#hawkeye episode 6

[icomefromthemountains]

You’re expecting me to believe that the first 9 seasons and 5 episodes of m*a*s*h took place over the course rse of <189 days??? Hello?? Did nobody check this?? There had been 203 episodes by that point! HELLO???? Does this take place in an alternate universe where the Korean War started before 1950? HAWKEYE START FUCKING TALKING 🔪🔪🔪

[jonberry555]

I Watched the M*A*S*H: Yankee Doodle Doctor | Season 1 Episode 6 | Retro Review

I love the television show MAS*H, so I thought it would be fun if I rewatched every single episode and recorded a review of said episode. Join me today along this five year long mission as I review the Season 1 Episode 6: Yankee Doodle Doctor.

[demilypyro]

Thinking about them trying to mash the Hawkeye Fraction run, the consequences of the Ronin arc and Kate Bishop's origin into a single 6 episode tv show instead of spreading it out over 20 years of canon

[oldironbellybutton]

Rewatching mash season 6 episode 3. Am I crazy or does Hawkeye have a point. Should he have called radar a ninny? No. But like He's human, he's a doctor, he's a clown. What's funny is that people think he is only the last 2. But the one time he shows he's human then he is wrong wrong wrong for being emotional and being not the funny little jester. He can only be useful, amusing, and supportive. No weakness for Hawkeye, no mistakes for Hawkeye, no faults for Hawkeye. It's so unfair for him he thought he sent one of his friends to death at the start of the episode.

[dapper-nahrwhale]

[ID: a digital drawing of Hawkeye from Mash holding a chicken. Hawkeye's surgical gown, gloves, pants, and boots are covered in blood, and so is the chicken he is holding. He is looking up at the viewer with a distraught expression and tired eyes. He is outlined in white blue light.

Behind him is a chicken in flight, a cut out on it's side showing it's organs and it's head is cut off with a splattering of blood. There are harsh shadows over the piece. The background is a Wikipedia article on chickenhawk (bird), with pale blood splattered onto it. End ID]

"I said I am pulled toward poetry."

"No you said you were a chicken."

- mash season 6, episode 8, in love and war

So I've had the idea for this piece since that line from season 6, imagine my shock in the finale...

[erithel]

Hello...Do you mind if I ask your top 5 (or top 10) favorite moments from any media that you love (books, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Thanks if you want to answer. Sorry if I ask too much....

That's such a fun question!

And definitely one that's difficult to answer... But let me see what I can come up with.

*These are not in order of favorite, just in the order I thought of them.*

1- Agni Kai ("Avatar the Last Airbender") This one is just a literal masterpiece. The visuals, the action, the music, the lack of dialogue, the show of character in their fighting... Literally mesmerizing.

2- Eri smiling ("My Hero Academia") She is the sweetest little girl and watching her smile as the darkness washes away from her after everything she was put through...it makes me cry.

3- Nadiya winning "The Great British Baking Show" I love Nadiya, and it was such an emotional moment to see her talk about how she would never doubt herself again, you could see how hard she was on herself and how much she didn't believe she could do something like this - and it was just so encouraging to see all her hard work pay off.

4- Kars for Kids ("The Good Place") We had to pause the episode to let me finish laughing because this caught me so off guard. Especially because it feels like an inside joke, almost. Like either you don't know what they're talking about with that song, or you are like YES THAT IS THE THEME SONG OF HELL.

5- I Want it That Way ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") It's just brilliant. It's so funny, and no matter how many times I watch it, it always makes me laugh.

6- Rooftop scene between Daredevil and Punisher ("Daredevil") This scene always stood out to me because it didn't resolve with either character caving into the other's beliefs. I was so used to scenes always having a resolution, so this one was captivating because it was some of the best and most realistic dialogue I remember watching at the time.

7- Poison ("Hazbin Hotel") All I will say is that this was so hard to watch, and that was the point. Whoever worked on this did such an amazing job in conveying the situation from a place of understanding and not just for shock value.

8- Bad Wolf Rose ("Doctor Who") This moment always stuck with me because it showed what humans were capable of. And the fact that all her lines were spoken in a very soft, gentle tone made it all the more powerful.

9- Dracarys ("Game of Thrones") This moment I liked because it was just sheer comeuppance and satisfaction. I also was working retail at the time, and this had such "I AM the manager" vibes lol.

10- Riza Hawkeye shooting ("Full Metal Alchemist") She's such a good character, and she was usually so stoic and in control of any situation - until she thought the man she (at least in my mind) loved was dead, and she just absolutely lost it.

