10 Things We Want From Marvel’s The Defenders
6. Luke and Jessica Talking it Out
Out of everyone in The Defenders, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are the only two heroes who know each other already. And not just know each other: They were in a relationship, and things between them got complicated real fast. (Not kidding: There’s murder and mind control involved.)
Their relationship is over by the end of Jessica Jones Season 1, and Luke goes on to get involved with several other women on his own show. In Luke Cage, he ends up romancing Claire Temple, and that relationship should theoretically still be intact by the time The Defenders kicks off.
Plus, Luke’s in jail. So, he and Jessica will have a lot to catch up on by the time they see each other again.
In a show that will naturally rely on the relationships between our four leads, it would make sense to give us some closure on the one we already know. It seems obvious that Luke has moved on from Jessica, romantically speaking, for the moment. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to see them reset and reassess where they are now.
Lots of stuff has happened to Luke since Jessica saw him last, after all. Maybe that’s given him a new perspective on the things she did back on Jessica Jones. The Defenders trailers seem to largely pair off Jessica with Matt, and Luke with Danny – but here’s hoping that they remember we still care about this particular relationship, too.
7. More Details on Madame Gao
Viewers met the mysterious Madame Gao way back in Season 1 of Daredevil, where she was so all-around threatening that even Wilson Fisk was afraid of her. But though she’s become a semi-regular fixture in the Netflix Marvel universe, we still know very little about who she really is.
Even her more extended appearance in Iron Fist failed to fill in her background to any significant degree, or tell us about her goals. Why is she involved with the Hand in the first place? What does she want, really? Is she actually immortal?
And when are we going to get to see her fight someone properly? We’ve only been waiting for this since she knocked Daredevil across a room, after all.
In a universe that sometimes struggles to create compelling villains, it seems odd to leave Madame Gao sitting on the sidelines any longer. Perhaps with the addition of another female villain in the form of Sigourney Weaver’s Alexandra, we’ll see the two of them team up to wreak some real havoc.
8. Our Favorite Secondary Characters Meet Up
So far, Claire has been the main connective tissue between each of the Marvel Netflix series. A few characters crossed over to other series in limited capacities – Carrie Anne Moss’ Jeri Hogarth and the aforementioned Madame Gao, for starters. But The Defenders promises to bring us a team-up featuring most of the main and secondary cast from each individual series.
Whether this will work – can the show really do right by that many people and storylines? – remains to be seen. But it’s hard not to get super excited about the prospect of our faves finally getting to meet face to face, beyond Jessica, Matt, Luke and Danny.
Characters from different series will finally get to interact with someone from another series that isn’t Claire! Will Misty Knight and Colleen Wing instantly be BFFs? Could Trish Walker and Karen Page bond about their terrible life experiences? How much will Foggy instantly dislike Danny Rand?
Sure it’s going to be awesome seeing our four main heroes team up at least, but it’s going to be just as much fun watching everyone else meet for the first time, too.
9. Answers About the Weird Hand Mythology
Villainous group The Hand has been a key part of several Marvel Netflix series. And they’ve made less and less sense every time they’ve shown up. We’ve seen these guys involved with everything from drug dealing to brainwashing children to resurrecting the dead. And we still have no idea who they really they are.
If this organization must show up in The Defenders, can we at least get some answers about who they are or how they do what they do? Or why there are so many of them?
Most especially: Can The Defenders please explain the literal plot hole in Daredevil Season 2? To recap: While investigating a shady corporation, Matt and Elektra discover shipments of dirt going out of Hell’s Kitchen. Turns out the Hand dug a massive, 40-story deep hole beneath New York.
Our heroes confirm the existence of this giant, weird hole, then fight some ninjas and never mention it again. Ever. (Seriously, E-V-E-R. It was incredibly irritating at the time.) Fingers crossed it’s actually something important here.
10. As Many Group Fights as Possible
Let’s be real, it’s what we’re all here for. We want to see The Defenders battle as many people as possible, in as many awesome ways as possible, together.
The series’ trailer hints the showrunners know what’s up on this score. In it, it promises a giant, group tag-team hallway fight that’s basically everything our fan dreams are made of. So let’s do that as many times as we can, shall we?
What are you most excited to see in The Defenders? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.