The Defenders is an 8 part miniseries that will air on Netflix. The series will bring together several superheroes from the MCU including Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. The four superheroes will be combining their powers to fight The Hand.
How Daredevil will fit in The Defenders
In a matter of hours, Marvel and Netflix will see the culmination of a three-year, four-character plan in The Defenders. Dubbed early on as Marvel’s street-level Avengers. Individually, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have all became seriously popular TV characters in their own right. They have gained so much acclaim, that every time a new series drops on the streaming service there is the inevitable question of if, or when, these characters will make the jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But first things first: they have New York to protect from The Hand, and the question is now where exactly do we find our favorite vigilantes as The Defenders begins?
The most popular and, by default, most important character of the four heroes is Daredevil. In the process of two seasons, Matt Murdock has gone through the wringer as he has challenged his own principles, taken down the most powerful man in New York, and battled to save not only his soul but the souls of more broken and violent people than him: The Punisher and Elektra. While doing this Matt has isolated himself from his best friend, and potentially a romantic interest.
In order to figure out where Matt stands going into the crossover event, we have to look at what he has already done.
Season One
The first season of Daredevil was a huge success for Marvel, Netflix, and Matt himself. Set up as an origin story, we see Matt go from nameless vigilante to the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, to the more heroic Daredevil. These changes are both based on the public perception of his actions against the criminal element, and the lessons he learns along the way. While Matt goes through a number of hardships (every fight takes a piece of him both figuratively and literally, and he almost loses his best friend Foggy in the process), which neatly ties into the Catholic concepts of suffering whilst doing good, they only make him stronger. His journey to becoming Daredevil is paralleled with Wilson Fisk becoming the Kingpin. This culminates in Matt’s victory over Fisk, wearing his true costume for the first time, and taking Fisk out in an alley like any common criminal.
Season Two
Season two found the show emulating a theme that concerned the consequences of heroism, and how far is too far. This theme is explored through Matt’s continuing vigilantism and the escalation of these principals through the introduction of The Punisher. Matt’s most defining relationships in season two are with The Punisher and Elektra. Two people that walk the fine line between hero and villain, but don’t concern themselves with these distinctions. A common story for the second part of a superhero’s journey is investigating where the persona ends and the real person begins. In season two Matt rejected everything that made him Matt Murdock, turning his back on Foggy and Karen. Tha left him defeated by The Hand with Elektra dead. Season one ended with Matt victorious, and season two ended with a defeat.
Consequences
Now we can look at the consequences of Matt’s actions and how they may affect him in The Defenders. Season two was a punishing time for Matt (if you’ll excuse the pun). His need to be Daredevil took over his entire life, leaving everything that tied him to the world he was fighting for: Foggy, Karen, and Nelson & Murdock out in the cold. Despite beating Nobu at the end of season two, it was a hollow victory as The Hand’s master plan was barely interrupted. Elektra was still taken by them, and The Hand will be the main antagonists of The Defenders.
The Defenders
To figure out how The Man Without Fear is shaping up for The Defenders we should ask Charlie Cox. Cox spoke to CinemaBlend about Matt’s situation at the start of the series:
“Matt failed, and the consequences were devastating”, Cox added. “Six or so months have passed, and he’s had to completely re-evaluate everything that he believes, everything that he does.
“And he’s decided to hang up the suit, as it were. He’s focusing all of his energies on being a pro bono lawyer. And I don’t think he has any interest, really, in being Daredevil anymore.”
This is huge news, and this information can be backed up by nearly every bit of footage and promotional material we’ve seen for the team-up show so far. Matt is never seen in his costume, he fights, quite hilariously, with Jessica’s scarf masking his identity. Cox also mentioned the fact that Matt is focusing on being a pro-bono lawyer, which all but confirms the absence of Nelson & Murdock, with Foggy moving up the corporate ladder. In fact, in the first trailer for The Defenders, it is Matt being a lawyer that causes him to meet Jessica.
Danny & Matt
As for fighting the Hand, both Matt as Daredevil and Danny Rand as Iron Fist, have been battle tested far more than the other two team members. This means that it is up to them to bring Jessica and Luke up to speed. Something, that Cox told Den of Geek, will prove to be challenging:
“Now Danny and Matt have seen it. They’ve experienced it, and as hard as it is to explain, we know it exists because we’ve been there. Jessica and Luke don’t have that. Initially, at least, the role of Matt and Danny is quite similar. They’re the ones that have to bring the other two up-to-date and explain how serious this situation is and how you can’t just walk away from it and how dangerous these people are and what they’re capable of, blah blah blah. So that was kind of our role.”
What seems clear is that The Defenders relationship will be a lot more complex than other Marvel team-ups. Daredevil, despite being the first show, isn’t the leader of the team. Mainly because for these four loners the idea of a team is ridiculous in and of itself.
While each Defender will get a fair share of screen time, the fact that the main plot of the show was first introduced and best defined in Daredevil leads us to expect Matt to experience even more turmoil than he faced in the past couple of seasons of his own show.
Info:
Check out the referenced CinemaBlend Interview here.
Check out the referenced Den of Geek Interview here.
Stay tuned for the rest of our The Defenders preseason coverage.
The Defenders Preseason: Jessica Jones
The Defenders Preseason: Iron Fist
The Defenders Preseason: Luke Cage
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