There are some shows/movies where I liked too many moments that it's safer to say I just like the thing as a whole, and no one moment stuck out too much. And I left books off the list so I could add a gif/video to this post.

I know that the minute I post this, I will think of many more moments, but I'm trying not to overthink this or I'll be here forever lol

I generally like moments of big emotion. Or at least moments that make me feel things - good or bad.

Thanks for this question! It was fun to think about. :)

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

On a more serious note, now that I’m halfway into Farscape season 1, I can’t help but think about Peter Quill/Star-Lord from “Guardians of the Galaxy” being a lesser John Crichton. Because, as I’ve written before, James Gunn was so obviously inspired by Farscape:

1) John and Peter are the good ole American protagonists who were taken to deep space against their will. They connect with people through pop culture references and their good heart.

2) Aeryn Sun and Gamora are the stone cold warriors who used to fight for the bad guys but are now on the side of good. They also have a romance with John/Peter.

3) Ka D’Argo and Drax are the proud warriors who are seeking to redeem themselves. They also are so stiff that references and simple sayings go over their heads.

4) Rygel is sorta kinda like Rocket Raccoon in that they’re the scheming loudmouths who look out for themselves.

5) Pilot and Groot fulfill the role of the lovable support character who helps everyone in the crew.

6) Zotoh Zhaan doesn’t have a perfect GOTG counterpart, but I really do feel that James Gunn split her traits between Nebula (who got the rage and tragic backstory) and Mantis (who got the mind powers).

Anyways, back to the main point. While Peter Quill does come off as a John clone, I think the way John’s arc was handled was superior to the way Peter was written. I think the main reason is that I can see why John would be his crew’s leader (or, at least, the crewmate keeping everything together) while Peter feels like he’s the leader because the plot says he should be.

John starts off as the goofball who can’t do anything right. No one trusts him and they think of him as the idiot who they just keep around. But as season 1 goes on, you can tell that he’s the glue who’s keeping the crew together. He’s the crewmate who got everyone to open up, especially Aeryn (who was trained to be cold and emotionless) and D’Argo (who distrusts everyone because of his traumatic past). He’s like that one friend who you feel like you can talk to about anything, especially since everyone else in the crew is dealing with their own problems.

So when we get to the episode where John is ready to leave, it makes sense that everyone feels hesitant to see him go. Aeryn is starting to fall for him, he was one of the few people who D’Argo would consider a friend, he helped Zhaan through some of her toughest times, and he generally got along with Rygel.

As for Peter Quill, I’m not saying he was badly written. It’s just him being treated as the team’s leader is not as believable. It’s like, imagine if John Crichton was written to be as emotionally closed off and standoffish as everyone else in the crew. While this does make Peter stand out as his own character separate from John, it also makes you wonder why Quill was written as the team’s leader. I’m sure that’s why it was a recurring gag that Quill was always struggling to be seen as the leader, whether it was from Rocket or Thor. The writers knew that wasn’t 100% believable, so they wrote it into the story.

I don’t get that with John. He might be the resident goofball, but he’s also why the crew hasn’t fallen apart.

TL;DR Peter Quill/Star-Lord was obviously modeled after John Crichton. But the MCU character who feels more in line with John as a character is Clint Barton/Hawkeye.

[hawkeyejrhuntress]

Bishova Holiday Challenge 2024 - Rules and Prompt Ideas!

Background History:

On November 24 it will be three years since Marvel brought the Hawkeye series to the little screen. 6 episodes and 5 weeks of getting to know Kate Bishop with a hint of Yelena Belova. Despite having less than 45 minutes of screen time their chemistry was explosive. Since then, amazing fanfiction writers around the world have created amazing stories about these two. So, with the anniversary of the show coming up, I decided to bring back the Bishova Holiday Challenge.

Thank You:

After a month of voting the Bishova Community has spoken. Below you will find the 5 top themes/prompt ideas. We had 728 votes, which is crazy. I want to thank all the writers, and fans who voted. I want to thank Oh Alpha My alpha discord friends. Who voted and came up with some of the ideas. The remaining prompts that did not win will be reposted just as prompt ideas for the public.

Rules:

This year the challenge will be 6 weeks with the last week being the writers’ choice.

These prompts will have mini-ideas attached to them but you do not have to follow them to tea, just stick to the general theme.

The stories must be posted on A03. Use #BISHOVAHOLIDAYCHALLENGE2024 & Week # for which week was written for

Only can be 1-3 chapters long while the challenge is up. After the challenge if you want to continue them, please do.

