Doctor Strange Could Save K'un-Lun in 'Iron Fist,' But He Won't

Just because Danny Rand’s Iron Fist is flailing about in New York City with no idea how to solve his problems doesn’t mean Stephen Strange or any of the Avengers are going to come to his rescue, even if they do exist in the same universe. Iron Fist Season 1 ends on a mystery that could very easily be solved by the multiverse-jumping Doctor Strange, but there’s no way he’ll help.

This post contains spoilers for the finale of Iron Fist’s first season.

“Different universes, different worlds, different companies, different designs,” Anthony Mackie — who plays Sam Wilson’s Falcon in the MCU — told Screen Geek when asked about the likelihood of a crossover between Marvel’s films and TV shows. “[Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige is very specific about how he wants the Marvel Universe to be seen in the film world. It wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t work at all.”

While Marvel’s various television series, whether they be Netflix Originals or ABC Studios projects, are more than happy to reference the events of the MCU’s blockbuster films, those very same films never tip a hat at the shows. Peggy Carter and Agent Phil Coulson — from Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., respectively — are really the only true crossover characters, but nothing they did in their shows was ever reflected in the movies. It was a one-way street. Heck, both characters are “dead” in the MCU. There was also that time Sif busted down the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. door (much to Coulson’s fanboy delight), but her time there was short-lived. No TV character, though, has even made it the silver screen.

Marvel’s latest project with Netflix, Iron Fist, ends its first season with a mystery: What happened to the mystical city of K’un-Lun? Where did it go after being attacked by the Hand while Danny was off beating up bad guys in New York City? And, even more importantly, how will Danny find the city again?

Some Marvel fans online have theorized (or, rather, hoped) that Season 2 Danny will turn to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and his Sling Ring magic to open a portal to wherever it is K’un-Lun has disappeared to. And while that’s a nice fantasy, the proof from Marvel’s powers that be is overwhelming: the budgets of Marvel’s TV shows could never handle a five-minute cameo from its movie stars. Marvel’s famously complicated and binding contracts wouldn’t allow for that kind of crossover, and fitting (in comparison) small-number TV references into record-shattering blockbuster movies would be, well, a waste of time.

So the Iron Fist is on his own. Good luck, Danny.

Season 1 of Iron Fist is now available on Netflix.