Savage Avengers Vs. Defenders Memes

Outside of the Adam West Batman vs. the Christian Bale Batman, it is hard to imagine a greater difference in approaches for two groups of superheroes from the same comic book company as how Marvel Studios handles its film and television properties. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is bright, filled with colorful costumes and meant for the whole family. Marvel Netflix is dark, has very few costumed characters and is very much not meant for anyone who isn't at least a freshman in high school.

The centerpieces of these two media universes are their respective collective superhero teams, the Avengers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Defenders of the Marvel Netflix Universe. Whenever you have two things that people can realistically contrast with each other, you are bound to end up with some memes pitting them one against the other. Here, then, are 15 memes revolving around the idea of Avengers vs. Defenders!

15 YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT TO BE SEATED

One of the best sequences in the Defenders is right after the heroes have all met each other for the first time (most of them had met each other individually, but not all together) when they had each found themselves in the Hand's office building. After narrowly escaping, the four heroes made their way to a local restaurant where they took the time to regroup. Danny Rand then uses his corporate card to cover any costs that the restaurant owner might have when the bad guys show up.

However, another famous scene in a restaurant occurred at the end of the first Avengers movie, where the team all went out to get shawarma together to celebrate their successful defense of New York City. In this meme, the Defenders arrive at their restaurant to learn that their table has been taken by the Avengers. Fight time!

14 LINING UP TO HELP

One of the most obvious disconnects between Marvel's movies and the Netflix TV shows is that, despite both technically being within the same universes, they really don't crossover in any meaningful way. That makes sense for a number of the shows -- like why would the Punisher care what was going on in the Avengers, for instance -- but in the case of Daredevil, it's slightly different. After all, he is the only outright superhero, costume and all, of the Defenders.

Thus, this meme suggests that someone like Daredevil would naturally want to join up where he could do the most good, which would theoretically be with the Avengers. The joke here, of course, is that he's so small potatoes that the only way he can ask to join is by going to the receptionist in the lobby of Avengers Tower (even if Maria Hill wouldn't be that person).

13 WE COULD BE HEROES

On the flip side of the whole "Wouldn't superheroes want to join the Avengers to help save the world?" equation is the whole "the Avengers are going to be battling against Thanos, a super-powerful alien who wants to destroy all life in the universe" aspect of the situation. When you're the type of team that flies around in specialized Quinjets and travels to far-off galaxies for fun, that makes sense.

However, what if you're a team that travels by subway? Maybe you wouldn't want to get involved in the bigger picture, which is what this meme hilariously suggests. Thus, when Iron Man calls them in for help, they politely deny his request. Maybe the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could help, instead? No one ever seems to want their help.

12 WHO IS THIS PRETTY NEW THING?

When memes first became a thing, it seemed as though it was simple to get one accepted into the public consciousness, as people were so new to the idea that they latched on to new memes with ease. Once the world of memes exploded over the last decade or so, it has become much harder for a new meme to make a lasting impression. There were just too many waiting to knock it out of the public spotlight.

Therefore, it has been shocking just how resilient the "boyfriend looking at another girl while his girlfriend looks at him aghast" meme has been in the public consciousness. It shows no sign of slowing down. Here, the boyfriend is the audience and the shiny new Defenders are the new girl catching his eye while he leaves his longstanding love, the Avengers, behind.

11 IT'S OKAY, GUYS, WE'RE GOOD

As soon as the Marvel Netflix Universe debuted, fans were instantly clamoring to see their favorite TV characters make the crossover to appear in Marvel's films. It's something we've been hearing ever since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted and people wanted to see Daisy Johnson mix it up with the Avengers. However, it certainly picked up when the Marvel Netflix shows started up and fans fell in love with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and more.

So, when Avengers: Infinity War was announced and the cast was revealed to be huge, fans naturally hoped that their TV heroes would make appearances. However, in this amusing meme, the Defenders let the fans know that, it's okay, they have no interest in getting involved in this possibly world-shattering event.

10 IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL CRY I WANT TO

Along the same lines of showing that the Defenders really don't fit in with the same scale of the Avengers films, there is a very popular scene in the first Avengers film where Iron Man draws the main Chitauri ship (which is some sort of giant dragon-esque thing) to the rest of the Avengers. Iron Man notes to the other Avengers that he is "bringing the party to you."