You can prewrite your stories and co-write them with others. But they cannot be published before the challenge.

It is encouraged that you participate in all 6 weeks to be eligible for the prize but if you can’t it’s all good.

Also to be considered for the top Grand winners you can’t miss a week. So if you miss week 1, you can still participated and try to be a weekly winner but you will not be eligible for the Grand Prize over the whole challenge.

Challenge Weeks:

Week 1: Nov 10th – Nov 16th

Week 2: Nov 17th – Nov 23rd

Week 3: Nov 24th – Nov 30th  

Week 4: Dec 1st – Dec 7th

Week 5: Dec 8th – Dec 14th

Week 6: 16th – Dec 21st

Prizes:

There will be 6 weekly winners. After each week I will create a poll with the stories that qualified, and readers can pick the winner. The winners get bragging rights. 

After all, 6 weeks are done the writers who participated in all 6 weeks and followed the rules will be entered on a poll to qualify as the top 3 winners of the WHOLE CHALLENGE, voted on by the fans.

It is not completely finalized, and it can still fall through but right now I am working on getting art pieces for the top three winners. 

Prompts/Ideas:

Week 1: Nov 10th – Nov 16th - Grinchmas (Idea Credit – Chi_Raven) (Suggested Rating – G) Yelena gets a part time gig as a mall Grinch. She does it too well and ends up on Kate Bishop’s Naughty list daughter of Santa Clause or Yelena dresses up as the Grinch and runs around scaring kids.

Week 2: Nov 17th – Nov 23rd – Fake Dating Winter Love – (Idea Credit MidnightJuilet) (Suggested Rating G-E) Yelena created a fake girlfriend to attend her ex’s winter wedding. Enter Kate Bishop!

Week 3: Nov 24th – Nov 30th -Eggnog Love – (Idea Credit MidnightJuilet) (Suggested Rating E) The villain of the week spikes the eggnog at the Holiday Party with liquid sex pollen. Freakiness ensues!

Week 4: Dec 1st – Dec 7th- Lumberjack Christmas - (Idea Credit MidnightJuilet) (Suggested Rating G - E) Kate goes to the mountains to get away and meets her mountain woman!

Week 5: Dec 8th – Dec 14th -Winter Blaze Saved by the Sexy firefighter (Idea Credit CelticKitten25 & DYL) (Suggested Rating G - E) Yelena wakes up to her apartment on fire out of nowhere a short buff fire fighter comes in with her one-eyed dog to rescue her and her akita. And she is only wearing a nightie.

Week 6: 16th – Dec 21st – Writer’s Choice

Above are the 5 prompt ideas and remember the 6th week is writers’ choice. The ratings are suggestions, and the little excerpts attached are just meant to be guides to help facilitate story writing if you get stuck. Please when posting your story please give credit for me (MidnightJuilet) for hosting this challenge and to the specific fan which is also listed above who came up with the prompt idea.

[memesmadefullmetal]

7 and 20 for the ask meme!

7. how does the story compare to your initial impressions of it? has it surprised you yet? how?

So, I started with watching Brotherhood. And, at first, I was like “is this really one of the best animes of all time?” because the first couple episodes do feel a bit rushed (i.e., relying on fans to have read the manga or have seen the original anime). HOWEVER, once episode 4 hits with Tucker and Nina, my jaw was ON THE FLOOR. I was so horrified and enthralled at the same time.

For me, there also has to be a “duo” of some sort that has to give me absolute BRAINROT so as Roy and Riza grew into the story more, that was when the hyperfixation really began. Particularly after the whole Maria Ross fake-out and reveal.

Now, I think Fullmetal Alchemist is the story of all time™️ and Brotherhood is the anime of all time™️. The narrative coherency and tightness, the depth and breadth of characters and the ability to stick a damn good ending are all attributes I haven’t seen done as well in ANY OTHER media I’ve consumed (and I’ve consumed a LOT). FMA has occupied a permanent space in my brain for 6 years now and is obviously the reason why this blog exists. FMA, my beloved 🫶🏻

- Mod Mustang 🔥

20. what's the WORST thing about this story, in your opinion? (feel free to be positive, e.g. "it's not longer", if you want!)

If we’re going Mangahood, it’s gotta be Al’s existential crisis arc 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏻‍♂️ It’s probably the only point where the narrative drags and it doesn’t actually serve all that much of an overall purpose!

