Please be aware that this article is filled to the brim with spoilers. Just a ton of spoilers; a whole mystical city full of spoilers.

Well, Iron Fist happened. Netflix and Marvel's collaboration is a bit of a dud. The final Defender in Netflix's ever-growing MCU has arrived and he... kinda sucks. The show itself is riddled with problems, particularly in the writing, and none more troublesome than Danny Rand, the world's most entitled would-be superhero, who carelessly brings violent threats to the people he claims to love. Danny's a jerk, straight up. Maybe the biggest jerk in a show full of them, and definitely the least interesting character in his own series. At least he's got good hair.

That said, there's a whole cast full of better characters. Some of them are given rather fantastic arcs (Colleen Wing, Ward Meachum, and Davos are the best part of the series,) and many more are given promising set-ups for the future of the Netflix MCU. The Iron Fist debut may be a disappointment, but it's undeniably laid some interesting ground work, and as the final piece in the lead-up to The Defenders, it's left a whole lot of burning questions.

I've said my piece on Danny, so I'm not going to harp on that, which means I'm going to skip all the snarky questions like, "Are we actually supposed to like Danny Rand?" or "Why does he think breaking and entering, kidnapping, and assault are the way to prove his identity?" or "WTF did he think would happen if he left K'un-Lun totally unprotected?" They're all valid questions, but I'm more interested in exploring the mysteries afoot and the teases for what's to come.

Check out our biggest lingering Iron Fist questions below.

Is Harold Meachum Really Dead?

Short answer: probably not.

Pappa Meachum's got some real problems, but dying doesn't seem to be one of them. We know that he was given the gift of resurrection by The Hand ("it’s a gift we’ve given to a very chosen few," according to Bakudo), a desperate measure taken by a man dying of cancer. He not only survived his natural death, he bounced back once again after Ward finally snapped and murdered his father (rather violently, I might add. For all the show's faults, it has an effective appreciation for the impact of violent acts). But by the end of the show, it seems Ward may have come around from his more patricidal instincts. Maybe.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before all that, Ward recruited Bakudo to take out his father for good. While that certainly didn't go according to plan, Ward did learn the key piece of information that to really, truly end Harold's life and prevent reanimation, you'd have to cut off his head. That's important. Because after Ward shoots his father in the finale, he doesn't cut his head off, he incinerates the body. Maybe. We don't see Harold Meachum in the incinerator, we see a metal box, and we never see Harold being put in that box. Basically, when it comes to Harold Meachum's death, Iron Fist ain't bringing the receipts, and it's even more noteworthy that this all happens right after a character specifically told us how to do it. Of course, why Ward would want his father to live on after repeatedly trying to kill him all season is a question that has no logical answer, but Iron Fist has proven to be a very illogical show.

Whether or not Harold will be back as an even meaner Meachum, his transformation reveals a lot about The Hand's "gift" of immortality and how it works -- something that will no doubt come into play with Elektra's conversion into the Black Sky. Meachum came back more broken each time, a bit more of a demon unleashed. There were small things, like swapping his green juice for bourbon, and then there were the bigger things, like homicidal outbursts over ice cream. But the one thing Ward emphasized over and over (even down to Harold's goofy caller ID "Frank N. Stein"), it's that Harold came back a monster (although considering he murdered the Rands, it sounds like he wasn't a super guy to begin with). No doubt Elektra, who also isn't the most moral person in the world, will come back broken as well -- something that falls in line with her comic book arc, and considering we know that The Hand is a key element in the next MCU series, will hopefully play a role in The Defenders' eight-episode arc.

Why Didn't Claire Call Matt Murdock?

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Image via Netflix

This one really grinds my gears. For whatever reason, the folks in charge of Netflix's MCU have made the decision to keep their heroes entirely separate until they unite in The Defenders. Supporting non-supes like Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple and Carrie-Anne Moss' Jeri Hogarth may pop up from time to time, and there are references to the other vigilantes skipping around town, but they never appear or influence the events of the other shows. Which is a missed opportunity, but fine... until it strains credulity to the breaking point.

It was a bit of a tough pill to swallow when Luke Cage essentially washed away the events of Jessica Jones, treating them as a hazy, far-off off memory at best, but understandable enough that Luke wouldn't want to rehash such traumatic events. However, Iron Fist officially crosses the line into sacrificing sound narrative for structural intent.

Claire barely escaped with her life after Daredevil Season 2, which pitted Daredevil, Elektra, and Stick against Nobu and The Hand. She lost a friend in the battle, and she knows that Matt has been locked in a deadly war with the mysterious organization for while now. So why the everloving fuck would she not, you know, maybe shoot a bro a text or something letting him know that The Hand is not only back, it's got a new super-heroine, a new leader, and big plans to take over the world. It makes Claire Temple -- one of the most consistent and best-developed characters in the Netflix MCU -- into either an idiot or an asshole. Not cool, guys.

