This summer, Netflix will unveil The Defenders, its much-anticipated Marvel mini-series. The show will team the street-level heroes that made its standalone shows a hit, uniting Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and the soon-to-be-debuted Iron Fist (Finn Jones).
Though Jessica and Luke already forged a relationship in Jessica Jones, it will mark the first meeting for much of The Defenders crew. Each of the characters have been portrayed as vigilantes of their own accord, and they’ll now be forced to suss out where they fit within their ragtag team.
As details have begun to emerge about how exactly that world takes shape, Colter has revealed that Luke will act as a “conciliator” for the group. “I'm the guy, the wisdom,” he told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “If you want to make sure something works, run it up the flagpole.” Colter went on to say that his sage status will materialize as a mentor-mentee relationship with Danny Rand — a.k.a. Iron Fist — the newest member of the Defenders lineup. As he told EW:
“He’s a young guy. There’s an exuberance that Iron Fist comes with that Luke Cage wants to temper a bit. It can’t help but have a wisdom-versus-youth quality… Danny comes out like a bull in a china shop in some ways, and I think Luke has seen the world and knows certain things. It’s a cool combination that’ll work out.”
It’s a different dynamic than what fans will recognize from Heroes for Hire, the comic book that banded Luke and Danny as a crime-fighting duo. Their Defenders relationship will be familiar to be sure, but with a fresh spin. “We definitely want to pay homage to the fanboys, but we want to make it make sense in this time period,” Colter said.
Of course, viewers may remember that Luke was last seen heading to Seagate Prison at the end of Luke Cage’s first season. Colter confirmed to EW that Luke won’t be locked there for the entirety of Defenders, giving him room to both get to know his fellow heroes and face the world with a newfound perspective. As he told the outlet:
“It’s safe to say Cage is not going to spend the entire season of The Defenders behind bars. He’s been able to come clean and deal with his past… The difficulty with Cage [in the first season] is that he has this secret, he has this thing that he’s been trying to run away from and deal with, and that’s a big burden to bear. That weighs on you. That changes who you are as a person. Now that that’s out of the way, I think we can give him a different approach to life.”
From the sound of it, Defenders will follow the precedent set by its sister series. It won’t be a direct adaption on the comics, but will instead be a more nuanced, modern take. That makes it trickier to piece together what will unfold across the show’s first season, but enticing enough that it’s worth the wait.
Daredevil season 1 and 2, Jessica Jones season 1, and Luke Cage season 1 are now available on Netflix. Iron Fist will premiere on March 17, 2017. The Defenders and The Punisher will arrive in 2017. Premiere dates for the newest seasons of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage have not yet been announced.
Source: Entertainment Weekly