Superhero enthusiasts all over got a big exciting surprise
this morning when news broke that Marvel
and Netflix would be partnering to create streaming series for the Daredevil,
Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones characters. When the shows culminate
into a Defenders team-up, the end result might be more grounded and more human
than anything of Marvel’s live-action offerings so far. That’d be a welcome
change.
I’ve seen a lot of reactions today using the phrase B-list
to describe this cast of characters and the very Defenders concept. Maybe the
various Defenders comics haven’t been as successful sales-wise as those of the
Avengers but they’ve been weirder than Marvel’s flagship super-team. And that’s a great thing. They fought white
supremacists, weird Lovecraftian elder gods and alternate-reality versions of rival
publisher DC Comics’ Justice League. Based on the description that came along
with today’s news, the focus will be more on street-level superheroics. Most
importantly, in keeping with the Defenders non-teams of the past, all these
characters are outsiders. No square-jawed high-flying icons here.
Led by a series focused on “Daredevil,” followed by “Jessica
Jones,” “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage,” the epic will unfold over multiple years
of original programming, taking Netflix members deep into the gritty world of
heroes and villains of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Netflix has committed to a
minimum of four, thirteen episodes series and a culminating Marvel’s “The
Defenders” mini-series event that reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing,
heroic characters.
These characters all have psychologically tense, emotionally
complicated continuities that they’ve accrued over decades of publishing
history. As far as team dynamics go, Daredevil’s impulsive, sometimes
self-destructive brand of justice contrasts with Iron Fist’s zen-orphan kung-fu
cool. Readers of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ conflicted backstories know where
they came from and where they wind up. They’re accidental metahumans who
stumbled into helping people. Interlocked TV series—each focused on developing
the textures of each hero—could be the structure that best emulates the ‘strands-into-knot’ phenomenon of the superhero team.
So, yeah, the Defenders announcement is exciting. Mostly
because it can afford Marvel the chance to do something different than the
blockbuster spectacles they’ve been turning out. And, if the powers-that-be don’t
get Isaiah Mustafa to be Luke
Cage, they’re crazy.
