky, but make for awesome fight visuals if they pulled it off...

Best to treat Kun-Lun like they treated Asgard - some pseudo hi-tech medieval alien extra-dimensional city. Make the inhabitants all interracial. That divorces it from the worst "orientalist" model. East Asians aren't the only people with martial arts. Turning it, and the other Celestial Cities, into a hyped up Thunderdome UFC crazed mob rule city state - all with different fighting styles, and combine the cities rulers with ridiculous Games of Thrones intrigue and danger would be very interesting. It would also make Danny Rand stand out less.

And eventually they could do a Kun Lun versus Asgard showdown.

@Mike W. : stand up and cheer, the word tonight is, Shang Chi is definitely on the way in Iron Fist!
@Chris: absolutely, update K'un L'un with a multi-racial cast. Who may have wondered into the mystic city over the years? Adventurers, one imagines, from the world over.
I do hope to see The Thunderer; I wonder whom they'll cast?
I loved the racial diversity, and especially the contrasting backgrounds, in the original PM/ IF. I imagine the Iron Fist run with David Aja's moody art-which came out while I wasn't reading comics so much- will inform their take, so I'll eventually check that out, too.
You know, their upcoming Defenders mini's reminiscent of Steve Gerber's early guest stars in volume one. I wonder if Hellstrom's somewhere in development?
Have a good weekend, gang.

Regarding Superman, that's pretty much an "Asians are the new Jews" thing. Superman was originally intended as an analogy for Jews, Siegel and Shuster themselves being Jewish. Now the same tropes apply to Asians.

@Chris - Definitely, a white Iron Fist is fine as long as they make K'un Lun multi-racial, that solves the whole Orientalist thing. As a kid I always liked that Danny & Luke (and Danny & Misty) were as close as could be, and that the relationships were interracial didn't matter. No reason to lose that.

&Michael - Yeah I was surprised by the first link's lack of mention to the Jewish creators or co-creators of most of the famous superheroes created pre-1970. Superman is pretty explicitly Jewish, including his birthname "Kal-El" essentially meaning "Voice Of God", and his "El" family name following the same naming convention as Jewish Archangels like Gabri-el, Rapha-el, Micha-el etc: http://forward.com/culture/178454/10-reasons-superman-is-really-jewish/

Similarly, the first link mentions Peter Parker's Queens as being strongly Korean-American. In the book "Webslinger", edited by Gerry Conway, one of the essays details Forest Hills, the region of Queens where Peter lives, as always being predominantly Jewish and Catholic. (I think the book also suggests Aunt May is a classic Jewish mother.) As I've never been to NY I'll take their word for it, but if that's true Forest Hills is a perfect choice for Peter, suggesting both Stan's own background influencing the character, and also the presumed Irish Catholic (or Irish Protestant, according to Quesada) origins of the Parker/Reilly family.

Come to think of it, have there been many Jewish actors playing superheroes?

Yes, Jonathan, Forest Hills historically WAS mostly Jewish and Catholic.(Although now there's plenty of Asians but that's a relatively recent development.) And May IS a Jewish mother in many ways. The article seems to ignore these realities.
(And in the Jimmy Olsen case the article mentions, I think part of the problem was less turning him black then turning him from a dork into an alpha male.)

@Cecil Disharoon: Right on! Let's hope Shang Chi is popular enough to get his own spin=off.

As for K'un L'un, I think the population will be East Asian, so there won't be any lack of diversity in the show; Danny might be the only white dude in it. And remember in Daredevil when Madame Gao said she was returning home and said it was "much farther away than China" or something like that? First thing I thought of was K'un L'un; so maybe we'll see her in the show too?