If we’re talking about 03, it’s got to be probably the extreme non-manga canon bits basically where the whole plot goes off the rails right near the end (i.e., Robot Archer 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏻‍♂️)

- Mod Mustang & Mod Hawkeye 🔥🦅

[yourlocalegotisticalqueerishere]

Been thinking a lot about episode 6 of Agatha All Along and the way that people dismiss it as making the show all about Billy, when it really isn't

Ep 6 is to AAA what ep 4 is to WandaVision: a reintroduction to a character, an explanation of how they got to this point, and a reveal of past events from a new perspective

Both of these characters (Billy and Monica) also act as the set ups for new MCU projects - Young Avengers and The Marvels, respectively - because the MCU consistently sets up new projects as they go

For example, Hawkeye sets up multiple other projects across the course of the show - Young Avengers (Kate), Thunderbolts (Yelena), and Echo (Maya)

Also, after ep 6, AAA goes back to being all about Agatha again, but with a shift in the dynamic between her and Billy, which is central to the entire plot of the show, because he's the principle supporting character

Ep 7, despite being primarily focused on Lilia, still heavily features Agatha, Billy, and their dynamic

Eps 1-5 are mostly about Agatha, her grief, and her power quest, but the secondary story was also about her and Billy, even when it takes a back seat for the other character's development

Ultimately, this show isn't an example of fridging, or burying gays, it's another jac schaeffer banger about a woman accepting devastating loss

[marley-manson]

Doctor Winchester Mr Hyde is genuinely a pretty great episode.

Loved Hawkeye telling Winchester he's been there and it sucks, love him showing concern for Charles multiple times and being particularly joke-free about it in the ending tag, love Charles asking him to proofread a paper lol. Loooove Hawkeye's fear of mice and especially love him basically showing off that fear when he asks to pet Daisy for luck in front of the marines and makes a show of cringing. And BJ automatically doing the thing certain people do when they find out you're scared of something and shove it in your face to make you freak out lmao, that's exactly correct for him.

Charles demanding Radar go fetch his opera glasses when he's about to dose the mouse, and then in the next scene he actually is watching the race through binoculars was an amazing detail lol.

Also I overall liked the way Charles taking speed was handled - the ending was a little DARE-esque ofc, but generally it was a pretty light and funny touch. Klinger directly asking for them (with 0 narrative condemnation) only for Charles to condescend and then take them himself was great, as was this exchange between them: "Do you want extreme depression, chronic fatigue?" "I already got those!" a+

The drugs actually helping Charles for a while was solid and there was little in the way of overtly impared behaviour which I like - more sold by little details, like Hawkeye mentioning that Charles' 27 page paper seems to be all one sentence.

First mention of Honoria is her marrying 2 dudes in succession and getting ostracized from the family which doesn't seem to fit later mentions unless she divorced second dude and was welcomed back, which tbf isn't implausible lol. Though I don't really remember, so maybe it's possible that Honoria is the family black sheep and only Charles remains in touch with her, which would be interesting.

Last time I watched I had the minor complaint that Hawkeye and co admit to the marines that their mouse was on speed and I considered that annoying when My Hawkeye(TM) happily cheats to win competitions against random army guys ie Requiem for a Lightweight - buuut to be fair to the episode he did say they should "give the marines their money back while we're still alive" suggesting he thinks they might find out they were cheated? I don't see how lol, and it's still a little too moralistic cheating is wrong-esque for me, but I'll accept it as an explanation that keeps Hawkeye ic for me.

Anyway yeah, solidly written, good dialogue, good character moments, little oasis in this chunk of season 6.

[beej-honnecticutt]

Yesterday I finally re-watched Fallen Idol ( Season 6, episode 3 ) and I was thinking what to put in my review. I didn’t wanna make it as the other ones, ‘cause it’s such a different episode.

I just wanted to quickly kind of explain what everyone did, and just encourage everyone to watch it cause it’ll break your heart.

Alan Alda’s acting- Hawkeye’s pain is PALPABLE, as is his regret. I was in awe for the whole thing.

Potter, Mulcahy, and Houlihan being so mad that they yell, scream, or even threaten him.

Radar standing up against Hawkeye.

BJ being the only comforting presence. He must’ve been just as mad as anyone else, maybe just as disappointed too.

But he knows how Hawkeye feels, and why he fucked up so badly. So, BJ doesn’t yell at him, he knows he already feels bad enough. He doesn’t make excuses, he’s not going to ignore Hawk was an asshole. He’s just there, listening, understanding.

