Now that Iron Fist season 1 is available on Netflix, the streaming service and Marvel have revealed the premiere date for their TV miniseries, The Defenders. Marvel began building the "Netflix Corner" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2015, with the premiere of Marvel's Daredevil season 1. Since then, the characters Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Danny Rand (Finn Jones) have each gotten their own solo TV series, while the vigilante Frank Castle aka. The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) was introduced to the MCU in Daredevil season 2. Although The Punisher Netflix series arrives later this year, Mr. Castle is not slated to appear in The Defenders.
The Defenders will instead bring together Jessica, Luke and Danny, as well as Matt Murdock aka. Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in their home turf of New York, in order to battle a mysterious enemy who's known for now as simply Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver). It was previously reported that the miniseries would be premiering on Netflix this summer - and now, a newly-released teaser for The Defenders has confirmed as much to be true.
Netflix released the teaser for The Defenders (see the video above), under the innocuous title of "Midland Circle Security Elevator B". The video shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Danny Rand in an elevator after a fight at the offices of Midland Circle, via security camera footage. However, the time stamp when Jessica smacks the camera is 08:18:20:17, or August 18, 2017: the actual premiere date for The Defenders. There is also a URL (https://23.253.120.81) in the video that takes you to a viral website for The Defenders, in the form of the New York Bulletin Archives. The official premiere date for The Defenders is listed at the bottom of the latter website too.
Alexandra's voice can be heard over the elevator intercom in The Defenders teaser, saying "Going down": a phrase with multiple meanings here, given that she is the main antagonist in the miniseries. Daredevil season 2 and Iron Fist season 1, in particular, have established that the shadowy, ninja organization known as The Hand is the overarching threat in Marvel's Netflix-verse; setting the stage for Alexandra to have some type of connection to The Hand, in The Defenders. Iron Fist further alludes to the notion that The Hand has a central leader, who could plausibly be Weaver's businesswoman (who, it seems, works for the Midland Circle corporation that was introduced in Daredevil season 2).
Whatever power Alexandra has at her disposal (be it an army of ninjas and/or the newly-resurrected Black Sky aka. Elodie Yung's Elektra), it's enough to bring together pretty much every superhero and do-gooder who lives within the vicinity of Hell's Kitchen, in order to fight her. Among those supporting characters from previous Marvel/Netflix shows confirmed to appear in The Defenders are Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Misty Knight (Simone Missick), Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) - and of course, The Defenders' trusted medical caretaker Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson).
Meanwhile, behind the camera, Daredevil season 2 showrunners Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez are overseeing The Defenders' first adventure on the small screen. Although it (naturally) remains to be seen if The Defenders gets a second season, the continued viewership success of Marvel's Netflix series suggests that this won't be the only time that New York's finest street-level heroes join forces in the MCU.
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The Defenders arrives on August 18th, 2017, with The Punisher coming later this year. Daredevil seasons 1 and 2, Jessica Jones season 1, Luke Cage season 1, and Iron Fist season 1 are now available on Netflix. Premiere dates for the next seasons of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage have not yet been revealed.
Source: Netflix