What's Madam Gao Cooking Up?

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Image via Netflix

Madame Gao is a tricksy lady. First introduced as a secondary villain and accomplice to Wilson Fisk in Daredevil Season 1, Gao has popped up through the Netflix MCU as a drug-peddling master of mind games, but Iron Fist shed some new light on the character and revealed that she's a whole hell of a lot more powerful than we might have first imagined. For one thing, she's old AF. Gao revealed she's been alive since the 17th century, meaning she's at least 400 years old. She knocked the shit out of Danny with some kind of telekinetic super punch. All of which feeds into a particularly prominent fan theory -- Madame Gao might actually be the Crane Mother, ruler of K'un-Zi, another Capital City of Heaven, and a sworn opponent of the Iron Fist.

Aside from her immortality and psychic ass-kicking skills, there's one other major hint Iron Fist drops in the finale. After Danny's confrontation with Harold Meachum, we see Davos and Joy meet up in a very TDKR-esque fashion at a European cafe. Davos sets out to make a deal with Joy -- he wants to kill Danny and, having decided that Danny is the source of all her problems, Joy wants him to. And who should be sitting just behind Joy's back but Madam Gao, smirking and sippin' on some tea. While that could be construed as Gao just being up to her old tricks, her comic book counterpart shares a strong connection with the Steel Serpent, AKA Davos (also the name of her heroin in the series), who she recruits to take out the Iron Fist. Furthermore, in Daredevil's first season, she said her home is "a considerable distance further" than China and Harold directly name drops the Crane Mother in an early episode of Iron Fist. While it's not confirmed, all signs point to Crane Mother.

Gao has been ousted from New York twice now after coming into the line of fire of two major villains -- Kingpin and Bakudo -- but she always seems to be just fine, with a new scheme already intact. What is the mastermind brewing up now? If she is the Crane Mother, she's definitely got a vendetta against the Iron Fist. Considering Sacha Dhawan has already said Davos won't be a part of The Defenders, I'm betting the cafe scene is set up for Iron Fist Season 2 and we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of the mysterious maybe-Crane Mother.

Where Is Bakuto?

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Image via Netflix

Oh, Bakuto. What a disappointment you turned out to be. The seemingly helpful, wise, and sweet-natured sensei of Colleen Wing was not only a leader of The Hand, he was a ruthless, lying, calculating man who out-villained Madam Gao and the Meachums. Bakuto revealed the true darkness of his hidden colors when he sentenced Colleen to death by exsanguination (possibly as a part of Elektra's resurrection if the "gift" is as select as Bakutu says). She hadn't even abandoned The Hand; she just failed to report Danny's whereabouts immediately. That's evil stuff. It's pretty easy to understand why Davos felt the only course of action was to put him down for good. Too bad it didn't stick. Or so it seems.

Distracted by the big beatdown between Davos and Danny, none of the gang noticed what happened to his body until they turned around and saw it was gone. Colleen posited that Bakuto's men must have come and collected his corpse, and indeed they may have, but now-now, isn't it silly to think that the most powerful leaders of The Hand wouldn't give themselves the gift of reanimation? It took Harold Meachum a fair bit longer to come back to life than the span of a fist fight, but the rules of resurrection are so malleable at this point, it could simply be that Bakuto has more experience. Or perhaps his men really did collect his body to take it to a safe place.

Which raises interesting questions about the character. If he's been resurrected before, was he always evil? Is it possible he was once the good man Colleen believed him to be? Maybe, but he's also surprisingly young for such a powerful figure -- could he be much older than he looks thanks to a series of immortal resurrections? And if he's going to be resurrected now, how much more evil will he be when he comes back? If there's one thorn in the side of this theory, it's that Bakuto told Ward how to kill a resurrected person for good. Why would he ever share that information if it was a threat to himself? Alternately, maybe Bakuto had never been through the process before, but his men collected him to do the deed. Either way, I'm betting we haven't seen the last of him.

Have Davos and Joy Gone Full Evil?

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Image via Netflix

We can add Davos to the pile of characters who had a better arc than Danny. Danny's childhood best friend and fellow warrior in training at K'un-Lun, Davos feels Danny was unworthy of the title of Iron Fist and that by abandoning his post, he's committed a great betrayal. And he's not wrong. Basically, Davos is a true believer, native to K'un-Lun, and it's very easy to take his side. He even tracks Danny down and helps him defeat his enemies with the condition that Danny will return to fulfill his duties afterward. He may be a bit churlish and weirdly not into pizza, but generally on the up and up.

