My name is Andrew and I am a comic book geek. That means that even if Marvel puts out the craziest movies and TV shows based on obscure characters like Ant-Man or Iron Fist, I’m first in line. And when Netflix’s amazing set of characters team up in a new series called The Defenders, I’m screaming from the rooftops.
Yeah, The Defenders. Sounds like a cheap version of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, a.k.a. The Avengers.
To be honest, they kind of are. I’ve never been a diehard Defenders fan but always dug them when they showed up in other comics. The Avengers were the A-List team, headquartered in NYC and fighting Earth-shattering foes. The Defenders? They were more a collection of misfits and B-grade heroes helping fight the good fight on the streets of NYC.
Like The Avengers, there’ve been loads of different rosters making up The Defenders. I recall characters like Doctor Strange, Iceman, Beast, Gargoyle and Valkyrie to name a few. They were more on the magical side of things for sure. Certainly not as polished as The Avengers, but still, they held their own.
The Defenders first season is now available on Netflix for all to consume. And you may find this hard to believe but… I haven’t watched it yet.
Wait, what? But, uh, Andrew, aren’t you like a huge comic book geek? You just said that in the first sentence of this very post!
Yes. Yes I did. And yes I am. But I haven’t watched Defenders yet for one very good reason.
My son.
Jason, 14 years old, has always been a big comic fan too but we thought the Netflix shows were a little too violent for him when we first started. So my wife and I watched them without him.
Now that he’s older, he expressed interest so we let him start watching. This was roughly a month or so ago. He started with the first season of Daredevil. Then Jessica Jones. Then Daredevil season two. And now, he’s deep into Luke Cage. And like me, he’s loving every minute of them all.
Seeing as how The Defenders was only a few weeks out from release when he started binging all the Marvel Netflix shows, my wife and I decided to re-watch them all with him before the three of us would see The Defenders. So that’s where I am now. Just waiting for us to get through Luke Cage and then Iron Fist.
To be honest, I thought I’d get a little bored with some of them on second viewing. But nothing could be further from the truth. I’d forgotten a lot of the subtleties of these shows and even picked up some new tidbits here and there. And Charlie Cox as Daredevil is so spot-on awesome, it’s crazy. Not to mention Jon Bernthal who IS Frank Castle. Every single Marvel show is worth it just to see the Punisher in action.
It got me thinking that these shows are so much more than the Marvel Universe being told at street level in Hell’s Kitchen and outside a barber shop in Harlem. These shows are so much fun to watch because they’re so different from each other, yet they intertwine beautifully. With them all set in NYC, each series seamlessly threads into one another so that when they do eventually team up in The Defenders, I don’t think it’ll be anything but natural.
Jessica Jones may be a superhero but the overall story is a sick crime drama in the vein of CSI mixed in with a tough-as-nails female lead and the harsh sarcasm that you’ll find in Orange is the New Black.
Daredevil tosses up equal parts action (and ninjas!) with legal drama and moral ambiguity. It’s kind of like Breaking Bad in that vein. A guy who goes beyond the law but for the seemingly right reasons.
Luke Cage is all about tough exteriors and isolated kind souls. Just like Eleven from Stranger Things, Luke has been experimented on, is a man of few words and must fight some pretty dangerous “monsters” looking to take over his world.
And then there’s Danny Rand, the Iron Fist. His is a young coming-of-age tale full of innocence, confusion and naiveté. Fans of Shameless, Love or Grace & Frankie will want to tune into this one.
Whatever your genre, these Marvel Netflix shows pretty much have something for everyone. And best of all, you can start your binging on any of the four series without having to watch the others.
The Marvel Netflix Universe is as exciting to me as the Marvel movies, especially since they all co-exist in the same space. I absolutely cannot wait for follow-up seasons to all four shows, as well as any new ones coming our way. The crazier sounding, the better. The Defenders is a great culmination to this first wave of shows. What’s next? Considering the crazy path Marvel and Netflix have taken so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m suddenly watching Man-Thing on my TV before long.
The Defenders Synopsis:
Marvel’s The Defenders follows Daredevil AKA Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist AKA Danny Rand (Finn Jones), a quartet of singular heroes with one common goal – to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who reluctantly realize they just might be stronger when teamed together.
What’s your favorite Netflix Marvel show?
#StreamTeam
