Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the Iron Fist… I just finished watching the Defenders.
I’ve been eagerly waiting this since the rumors first buzzed that it might be a thing. I thought the first season of Daredevil rocked, loved Jessica Jones, had my mind blown in the 2nd season of Daredevil with the arrival of the Punisher, and I enjoyed Luke Cage. Haven’t actually finished Iron Fist… Mostly because I haven’t had the time to sit down and do it. I’m not part of the hater crowd, just haven’t really had time to finish it. I thought about holding off on the Defenders until I had, but said screw it, and went ahead and watched it anyway.
Overall, I was pretty happy with it… That was vague, I know. As I’m typing this, I’m trying to think of how to share my thoughts without giving away spoilers.
I thought they melded the characters and their personalities together really well. One thing I think Marvel Studios has done really well with the Avengers is splitting the screen time, and the Defenders, I felt, stuck to the same template quite well. I never felt like any one of them was soaking up more screen time than another. It felt like the story belonged to all four of them.
More impressively, was how they mixed in the supporting characters from the various individual shows without making it feel strained.
Overall, I was quite pleased. I think season 2 of Daredevil still might be my favorite, but I thought the Defenders was great and I’m looking forward to seeing where they take the characters from here.
SPOILERS AHEAD…
FOR SERIOUS….
HERE THEY COME…
My one disappointment, which really isn’t fair, is that I’d hoped Frank Castle would make an appearance. John Bernthal killed it as the Punisher and I’m foaming at the bit to see him in action again. Can’t wait for his first season to kick off.
The only other thing I thought could be better was after a few seasons of learning about how scary the Hand was, they just didn’t seem that terrifying in the Defenders. Our heroes were kind of knocking them around throughout the show. I felt like they could be a little nastier.
Back to what I loved…
Just off the top my head, I again loved how they brought the character’s personalities together. I love Jessica Jones’s smartass remarks and I thought Ironfists’s kind of naïve goofiness clashed perfectly with Daredevil’s seriousness and Luke Cage’s sincerity.
I really liked the scene where Foggy brings Matt the Daredevil costume. Although, I still wish they'd made the costume better. Hint... The old red and black armored one probably would've easier to bring to life in film. Just my thought. Also, it's kind of weird that he's the only one with a costume.
I also love Stick, and I’m sad to see him go. However, when he mailed that guy’s head to the Hand… Fantastic. Especially the conversation he has with Luke Cage just before.
And I’m super glad Daredevil isn’t dead… That was a worrisome. At this point, for me, he still kind of holds the whole Netflix-Marvel-Verse together. It’d be strange for the shows to continue without him. That’d be kind of like killing off Ironman from the film-verse. It just wouldn't feel right without the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
Anyway, super happy with the Defenders overall. Can’t wait to see where they go from here.
In the meantime, let’s all ogle the Punisher teaser like a bunch of nerds…
