The new Iron Fist season 2 was a drastic improvement, K'un Lun's living weapon still had baggage by the end of the Marvel-Netflix era that he never got to fully move past when all of the shows ended.
Immortal 65 is completely devoid of any of the issues that plagued Iron Fist's first season, and is home to quite arguably the best live-action Iron Fist scene yet. Presented by Naruto, Immortal 65 is directed by Josh Mabie and features Christian Howard not as Danny Rand, but as his Iron Fist predecessor Orson Randall. Set in New York City in 1948, the eight-minute short sees Randall in a battle with the Hand and the Crane Sisters over possession of the Book of the Iron Fist.
Howard is best known for his portryal of Ken Masters in 2014's streaming hit Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, which itself began as YouTube short in 2010 titled Street Fighter: Legacy. His and director Joey Ansah's plans for a Street Fighter: World Warrior series remain unfortunately unrealized. Nonetheless, Howard's work with Mabie on Rogue Origin has produced some extremely polished shorts with outstanding martial arts sequences, and Immortal 65 is the channel's best short film yet.
Though Orson Randall never appeared on Iron Fist, he was teased to appear in season 3 in the final scene of season 2 with Danny Rand and Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphrey) searching for Randall. Danny even dons an outfit similar to Randall's and whips out a pair of dual pistols to fire some chi bullets in this scene. Randall effectively makes his true live-action debut in Immortal 65, and it's a very strong one indeed with a fight sequence of equal caliber to those of Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Randall whipping out his sidearms, too, for his signature power of channeling his chi into bullets.
Even the actual Iron Fist is now more impressive than ever. While the Netflix series portrayed it as a yellow glow in Danny's fist, Immortal 65 brings it even closer to the comics with Randall's fist literally bursting into flames as he channels the power of his chi, the whole short culminating in an explosive display of the Iron Fist's power. Since the end of every Marvel-Netflix series, where and when each of the characters could appear in the MCU has been the subject of much speculation, though with Charlie Cox is rumored to return as Daredevil. As for where either Danny Rand or Orson Randall could appear, judging by Immortal 65, Marvel Studios could do a lot worse than to give Josh Mabie and Christian Howard a call.