Until he drives a knife into Bakudo's heart. Cold blooded murder is a turning point for any character, and with that decisive act, an ugly brawl with Danny, and the tantalizing coda with Joy Meachum, Davos is perfectly lined up to fulfill his comic book destiny as the villainous Steel Serpent. And, as I explained above, it looks like they're teeing up a collaboration with Madame Gao. Is he aware of what happened to K'un-Lun, that Danny's dereliction of duty caused the exact thing he feared? If so, that's some mighty potent fuel for his fiery rage and plenty of motivation to take Danny out once and for all.

As for Joy, her arc is a bit less impressive. She started the season as a cutthroat businesswoman and she ended as a cutthroat businesswoman, except now she has some next level daddy issues, some scar tissue, and a big ol' chip on her shoulder. She seems to blame Danny Rand for everything that went wrong in her life, which is some baffling logic. Far be it for me to defend Danny for anything, but she's seen the proof her dad was a horrible man and her adoring, watery gaze never flinched. If she's willing to help murder Danny, just how dark has she gotten and how formidable an opponent will she become now that she's the power player at Rand Enterprises?

When Is Colleen Wing Getting Her Own Show?

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Image via Marvel/Netflix

Iron Fist is Colleen Wing's show. Jessica Henwick -- who's also played a Sand Snake and an X-Wing pilot, so you already know she's awesome -- gives a breakout performance as the sworn sensei of The Hand turned ally and lover of the Iron Fist. Wing has better fights, an infinitely better arc, and a true hero's mentality; always trying to do the rational, right thing, even if she makes some missteps along the way. Honestly, the worst thing about Wing is that she fell in love with Danny.

As a character, she underwent the kind of character transformation Danny should have had in his first season, becoming a better and wiser warrior and a more evolved human. Henwick has the charisma to command the screen and a gorgeous, vulnerable tenderness that makes her poised for great drama. Give this woman a show. Give it to her now. The Punisher was the standout in Daredevil Season 2, and Netflix did the smart thing by immediately rolling into production on his standalone series -- and setting a precedent for non-Defenders spin-offs in the process.

There's even the perfect source material for it -- Daughters of the Dragon, a comic book series featured on the team-up between Wing and Misty Knight, Simone Missick's Harlem detective introduced in Luke Cage (who might have stolen the show out from under her title star as well if the writers hadn't mangled her character so badly in the back half of the show). Colleen Wing even calls herself "Daughter of the Dragon" in Iron Fist, and it's enough to get a person all excited. Netflix, do it. A street-level superhero show led by two minority females is the perfect way to respond to the rallying for diversity, there's nothing like it, and it would be a ballsy move on the level of Jessica Jones -- the most lauded MCU show to date.

Hell, I say go big. Loop in Claire Temple, who the writers are clearly setting up as a bit of a badass with that oh-so-deliberate close-up on those fighting claws she snags at the end of the season. These characters have consistently proven themselves the highlights of the series --  Rosario Dawson is practically the backbone of the Netflix MCU at this point -- give them the spotlight, sit back, and watch 'em shine.

Where Is K'un-Lun?

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Image via Netflix

Remember how Danny Rand sucks? As the Iron Fist, it's Danny's sacred duty to protect K'un-Lun, one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven that appears on Earth periodically, by guarding the passage from K'un-Lun's faction of enemies, The Hand. So when Danny fucked off to New York and abandoned his post because he kinda felt like it, he left his home city wide open to invaders without a proper defense. Which is exactly what happened. He's the walking embodiment of "You had one job."

In the final moments of the season finale, Danny returned to Kun'Lun with Colleen in tow (even though I feel like a woman who swore an oath to The Hand probably wouldn't be super welcome there) only to find that the mystical mountain-top city had disappeared into thin air. Aside from a few slain henchmen of The Hand littering the entryway (you know, the one he's supposed to protect), the entire city is just gone. "This is all my fault," Danny says as the season comes to a close. Yes, it is. You did a bad job and you should feel bad.

Naturally, the biggest question that's going to be on everyone's mind, and the one that will likely drive future seasons of Iron Fist should the show be renewed -- what the hell happened to K'un-Lun? Lots of folks out there think the city has been destroyed (as has happened in the comics) by none other than Bakudo. He certainly proved his obsession with the Iron Fist throughout the season, and as a leader of The Hand, he certainly would be interested in finding a way to the city, but why would he destroy it if he wanted to harness the power of the Iron Fist? Could the city be cloaked by magic? Somehow moved into the wrong dimension? Or is it gone for good? And if it is, what does that mean for the other cities of heaven?

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Image via Netflix
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Image via Netflix