The Defenders
admonition : This article hold back spoiler for the intact season ofThe defender !
–
After five season of solo heroic meter , some of whichwere receive far more positivelythan others , it was about fourth dimension that Netflix ’s equivalent weight of the big screenMarvelsuperhero squad up finally happened .
That ’s not to say that the team we see form inThe Defendersis anything like their cinematic predecessors , The Avengers , who have now team up with ( and against ) each other in several film , with two more come up in the near future . For starters , do n’t even get the Defenders started on the use of " The H - Word , " as the first installment ’s form of address suggests . And there ’s no deny that this squad is a whole fortune scrappier than the Avengers , their world of Hell ’s Kitchen spirited and more tinged with reality than the blockbuster heroes ' worlds have ever been .
Yet for all their tonal conflict , The Defendersknow how to have just as much fun with comic callbacks and universe tie - ins as the supercharged cinematic escapade do . From allusion to events past and glimpses of future storylines , along with some pappa ethnical and artistic commentary , The Defenderspacks such a punch in addition to its meaty action mechanism scenes that you likely did n’t even find some of the reference they made . But do n’t vex : take a look at this list of15 Things You Missed In The Defendersand catch up on all the most important ones .
Fun with cinematography
Netflix has made a name for itself in term of put together projects that are beautifully and uniquely filmed . All of their Marvel projects so far have experimented with shadower and light in challenging ways , usually ruminate of the plot at helping hand , but no serial has have dismount to such a cheeky , meta level in the way thatThe Defendershas .
In each of the Defender ’s solo plot chain , particularly in the series ' first three episodes before the team unites , their respective scenes are lit with a color gradients matching their signature colour : Matt ’s scene are red - hued , Luke ’s Harlem adventures are tinted a lenient yellow , Jessica ’s spirited investigation are awash with purpleness , and Danny ’s travel to New York are tinged with green .
Even more meta , the Ne sign at the Royal Dragon Chinese restaurant contains each of their colors , hint that this will be the place where they decently team up for good .
Elektra Lives Again
As one of the MCU ’s most enigmatic and pitiless characters , it was obvious that Elektra ’s rebirth was last to be a spectacular upshot . ( We did n’t really carry it to beliterallyearth - shattering , though . )
The Defendersdepicts Elektra ’s takings to the living at the bridge player of , well , The Hand ; her brutal reprogramming and training sessions ; and her multiple assignment as an emotionless assassinator meant to post out The Hand ’s plan . This intensely deplorable mental imagery will be intimate to fans of Frank Miller ’s 1990 oeuvre , Elektra live Again .
While the comical deals with zombies and Bullseye , and also has Matt living in a nightmarish dream body politic , the MCU version of Elektra ’s renascence does borrow much of the same plot , including multiple violent confrontation / reunification between the complicated buff , The Hand ’s involvement in her resurrection , and Elektra ’s eventual violent dying once again …
… mayhap , at least , if thing are what they seem ( and which they rarely are ) .
Oh, hey Stan Lee!
Is it really a Marvel undertaking without aStan Lee cameoof some sort ?
Whether he ’s get drunk on Asgardian booze inAvengers : Age of Ultron , delivering a package to Tony " Stank " inCaptain America : Civil War , or working as a short bibliothec just trying to get his damned job done inThe Amazing Spider - Man , the godfather of all things Marvel sure knows how to slip each and every conniption he appear in .
Poking fun at DC
It ’s almost insufferable to nullify the dreaded dubiousness : Marvel or DC?And while it would be better for all parties involvedto key out as both , it ’s foolish to mean that this dispute will be going away any clock time before long , peculiarly as the MCU and DCEU ramp up — and even more so as the DCEU begins tomake a real name for itself .
Yet as exhausting as the DC vs. Marvel battle is ( and always will be),The Defendersmight have stoke the blast — albeit playfully — with one finical eyebrow - raising jape . In response to Danny calling the quartet a team , Luke Cage is immediate to shoot that offer down:“Look , I ’m not seem for tiptop friends . “The line is innocent enough … unless , of course of action , you consider the 1973 - 1985 DC animated series , Super Friends .
The line is intelligibly meant in jest , so there ’s no actual heat energy to be found here . But there ’s also no denying that the line feels particularly intentional , and might have unintentional consequences within the long - standing feud .
Getting cheeky with art
We ’ve already discussed the fact that Elektra defies destruction at least once inThe Defenders . The exact nature of the way that she yield to the animation , however , presents quite a spoiler , and a really muddled , supernatural level at that .
The first 15 minutes of episode 3 , " bad doings , " detail the lengths to which Sigourney Weaver ’s enigmatic Alexandra snuff it to in ordination to fetch the rapscallion assassin back to life . The whole trial by ordeal ispretty bizarre , take a mysterious " essence " made from Draco ’s bone and the conspiracy of god do it as The Hand .
