WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel’s The Defenders, available now on Netflix.


Marvel's The Defenders delivered all the drama and action of Daredevil, while wrapping up (and improving!) major story beats from Iron Fist and minor ones from the Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. The heroes assembled under the watchful yet untrustworthy eye of Stick to save New York City from the threat of the Hand, and in the process, brought to a close the era that began in 2015, and set the stage for Phase 2.

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A lot of threads came together, as we learned the reason Iron Fist was so doggedly pursued by Madame Gao, Bakuto and their organization, the true purpose of Stick's order the Chaste, the significance of the Black Sky (well, sort of), and precisely what was buried beneath Midland Circle. In the end, the Hand was seemingly destroyed, but the landscape for our heroes also shifted, seismically for some.

The Current Defenders

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On The Defenders, the independent-minded heroes come to acknowledge the value in teamwork, and accept their roles as protectors of New York. Unfortunately, it requires Daredevil's apparent sacrifice for Jessica, Luke and Danny to arrive at those realizations.

Certain that part of what Elektra once was remains within the resurrected Black Sky, Matt stays behind to fight, and perhaps save, her, all the time aware the timer is counting down on the explosives planted by Claire Temple and Colleen Wing around Midland Circle. As his newfound allies escape, Matt whispers to Danny to "protect my city," spurring Danny to embrace New York as his home and, in one of the closing scenes of the finale, to take to the darkened rooftops like the Man Without Fear. The Hand now in ruins, Danny's mission has changed (although the search for the mystical city of K'un-Lun and the threat of his best friend-turned-rival Davos loom large).

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But in the final moments of The Defenders, we see that Matt isn't dead and buried beneath tons of rubble (of course), but instead secretly recovering in the care of nuns, in a scene taken from Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli's seminal 1986 storyline "Born Again." It's in that Marvel Comics arc that we may find clues to Daredevil Season 3.

Reunited with Claire, and seemingly reconciled with Jessica Jones following the events of her own series, Luke Cage has already eased back into his role as protector of Harlem; he's even asking questions about the activities of Mariah and Shades, who took over Cottonmouth's criminal empire. Jessica, who's long resisted both the spotlight and the label of hero, reopens Alias Investigations in the final scenes of The Defenders, seemingly acknowledging that she has a role to play in a larger fight.

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Additional Heroes

Introduced in the second season of Daredevil, Frank Castle is now gearing up to wage of war of his own on The Punisher. However, The Defenders also brought together Simone Missick's Misty Knight and Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing, supporting characters from Luke Cage and Iron Fist with their own shared comic book history. Misty, who will be part of the second season of Iron Fist, lost her right arm in the final showdown with Bakuto, setting up the character to gain a bionic replacement, and seemingly moving Marvel Comics fans a step closer to seeing the Daughters of the Dragon on screen.

But the expansive world of Marvel's Netflix dramas has plenty of room for new heroes as well. Shang-Chi, Marvel's Master of Kung-Fu, actually predates Iron Fist, and was wildly popular during the martial-arts craze of the 1970s. No stranger to Danny Rand, the Daughters of the Dragon or the supernatural, he would be a logical addition (at least as a supporting player) to help defend New York and to stomp out whatever remains of the Hand.

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On the darker side, there's Moon Knight, a vigilante with multiple-personality disorder who could enter the fray in a similar violent fashion like The Punisher. His story is also rooted in the supernatural, but what makes him interesting is that his aggressive tendencies are literally out of his control, as opposed to a character flaw. Comics fans have lobbied for a Moon Knight series virtually from the moment Marvel and Netflix announced their television plans, and now would be a perfect time to give them what they want.

And let's not forget that Angela Del Toro was already mentioned on Jessica Jones, planting the seed for the possible debut of Marvel's White Tiger, the martial-arts hero who inherited both her alter ego and the mystical amulets that enhance her physical abilities from her uncle. Her inclusion, on either Jessica Jones or one of the other series, would not only further diversify Marvel's Netflix dramas but also introduce another legacy hero who could stand in comparison, and contrast, to Iron Fist.

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Villains Old & New

The villainous scope has been altered immensely as of The Defenders' season finale with three of the five founders of the Hand -- Alexandra, Sowande and Bakuto -- indisputably dead, Murakami impaled and on the verge of death, and the fan-favorite Madame Gao still standing, but presumably at the bottom of the hole beneath Midland Circle when the building imploded.

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But if Dardevil survived, it's possible that Elektra and Madame Gao did, too. An Elektra resurrected (again), with Gao at her side, and in control of what remains of the Hand, would be a substantial threat, both physically and emotionally, to Matt. However, the organization is in tatters, and requires reinforcement. That could come, at least in part, in the form of Davos, whose envy of Danny Rand festered into hatred, so much that he's shown in the Season 1 finale of Iron Fist plotting against him with Joy Meachum. Davos may be loyal to K'un-Lun (for now, at least), but he's undoubtedly as determined as Gao to return to the ancient city; a common goal, to say nothing of a shared enemy, could go along way to smooth over any differences.

We shouldn't discount Wilson Fisk, however. Although still behind bars in Daredevil's second season, he remains the Kingpin, capable of pulling the strings both inside the prison and in the city beyond its walls. With the Hand either destroyed or severely diminished, there's a void left in New York's criminal underworld for Fisk, and others, to fill. A storyline inspired by "Born Again" could be as much about Matt Murdock reclaiming his life as it is about the Kingpin reclaiming his own. The inclusion of the supervillain Nuke, in the form of police sergeant Will Simpson, on the first season of Jessica Jones only adds to the likelihood that comic book arc will be brought to life on screen, in some form.

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Luke Cage still has Mariah and Shades to contend with, not to mention a potential threat from Diamondback and Dr. Noah Burstein, while Jessica Jones will seemingly struggle with Kilgrave again, only in a new form.

We shouldn't only look to established antagonists, however. Kingpin and Elektra are only two-thirds of the holy trinity of Daredevil's foes; the fan-favorite assassin Bullseye is the missing component, who in the comics not only killed Elektra but also Karen Page. There's also an opening for villains ranging from Paladin and Typhoid Mary to The Hood and Chemistro to make their way to New York City, and into the lives of Marvel's Netflix heroes.

That may very well be thinking too small, though, because just as the first phase of Marvel's Netflix dramas culminated in The Defenders, perhaps Phase 2 will build toward something bigger. Like a loose adaptation of "Shadowland," the 2010 Marvel Comics storyline that saw Daredevil return to Hell's Kitchen, only to become leader of the Hand (or, in this case, what remains of the ancient organization). In the comic event, when the Hand realized Matt Murdock was possessed by the Beast, the demon at the center of their worship (who's only vaguely referred to on The Defenders), Marvel's street-level heroes united, with the help of Kingpin and others, to save Hell's Kitchen. There are certainly thematic parallels between The Defenders and "Shadowland," with not only the city, but Daredevil's soul at stake; in short, the perfect sort of just-bigger-than-street-level threat to cause this disparate band of heroes to unite for a second time.


Streaming now on Netflix, The Defenders stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, Finn Jones as Danny Rand, Elodie Yung as Elektra Natchios, Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra, Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse, Simone Missick as Misty Knight, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, Scott Glenn as Stick, Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker, Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing.