When Jona Xiao was first called to audition for Marvel’s new animated series Eyes of Wakanda, she did not know what role she was playing. Marvel, notorious for its secrecy, simply said the character would be a “strong, badass female”, Xiao recalls.
Only after she received the script did the reveal come: Xiao was in the running to be the first-ever female Iron Fist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“It was very exciting,” she says of the moment. “You read the words, and then she whips out the Iron Fist.”
Xiao stars in the third episode of Eyes of Wakanda, a four-part animated anthology series that premiered on August 1 on Disney+.
Each episode is set in a different time and place across the Marvel universe, exploring the global legacy of Wakandan vibranium. Her episode features a battle between a CIA agent from Wakanda and Xiao’s character, a protector of the mystical city of K’un-Lun and one of a long lineage of guardians.
Though this marks her first major Marvel role, it is not Xiao’s first time in the Marvel universe. She was originally cast as Gina in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but her part was cut from the final edit.