When Disney got their hands on Marvel’s vast superhero library and said they would be giving lesser-known heroes a shot at the big time, Marvel fans immediately went into a frenzy of fan-casting and hero choice possibilities from the some 5,000 characters Disney now had to work with (here were some of Devin’s pics for a Pixar adaptation). One of the better suggestions that came up frequently was Daniel Rand, aka Iron Fist.

Daniel Rand is the son of a businessman and explorer, who becomes orphaned while his family is searching for the mystical city of K’un L’un. Rand is taken in by the ruler of K’un L’un, and trained in martial arts so that he may avenge his family – Rand eventually gaining the power of the Iron Fist (there have been a long line of Iron Fists). The character, created by Ray Thomas and Gil Kane, grew out of the martial arts cinema craze of the 70’s, so an Iron Fist film has always seemed a natural possibility (held back only by the character’s low public awareness). Now Deadline is reporting that Marvel has hired Rich Wilkes to write a script for an Iron Fist film. Good news Airheads fans!

It’s pretty hard to get excited about this choice. Along with the just mentioned Brendan Fraser opus, Wilkes is best known as the man behind the XXX series. Possibly he’s a huge Iron Fist fan and won Marvel over in the office with his passion. For Fist fans who don’t like the sound of this already, just be glad Marvel’s first attempt to get the character on the big screen – a co-production with Artisan designed as a project for then-hot Phantom Menace and X-Men star Ray Park – fell apart. I’ll take a potentially mediocre Wilkes script over having to try and take Park seriously as a lead any day.

What are your thoughts Iron Fist fans? Who would you like to see direct? Star? Is Wilkes actually the perfect choice? Who would you prefer was penning the script?