There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to fight the battles that we never could… those people, of course, were the Avengers and their assembly not only saved the world from an alien invasion, but it changed the face of cinema forever. It was only a matter of time before the small screen tried to do the same thing and among some of the many, varied attempts was the MCU/Netflix series that opted to give us the Defenders.
It was a fairly simple set up really, you take each of the superheroes who had managed to score their own show on the streaming platform, dumb them in one big combined extravaganza and then stand back and watch the sparks fly – however, TV is a very different place to cinema and while the silver screen has to punch things up and get to the point, The Defenders have eight whole episodes to get their superhero shit together. However, considering that the Netflix show tend to feel that the run a little long at thirteen episodes, will eight actually be enough to cram everyone in? Well, it will if it moves at this speed…
It’s a time of re-introductions as we return to cast a watchful eye over the band of self-loathing, superpowered, souls who walk the streets of New York and the lives they barely seem in control of. First on our list is blind lawyer Matt Murdock, who took his augmented other senses and ninja training and useful them to beat the crap out of organised crime as the masked vigilante, Daredevil. However, after the events of his last season, Matt has given all that up and simply does pro-bono work to try and help the helpless after his former flame, Elektra, was killed and his relationship with his law partners, Foggy Nelson and Karen Page disintegrated.
Elsewhere, super strong private investigator Jessica Jones is trying to play down her recent and public defeat of the will sapping Kilgrave, defiantly refusing the label of hero whenever anyone aims it in her direction – but after a garbled phone call warns her off taking a case involving a missing architect, she just can’t stop herself from getting involved. However, while Murdock is trying to be a normal guy and Jones is struggling to keep her head above water (as usual), we find the bulletproof Hero of Harlem, Luke Cage, finally leaving Seagate prison after finally serving out the remainder of his time. After having something of a sweaty, lustful reunion with Claire Temple, he’s soon joined by Detective Misty Knight who fills him in of the status of the criminal empire run by Mariah Dillard as he aims to continue on his quest to clean up Harlem.
Of course that only just leaves Danny Rand, the Iron Fist and Coleen Wing, who are still jet setting about, trying to mop up the evil of the Hand – a secret society of ninja which nefarious plans for the world in general. But when they find that their enemy is camped currently out in New York, a large earthquake shakes up the city that’s watched for some villainous faces, both old and new…
As if to show exactly how different setting up a movie about a combined superhero team and setting a TV show about the exact same thing actually is, The Defenders seems to be in no rush whatsoever to even remotely get to a point as the first episode chooses to barely contains any villain activity or hero shenanigans throughout its entire duration. Instead, The H Word seems more than content to simply reintroduce it’s quartet of reluctant heroes at its own speed while keeping the whole business of saving the world on the backburner until it’s gotten everyone back up to date with everyone’s current status quo. Of course, we’re not just talking about the main four, oh no no no, no; we also have to catch up with the people who find themselves in each of the Defenders’ orbit such as Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen, Elden Henson’s Foggy, Rosario Dawson’s Claire, Simon Missick’s Misty, Eka Darville’s Malcolm and Rachael Taylor’s Trish and while that sounds like quite a lot to get through in a single episode, the installment has to inevitably fall back on the hope that there’s some prior familiarity with the other shows – yes, even Iron Fist. However, while the cast is packed, it actually makes up for the fact that by the time the episode has ended, not a single one of the Defenders-to-be have even met yet (aside from Luke and Jessica, of course). It’s a tactic that you could only pull off on the small screen and it does succeed to creating the feel of a functional, living, breathing community that make up for the almost complete lack of main plot.
In fact it’s down to Danny and Coleen and Sigourney Weaver’s mysterious cancer afflicted villain to suggest any sort of overarching threat altogether – which is a rather odd choice considering that Iron Fist wasn’t exactly the best of the bunch when it came to quality. Still, Weaver adds undeniable class and we even get a return of Madam Gao and a resurrected Elektra to keep the threat alive.
However, the main bulk of the show is literally focusing on a our quartet of heroes going about their day as we piece together what they’ve been up to since their separate series ended with varying results. The best of the bunch belongs to Luke Cage who strides right out of jail to try and get right back to where he left off by attempting to clear up the streets with a mixture of subtle intimidation and forthright dignity. However, in comparison, Matt Murdock’s crime fight retirement feels like something of a disappointing step backwards, especially as we’ve already had two whole seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage that saw them openly struggling with resisting their more virtuous instincts. Also, the show kind of makes the twist at the end of Daredevil’s second season utterly pointless as it doesn’t really do anything with the fact that Matt revealed his secret identity to Karen Page in the final moments and instead resolves it in an awkward reunion on a diner long after the two have already moved on. And as for Iron Fist? Well, the episode starts with him engaging in a typically over-edited fight and then (possibly wisely) neglects to do much else with him other than have him fly to New York and have a nightmare and if The Defenders hopes to provide a bit of damage control for it’s weakest series, it’ll have to do better than this.
However, despite a snail-like pace and virtually no threat whatsoever, The Defenders feels weirdly, yet reassuringly, familiar and I adore the visual, comic book touch that sees each character constantly bathed in their own colours, with Murdock somehow always close to red neon, Cage bathed in sunny, yellow hues, Jones washed out in cool, desolate blues and Rand swathed in slick greens.
Hopefully business picks up a bit more as the show continues, but right now I can’t help but think of what The Avengers managed to achieve in the same amount of time… and these guys haven’t even met yet!
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