Most Popular Viewing Order of Marvel/Netflix

Netflix has just released the popularity ranking of their individual Marvel TV superhero series. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist have finally come together and officially become the New York-based street-hero level squad, saving the day for the very first time as a collective in The Defenders. Before the huge threat that is The Hand and Alexandra started executing their catastrophic evil plans, each of the characters trod very different and separate lives only trying to save their pocket of the Big Apple.

It all started in 2015 with Matthew Murdock's debut standalone, Daredevil, followed by Jess's own in the same year. 2016 then saw the return of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen and the solo adventures of Luke - who has previously appeared in Jessica Jones. Earlier this year, the last of the four Defenders, Danny Rand, got his chance at the spotlight before assembling together just last week for their first ever foursome mission in The Defenders. While fans all have their respective favorites among the team, the popular streaming giant who houses all these series reveals which one is actually the most popular among viewers and how each show feed off of one another's individual appeal.

In a report from USA Today, Todd Yellin, Netflix’s vice president of product innovation has brought out some interesting stats and facts regarding the four characters' respective shows. As it turns out, instead of watching the shows in their chronological order, viewers tend to start off with Jessica Jones, then Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Further, it was also revealed that one in eight Marvel TV/Netflix show watchers is new to the genre. It was previously disclosed that in terms of demographics, men are more likely attracted to Daredevil, women to Jessica Jones, mixed to Luke Cage and younger fans to Iron Fist.

“When it comes to an individual story, they’ll watch it in order. But when it comes to these related kind of series, they’re very different kinds of stories. They watch them in order of how they’re interested in them and how they learn about them."

Meanwhile, progression-wise, Yellin has added that Daredevil more likely results to watching Jessica Jones next, while Luke Cage leads to Iron Fist. An unexpected way of doing it, at least according to Netflix, especially when Luke had already been introduced in the ball busting PI's solo series before he even embarked on his own which links the two properties together. In hindsight, however, the bulletproof hero and the protector of Kunlun has been an iconic pairing in the pages of the comic books which makes sense especially for those who are Heroes for Hire fans.

An earlier study revealed that Danny Rand is the most divisive Defender, with a significant amount of people calling him out for “ruining the show.” It's not a secret that Marvel TV missed their mark with Iron Fist season 1 as critics and viewers alike criticized the series for its lackluster narrative and bad execution which is surprising given how they were fairly consistent with the other standalones. That said, the second season of his adventures is still on its way, hopefully with a brand new character trajectory for Danny.

Following The Defenders, Marvel TV and Netflix's next collaborative project will be Jon Bernthal's The Punisher spin-off. Initially introduced in Daredevil season 2, Frank Castle has quickly become a fan-favorite. Moving further, a third season of Daredevil and second outings of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage respectively are also on the docket.