The Defenders (season 1)

Marvel's other superhero team

The Defenders (season 1)

Defenders Assemble!

With one full season of four different superhero shows on Netflix complete, Marvel did the obvious thing, and brought them all together as a team in yet another series, The Defenders.

Long time Marvel fans will recognize the name 'The Defenders' as the title of several superhero team comics the company tried to launch over the years with widely varying lineups, beginning with Doctor Strange, The Hulk, and Sub-Mariner in 1971. The one common thread over the years was that they were all loner types, reluctant to join a superhero team, but banding together out of necessity (thus obviating the reason they weren't part of the Avengers).

It's this thematic element behind the group's founding that the show The Defenders taps into more than any lineup similarity, although it bears mentioning that both Iron Fist and Power Man (Luke Cage) had tenures in past incarnations of the comics.

In this case, the four team members are Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil, and their common foe is the villainous organization known as The Hand. Also obvious to anyone familiar with the comics (minor spoiler for those who aren't), they plan to resurrect Elektra and make her their assassin.

It seems like The Defenders was conceived sometime after the success of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, first seasons, but certainly before Iron Fist's inaugural season, as the events of the shows Luke Cage (to a lesser degree), and Iron Fist (to a greater degree) lead right into season one of The Defenders.

With so many heroes and co-stars vying for screen time, Marvel wisely avoided getting bogged down in the weeds by focusing on the action and keeping the series to a mere eight episodes. This doesn't mean that Foggy, Karen, Trish, Misty, Claire, and Colleen don't all have their parts to play - but the show mainly belongs to The Defenders themselves, and sticks to the action, or as Jessica Jones describes it, "one big kung-fu party".

While The Defenders first season isn't better than the first season of any of its individual characters, except Iron Fist, which it feels like an extension of, if you like the rest, chances are you're going to like this.

**** out of *****