But it ’s not until installment 4 , " Royal Dragon , " that the series gets a little meta about its own narrative . Botticelli ’s renowned painting , The Birth of Venus , is have on prominent exhibit in Alexandra ’s office . As a quasi - divinity bring liveliness into the world , Alexandra clearly believes herself to be in far-famed company .
Teenage Mutant Ninja Defenders?
In episode 5 , " Take Shelter , " the Defenders andMatt ’s onetime wise man Stickgo head to head with Elektra and the member of The Hand . The conflict is pitiless , result in Luke being astonishingly chasten and taken surety for a brief menstruum of time . In rules of order to get aside , the remaining trio of Defenders and their tag - along pardner retirement to an alleyway behind the Formosan restaurant .
And that ’s when Stick suggests the sewer as an escape route .
The parallels here are uproariously obvious . Not only do the ragtag team mirror the scrappy way of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(besides , you know , having a ninja or two on their side ) , their color scheme almost perfectly matches that of the sewer - dwelling turtle squad . Plus , Stick himselfserved as an inspirationfor the sage scab Master Splinter , so perhaps this was Marvel ’s way of life of tipping their lid back at TMNT after all these years .
Ca n’t unsee it now , can you ?
Defenders: Civil War?
TMNT is n’t the only big name dealership thatThe Defendersseems to bid its own protection to . As always , the Netflix Marvel serial are n’t afraid of extend their own commentary on and versions of the result of their heavy screen counterparts .
In installment 6 , " Ashes , Ashes , " the withstander arrive to a genuine point of arguing as they ca n’t decide what the skillful course of legal action is regarding dealing with The Hand , who need Danny for proceed with their nefarious programme . Danny feel as though the residual of the radical is keeping him surety , and he also foreground a deficiency of foil on Matt ’s part as a tangible issue . When Luke tries to assure him that"we’re all on the same side here,“Danny is quick to sweep that off:“It does n’t sense like it . Not anymore . "
What follows is a small - graduated table recreation ofCivil War ’s high-minded - scale fighting scenery , with one integrated team fighting against itself as they are drawn toward diametrically oppose finish . The real question : # TeamDanny or # TeamMattLukeandJess ?
Just kidding . Literally everyone is on the latter .
What’s in the box?!?!
Marvel series are know for their propensity to be creative thinker - bollocks up , whether it ’s in the stage dancing of their deadly telling fight scene or their staggering faithfulness to impossible amusing scenes and plots . Yet they ’re also brain - blowing for the characters within them , as more often than you ’d think , someone ’s bound to lose their head word .
InThe Defendersalone , major player Alexandra and Sowande of The Hand are the inauspicious victims of particularly grisly decapitations . Sowande has the even bad fate of have his read/write head hand over in a boxful to the remaining members of The Hand in episode 6 as a signboard that the Defenders mean business . Because Stick ’s a badass .
But this is n’t the first time someone from the Defenders has used a head for their own intimidating purposes . In sequence 7 ofJessica Jones , Jessica incorrectly confess to a murder … by walk into the precinct with the slaying dupe ’s head in hand . Tact has never exactly been her strong suit , sure enough , but that ’s one perdition of a way to get your stop across .
Expectation vs. reality
Few relationship toe the line betweensupposedly romanticandgenuinely 100 % psychoticmore oftentimes than the one between Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios . In episode 6,The Defendersoffers one sickening parallel that sum up their relationship in the MCU perfectly . Elektra , who has been slowly regaining her memories of her past life story , has the upper hired hand over her former mentor Stick , when Matt beg her not to down him:“You do n’t have to do this . “But , of course , she does it anyway .
The bloody moment echo a scene in the eighth episode ofDaredevil ’s second time of year . Matt , upon realizing that an interloper is merely a teenager , backs off from attacking him . Elektra , however , is having just none of that , instead viciously slicing the tyke ’s throat . “This is who I am,“she tells a puzzle Matt with a face sprayed with origin , in true psychotic grampus way . “Do you still require me ? "
One miniseries and countless senseless execution later , the response unfortunately seems to be yes .
Hydra 2.0?
Few MCU villain have been as threatening ( and then forgotten … ) as Hydra . The global , fascist syndicate had its tentacle deeply in innumerable organizations . While Hydra has mostly beenforgotten by the MCU , in the comics , the so much more than polarise decision to have Captain America be revealed asa secret Hydra leader all alongcontinues to exasperate reader to this solar day .
The Hand is possibly the most comparable set of villains that the MCU has bid since Hydra was abandoned . comprise of five " fingers , " all of divers spheric and diachronic origin , the group seem to have unlimited big businessman , wealth , and , until lately , metre . So when Colleen Wing name to The Hand as a snake whose head take to be rationalise off before it experience too herculean , the slight allusion to Hydra should make viewers fear for what comes next …
… except for the fact that by the ending of the miniseries , four " fingers " are confirmed idle in violent ways , and the mystic one-fifth in Madame Gao very well might be , too .
