Netflix’s Marvel TV shows have had some of the most positive reviews from the company to date and this is from a multi-billion dollar film franchise. But you almost need to wonder how ‘The Defenders‘ and the four heroes who make up the upcoming superhero team ended up on the network in the first place. Much like ‘Iron Man’ kicked off Marvel’s Cinematic Universe we saw ‘Daredevil’ kick things off to give us ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘Luke Cage’, and the upcoming ‘Iron Fist’ and team up series ‘The Defenders.’ Only, unlike the loose plan that Marvel initially had, it was clear from the offset how Netflix was going to bring these heroes together.
The concept was the brainchild of Jeph Loeb when he was watching ‘The Avengers’ for the fifth or so time in 2013:
“Iron Man is falling out of the sky, and the Hulk is catching him, and my storytelling brain starts to think, ‘If you went over to 10th Avenue and down a few blocks, you’d be in Hell’s Kitchen where there’s a group of heroes who are not really interested in saving the universe,’” he remembers. “That’s a really interesting place to start a television series.”
Not only do we have heroes who generally are more interested in a street level kind of heroism aside from Cage’s brief time running ‘The Avengers,’ they also don’t shy away from team-ups but don’t prefer them. Most of these heroes have more often worked alone which would make for great fits for standalone stories and why these were the four that Loeb had always wanted:
“We never had any other characters in mind. The differences in their personalities [in the comics] and in how they each see heroism enabled us to tell very different stories. It got us excited about the possibility of putting them together.”
As to why they went with Netflix? There were quite a few solid reasons to this one:
“We weren’t interested in making four pilots and then hoping someday that they could all get together. Netflix really understood what it is we wanted to do.” Plus, he says Netflix opened doors to lesser-known creatives and to new forms of storytelling. “They’re very open to directors that might not have that same opportunity in broadcast television. The notion of having all 13 episodes at one time, particularly in serialized storytelling, is very appealing.”
Honestly, the binge watching format has been the best way to watch these and I don’t think that the weekly format would have worked to really tell the story. Especially as other networks may have pushed for a more story of the week format. With the first three shows being a fun watch, I’m eager to see how they’ll found things out with ‘Iron Fist’ and bring them together in ‘The Defenders’.
Have you been enjoying what Netflix has done with these characters so far? Do you have high hopes for ‘The Defenders’? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