He’s the unconditional comfort, always there to make Hawk a little less alone🙃

Potter at the end telling Radar that he has to eventually forgive Hawkeye, knowing that their relationship is too good to let it go to waste because of a few rotten words said from a place of pain, anxiousness, and fear.

This episode broke me.

I love them all so much😭

[serpercival]

Return to Sender - Chapter Six

Rating: NR Word Count: 38.1k (Chapter 6/39 - Repression, Regression (+5.6k)) Fandom: MASH (TV) Relationship(s): "Trapper" John McIntyre/Hawkeye Pierce Characters: "Trapper" John McIntyre, Hawkeye Pierce, Louise McIntyre Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode: s04e04 The Late Captain Pierce, Canon-Typical Alcoholism, Canon-Typical Adultery

Getting close to the end of Act One! One more chapter and then we'll get to see Hawkeye for real...

[specialinterestsgalore]

The M*A*S*H Time Loop

This was pretty much just a stream of consciousness writing. I haven't looked at it much since I wrote it a couple of days ago but I wanted to post it anyway.

The sitcom M*A*S*H ran from 1972 to 1983 and captured households around America. The series follows M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit 4077 through the Korean War. Knowledgable readers might have noticed that the Korean War lasted 3 years from June 1950 to July 1953 while the M*A*S*H series ran for 11 years from September 1972 to February 1983. This significant timeline difference created an interesting effect on M*A*S*H that led to many fans discussing the ‘M*A*S*H time loop theory.’ As the name would imply, this fan theory posits that the events of M*A*S*H do not take place during the Korean War as we know it, but instead that the show follows the 4077th as they are stuck in an endless time loop and are unable to escape the war. 

Clearly, the timeline of M*A*S*H is a bit difficult to line up with the events of the actual Korean War due to the 8-year difference. Characters such as BJ Hunnicutt and Radar O’Riley were on the sitcom for 8 years but canonically it is difficult to say if they were meant to have spent the same amount of time in Korea. While the episodes were aired weekly, it is impossible to say if most of the episodes were meant to take place a week apart. There are several episodes for which we know this is not the case, for example, the season 9 episode ‘A War for All Seasons’  begins with the 4077th ringing in the new year and follows several key events throughout 1951 and ends on New Year’s Day 1952. This seems to imply that the previous 8 seasons all take place in 1950. It could also imply that subsequent episodes all take place in 1952 or later, though many assume that some episodes show events that were not seen in ‘A War for All Seasons.’ On the opposite end of the spectrum, several episodes take place over a matter of hours. The season 8 episode ‘Life Time’ happens essentially in real time as Hawkeye has only 20 minutes to complete an arterial graft on a wounded soldier. These and other episodes make creating a sensible timeline for the M*A*S*H series an incredibly complicated process. Trapper John leaves in the first episode of season 4, does this mean that he was only in Korea for 6 months? As mentioned earlier, Radar and BJ were on M*A*S*H for the same number of years, but Radar leaves before ‘A War for All Seasons,’ does this mean that Radar was enlisted for a year or less while BJ was present for 2 years? Does it matter how long any of these characters were engaged in the Korean War? The time loop theory certainly says no. 

The nature of all sitcom television lends itself very well to the concept of a time loop. The show almost always resets itself at the end of every episode and it begins the next episode in essentially the same place. The order of the episodes often doesn’t matter. Everything is always happening, nothing happens, it doesn’t matter. In M*A*S*H specifically, one of the core themes of the show is the cyclical nature of war. It intentionally pokes fun at the repetition, the monotony with lines like ‘the future’s been canceled by the war department’ and ‘Father, what do you think of purgatory so far?’ as well as with aspects such as the omnipresent PA voice. Hawkeye Pierce becomes the main focus of the show and the audience's lens in many ways and as such is one of the easiest introductions to this concept. Hawkeye complains about being stuck nearly every episode and often phrases it as though he is not just stuck as a surgeon in a war zone, but as if his whole life is stuck, as if his past and future are all contained within the war. Another character giving credence to this theory is Radar O’Riley. Radar earned his nickname due to his uncanny ability to sense incoming wounded before anyone else and to predict what his commanding officers will ask for before they open their mouths. While this is certainly a fun gag for the show, many think it shows that Radar is aware, consciously or unconsciously, of the time loop. Radar is aware of when the choppers will arrive and when Henry needs files because it has all happened before and will happen again. Many fans also point out that this could be the reason for Radar’s reaction to Henry being sent home. It is more than just realizing that he will be left in Korea while the man he has come to see as a father figure goes home to his family. On some level, Radar remembers that Henry will not make it home; he knows he can not stop it. Of course one of the biggest pieces of evidence against the idea of a time loop is the fact that it does end. Everyone goes home in the end, however, this does not entirely disprove the theory. Many pieces of media that focus on the concept of time loops end with our protagonists escaping. But they can not escape entirely. Though all of our characters leave Korea by the end of the series, those who are still alive have not left completely. They will be stuck remembering this time forever. 

