He's being replaced by a character who, at least by the illustration, appears to be either Asian or of Asian descent.
I'll be honest, I never was that into the character, so that if they replace him, it won't bother me. However, are there hardcore Randoholics here who are crushed by this news?
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I'm a bit of a Danny Rand fan myself.
But this has "temporary" written all over it, so I am not worried.
It is not even a new plot. Out of the top of my head, Captain America, Carol Danvers and Doctor Strange went through similar situations at least once, sometimes far more often.
Oh, there was. I should know. The Hal Jordan/Kyle Rayner/Kevin Dooley/Ron Marz situation hurt my trust in DC beyond repair.
But this looks like something else entirely.
Randy Jackson said:
They said the same thing about Hal Jordan, and there was no hue and cry to bring him back, right?
My cynical side says to me that this will be undone--either the new character will be unpopular and wind up in limbo, or something will happen that necessitates Danny taking over the role again.
As for white savior tropes, I don't think they really apply to Danny Rand.
Sure, his origin is classic WST, but even from very early on his actual story was really about himself and his personal tragedy. His powers come from an exotic origin that happens to be superficially a foreign culture.
But given that Kun-Lun turned out to be of a extradimensional origin and was unmistakably exotic enough to revolve around a literal dragon from the first, I can't see it being nearly as misrepresentative as it is all-out fantastic.
Danny was an exotic take on the Count of Monte Cristo at first. Then he became... a bit of a conceptless character really. A very idealistic, almost innocent character.
It can be hard to make an ongoing centered around him, but he is no White Savior Guy in my book.
However, branding Shang Chi with the role _would_ be a terrible move, mainly because it would result in saddling a genuinely respectfully done ethnic character with an apparent need for recognition as a conventional superhero that would not do him any favors.