The Avengers won’t assemble on the big screen again until 2018, but Marvel Maniacs will get another sort of dream team when the stars of Marvel’s four Netflix shows combine their forces as ‘The Defenders’. Marvel and Netflix announced this crossover miniseries way back in 2013, which was, as originally stated, to follow the solo series for ‘Daredevil’, ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘Luke Cage’ and ‘Iron Fist’, but perhaps they weren’t prepared for how popular these shows would be. The first show, ‘Daredevil’ was such a hit right out of the gate, that Netflix almost immediately ordered a second season… which introduced Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, a character that clicked so well that Netflix quickly ordered a solo ‘Punisher’ series on top of the already planned shows. These added seasons wound up pushed the others back a bit to make room.
‘Iron Fist’ becomes available to stream in its entirety on March 17th. After that, all four heroes will have at least one season under their utility belts, allowing for them to mesh together as ‘The Defenders’ at an undisclosed date after that. (Most likely in the fall.)
Unlike the chummy Avengers, the heroes of The Defenders are a bit more antisocial and not quick to lower their guard. How will these lone wolves form a pack? This new behind-the-scenes video features the stars of all four shows– Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter and Finn Hudson– who offer their take on how the characters will interact and it sounds like sparks may fly between these strong-willed individuals.
Check it out below:
What threat will draw these four heroes together? Sigourney Weaver, who plays a villain named Alexandra.
Showrunner Marco Ramirez describes her as an “utter badass.” He elaborated, saying:
“Sigourney is the kind of person you can buy as the smartest person in the room, who you can also buy as a person holding a flamethrower. Her character is a very powerful force in New York City. She’s everything Sigourney is: sophisticated, intellectual, dangerous… I’m sorry. I can only say a bunch of adjectives right now.”
Just to be clear, Alexandra is NOT a character from the comics. But in describing her role, Rairez said:
“We knew it would take something massive to pull these four characters from their individual worlds to work together, but also small enough that it felt like it existed in our world.”
Meaning she couldn’t be an Earth-shattering super villain, the likes of which the individual Avengers might face, but still a greater threat than the Kingpin, Zebediah Kilgrave and “Cottonmouth” Stokes.
Check out these photos from the EW shoot and from the actual series:
As for how these disparate heroes come together, Ramirez said:
“Every one of them is following their own trail of bread crumbs, trying to unpack a mystery in New York. We wanted them all caught off guard. Once they’re in that room together, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, s—, who are you?’”
Marvel’s Jeff Loeb added:
“The Defenders didn’t have a ‘D’ on their belt buckles and a Defenders Tower. We agreed from the very beginning that these folks could at the very end go, ‘I never want to see your face again.’”
In addition to the four stars, several supporting cast members from the solo shows will also pop up on ‘The Defenders’. Elden Henson returns as Foggy Nelson, from ‘Daredevil’ along with Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Scott Glenn as Stick, and Élodie Yung as Elektra. From ‘Jessica Jones’, Eka Darville reprises his role as Malcolm, with Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth and Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker. From ‘Luke Cage’, Simone Missick returns as Misty Knight and Jessica Henwick returns as Colleen Wing from ‘Iron Fist’. Rosario Dawson also returns as Claire Temple, a character that has popped up on all of these series so far (and presumably is on ‘Iron Fist’). It is widely rumored that Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher will also appear in some capacity, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
Whew! There you go! All the news that fits when it comes to ‘The Defenders’! Are you ready to see this street-level super team-up?
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, Coming Soon
