The Future of the Defenders on Netflix

Note:  We're going to be signing up for Netflix tomorrow, so we will be able to watch Daredevil!  My plan is to post 1 expectations article tomorrow for the entire season before I watch the show. Then I plan to post 1 review each week until I get through the season, but if you would like to see reviews more frequently, let me know (but no guarantees).

The final post in my mini-series leading up to the release of Daredevil on Netflix tomorrow will be a look ahead to the future of the Defenders/Marvel/Netflix corner of the MCU.  Considering that one of the Defenders (Iron Fist) still hasn’t been cast, 3 of the shows still haven’t entered production, 2 still lack showrunners, and none of them have actually been released yet, it is very early to start talking about the future of this corner of the MCU.  Nevertheless, since they are going to start laying some of the groundwork for their “Phase 2” through these series—and I’m pretty sure this experiment will be successful enough to warrant a “Phase 2”—I think it is still relevant to talk about the ways in which this will grow and expand after The Defenders comes out in 2016, 2017, or 2018 (my best guess is 2017).

For the purpose of this article, I will assume that Marvel and Netflix are going to structure “Netflix Phase 2” with about the same number of series as “Phase 1,” but I will add at least 1 (for a total of 5 character-centric seasons, all leading up to an event-focused The Defenders Season 2).  Presumably, it would be entirely possible for them to produce and release all of these in about 3 years, following roughly the same schedule as the movies are:  2 per year, gearing up toward 3 per year.  I project that all of the “Phase 1 Defenders” will appear in series leading up to The Defenders Season 2, but not necessarily in their own series.  Instead, a few of the series will be combined together, leaving room to explore other characters in their own series in anticipation of the inevitable team-up.

Connections between the Defenders and the MCU

Note:  My meeting went too long to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. last night, so I'm going to flip-flop my articles for the next two days.  This was supposed to publish tomorrow, but I'm publishing it today.  Tomorrow morning my review for "One Door Closes" will be up (assuming nothing gets in the way).

One of my favorite parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is how interconnected all of the movies and TV shows are, so the second part of my mini-series looking forward to Daredevil and The Defenders (so is the team-up going to involve them starting a band?) will be a look at connections between The Defenders and the rest of the MCU.

As of now very little is known about Daredevil, and almost nothing has been revealed about A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders, so the list of known connections is very small, and all of them come from Daredevil.  There may be a couple spoilers in this article for the comics and from the promotional material released for Daredevil, but not a lot.  After all, the shows aren’t out yet!

All About the Defenders

Marvel TV is beginning its expansion into Netflix in just a couple of weeks on April 10 with the release of the full first season of Daredevil, which will follow Matt Murdock’s evolution from a blind lawyer with enhanced senses into a masked vigilante dealing out justice against the criminals the legal system missed.

In anticipation of Daredevil’s release, I’m going to publish a series of articles over the next three Thursdays to talk about some of my thoughts regarding the Marvel/Netflix shows, connections to the larger MCU, and the future of Marvel/Netflix and the Defenders.  If I can, I will follow it up with reviews of Daredevil season 1 (we don’t have Netflix yet, though we will probably get it before the end of the month).

First up is a *brief* summary/description of each of the title characters, along with connections between them and other characters who have appeared or will appear in the MCU.