Should Marvel's Iron Fist Actor been Cast as White or Asian?

Tough call. Hard core fans would be pissed because you're changing the source/origin story just to be more diverse or politically correct. Of course, casting an Asian could just been seen a perpetuating a stereotype. It's easy to claim the iron fist comics are following the "white guy saves the day" theme seen in most entertainment (see Avatar), but as long as it's respectful of the culture it depicts, I don't care. I think it's interesting that no one cares that Marvel cast Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther and Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu (a Nigerian) and no said a word but everyone loses their mind over Zoe Saldana being cast as Nina Simone.

 

As far as Black Panther is concerned, there is no actual Wakandan to cast since the country is fictional. No one really cared about Will Smith's movie (and many Nigerians laughed at his horrible accent.) The Zoe issue, I think, is because they're darkening her skin to play Nina, as opposed to tapping into the plethora of talented dark-skinned actresses just waiting for a non-slave/maid related role to sink their teeth in.

To the topic at hand, while I do get irritated by the whole "white savior" scenario they always seem to go with in movies, in this case the people of Kun-Lun aren't even Asian. They're aliens who appropriated the culture to help fit in on the rare occasions when their realm is accessible from Earth. It'd be nice to see more Asians in TV, and the character really only needs to be a rich American male to be the same story, but this is one of those situations where someone will always find something to be offended by.