While the original intention of M*A*S*H certainly was not to tell a story about a group of army doctors, nurses, and enlisted men trapped in a time loop, that is in many ways the story we got. It is the best showcase of the cycle, the monotonous horror of war in modern media. The only changes come with tragedy, death, or abandonment. It is a time loop in the only ways that matter.

[it-should-have-been-a-mash-ep]

Would need to be an ep in the early seasons - but an episode based at the Pink Pagoda.

Like from the insinuation during some pre season 6 episodes, Hawkeye has seen Margaret there. So idk drunk Margaret on RnR, runs into an also drunk Hawk and Trapper who have finished at a medical conference and have gone to the Pink Pagoda.

Shenanigans ensue

Yes! We needed more messy, tipsy Margaret!

[bookoftheironfist]

(Gosh! Look at him!!)

I finally had the chance to watch What If...? season 3, episode 6 for this incredibly cool little cameo. The show is based on Marvel's longstanding tradition of What If? alternate universe comics, and this particular episode explores a version of the Marvel Universe set in the Wild West, 1872. (Note: there's a comic that came out a few years ago called 1872, which was also a Western. It was a lot of fun, I recommend it; this is not an adaptation of that.) In this episode we meet martial arts master Shang-Chi, known as "Ten Rings" because ten peals of a bell will summon him, and gunslinger Kate Bishop, known as "Hawkeye" because of course she is. This rough-riding duo is on a mission to track down the mysterious Hood, who has been kidnapping Chinese immigrants. Along the way, they run into a little boy who has managed to evade the Hood: a plucky young Shang-Chi admirer named Kwai Jun-Fan.

Anyone who has read Immortal Iron Fist may recognize the name. In the 616 universe, Kwai Jun-Fan is a historical Iron Fist, introduced in IIF #17 as part of the "Mortal Iron Fist" story arc.

Kwai Jun-Fan: "Perhaps this is where it will end. Here in this arid wasteland, between the burning sky and dead earth, in a country I loathe. And now, after 200 miles...another town of filth and disease and poison and violence, populated by those who would exploit my people." Immortal Iron Fist #17 by Duane Swierczynski, Russ Heath, Matt Milla, Dave Lanphear, and Natalie Lanphear

We don't get a full issue dedicated to Kwai Jun-Fan like we do for several of the other past Iron Fists; his role in the story is mainly to introduce the threat of the Ch'i-Lin, so most of what we learn about him is when, where, and how he died. But this makes him ripe for exploration in other media, and we learn enough to get a compelling sense of who he was. Like most Iron Fists, he left K'un-Lun for a time and journeyed to Earth, where he allied himself with a particular human cause— in his case, protecting the Chinese immigrants building the transcontinental railroad. He is the first Iron Fist we meet who is based in the United States, a hundred years before Danny, and he seemed to fill a similar superhero-esque role: "protecting those who cannot protect themselves", as he says in his introductory issue.

It's difficult to say how similar What If?'s version of Jun-Fan is to his 616 counterpart, since we are seeing them at such different stages in their lives. The episode is framed as a heroic origin story for him, and he is cheekily referred to as having "iron fists" due to his budding martial arts skills, but that's about all we get. If he were to also become the Iron Fist in this universe, it would— strikingly— seem to make him another outworlder, like Orson and Danny (and more recently, Lin Lie), who was apparently born on Earth, then perhaps traveled to K'un-Lun before returning to the U.S. to protect his people. We can only speculate, since I would be shocked if we got a continuation of his story, as much as I would love that. In any case, I was thrilled to see Duane Swierczynski and Russ Heath, Kwai Jun-Fan's co-creators, acknowledged in the episode's end credits, even though this version of the character bears almost no immediate resemblance to theirs.

We're apparently getting another (presumably historical) Iron Fist cameo in the forthcoming animated Black Panther show, Eyes of Wakanda. I wouldn't call scattered appearances in random shows my ideal MCU Iron Fist situation, but at the same time, I adore all of the past Iron Fists, and the idea of getting to see more of them (especially in animation!) makes me extremely happy.