Ray Park
An "Iron Fist" film had been in development at Marvel Studios since 2000, originally to be co-financed by Artisan Entertainment. Ray Park was hired to star, but the project went through multiple directors and ultimately did not come to fruition. Development continued after Marvel Studios began to self-finance their films in the middle of the decade, with Marvel hiring a group of writers to develop some of their "lesser-known properties", including Iron Fist. In 2010, Rich Wilkes was hired to write a new draft for the film, and by May 2013, "Iron Fist" was said to be one of the "projects on the horizon" for Marvel.