Why Ward Is the Breakout Favorite Character of 'Iron Fist'

After Season 1 of Iron Fist, Ward Meachum has become a bit of an icon. This little-known Marvel comics character was altered to fit into the plot of Netflix and Marvel’s Iron Fist series, and it paid off in a big way.

This post contains spoilers for Season 1 of Iron Fist on Netflix.

While Ward starts off as an irritating entity, locking Danny in a psych ward and lying to his sister about their father’s state of being alive, his character development throughout the season, which turned him from said entity into someone far more interesting, placed him on the internet’s radar. Mostly, people really liked the scene in Episode 5, “Under Leaf Pluck Lotus,” where Ward, in what might be the funniest scene of the season, turns to his father’s cameras in his office and offers an extended “fuck you” in the form of waving a middle finger in the air.

Ward being the only character who understands what an evil bastard his father is is what makes him so entertaining. Ward is the character in the horror movie who thinks it’s probably not a good idea to split up, the one with the inside knowledge none of the other characters will listen to. Finally, Ward has it, giving his father’s location and plan up to Danny — protecting the protagonist, forming a new alliance with him — to kind of become the hero of the whole season.

But Iron Fist cast Ward as a very different character from his original comics iteration. In Marvel’s comics, Ward is Harold Meachum’s brother and Joy’s uncle. Imagine having that particular narrative: casting Ward as the jealous, vindictive brother rather than the abused son. Harold having no respect or love for his brother would be much more old-hat than him denouncing any love for his own son while still fawning over his daughter. Making Ward Meachum the son of the increasingly sociopathic villain and Joy’s beloved-but-misunderstood brother made this eye-rolling, pseudo-villain a sympathetic hero.

Twitter fell in love with Ward the second he threw up a double-fisted bird to his dad’s spy cameras.

And Ward’s triumphant return to Rand Industries as a (hopefully) healthier and happier man gave a lot of people hope for the outcome of Season 2 of Iron Fist.

But, really, people loved that Ward was a total asshole most of the time, making him the ultimate problematic fav for a lot of people online.

Season 1 of Iron Fist (with plenty of Ward Meachum) is now available on Netflix.