That has influenced a number of memes (especially those that show streamers and birthday hats and stuff like that), but here, it shows the contrast between the world of the Avengers and the world of the Defenders by having Daredevil note that he has no interest in the sort of party that Iron Man is bringing to him. Also, there's the whole "seeing" gag, but we'll leave that one pretty much alone.

9 A MUCH PRETTIER SAMUEL L. JACKSON

In an epic agreement in 2009, Samuel L. Jackson signed a shocking nine picture deal with Marvel to appear as Nick Fury in a variety of Marvel films (while negotiating the deal, he dropped out of Thor while he played hardball with Marvel). This followed Jackson making appearances in the first Marvel Studios films starring Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and Captain America, where he talked about the Avengers Initiative, which came to fruition with 2012's The Avengers.

Meanwhile, Marvel's Netflix shows had their own connecting character, with Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple showing up in all four shows (she became a love interest of both Matt Murdock and Luke Cage). Thus, this meme pretends as though her appearances in those shows were all about her implementing the "Defenders Initiative." Claire does, in fact, end up playing a major role in the Defenders.

8 THAT'S NOT NICE, SPIDEY!

This meme also explores the contrast between the Avengers and Defenders, notably in the way that the Defenders are, in a way, a sort of low rent version of the Avengers. This distinction is shown in this meme by mashing the Defenders into a notable scene in the film, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

In a scene early in the film, Spider-Man is trying to stop some bank robbers, who are all wearing masks of the Avengers on their faces. Spider-Man amusingly acts shocked that these guys are not the real Avengers. Here, though, the twist is that, yes, they are not the real Avengers; they are, in fact, the Defenders. Hey, at least the bank robbers were wearing masks, only one of the Defenders even bothers to wear a mask, despite the creative photoshopping the image above uses on Iron Fist.

7 ANT-MAN GIVES GOOD ADVICE

It's funny, so many of the memes involving the Defenders and the Avengers are about how the threats that the Avengers face are much larger than those that the Defenders do. However, at the end of the Defenders series, the team ends up taking on the Hand and the Hand's evil plan to harvest the bones of a dragon underneath New York City to gain the materials that they need to live forever.

The destruction of the dragon would effectively destroy the entire city, as the city's foundation was built upon the back of the dragon skeleton. That's a pretty large-scale event for such a low-level team and in this meme, Scott Lang from Ant-Man is quoted as noting that even for his problem, it probably made more sense to just call in the Avengers, so he would recommend that the Defenders do the same.

6 EVEN A DEFENDER CAN CRY

When it comes to Daredevil and memes, the easiest joke to make (and thus the most common joke to be used) is making fun of the fact that Daredevil is blind. One of the most popular Defenders memes (that we didn't use here because it doesn't involve the Avengers) is the Defenders all standing, looking at something and Matt Murdock smiling, asking everyone what exactly they are all looking at.

This Avengers vs. Defenders meme plays on the fact that Matt is blind, noting that the reason why Daredevil cannot join the Avengers is because he can't work with Vision. Vision, of course, is the android member of the Avengers and a play on the fact that Matt never works with vision because he cannot see. Ba dump dump.

5 AVOCADOS-AT-LAW

The relationship between Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson was routinely one of the best things about the Daredevil series, and it was a shame that Foggy was not more of a presence in the Defenders (he made his few scenes really count, however). One of their best remembered scenes came in a flashback to when they were graduating from law school and discussing their futures as lawyers. Foggy mistakenly called them "avocados" rather than the Spanish word for attorneys, which is "abogado."

"Avocados-at-Law" became a viral sensation and played into this meme, where Hank Pym goes to Nelson and Murdock for help in freeing Scott Lang from prison and they explain that they're the right men for the job, since they're the best avocados in Hell's Kitchen.

4 THE IRON-Y

In the comic books, Iron Man's original armor was, in fact, made out of iron. In the films, however, his armor was never made out of iron, so how did he get the name? We actually explained the reason why recently and it mostly came down to him liking the way that it sounds.

In this amusing meme, however, Iron Fist takes issue with Iron Man's name. However, like most memes involving Iron Fist, the meme ends with Iron Fist making a fool out of himself, as Iron Man quickly retorts back that it's not like Iron Fist uses his Iron Fist anyways, so who cares if it is accurately named? The meme ends with the basic looks for both characters -- a grumpy Iron Fist and a beaming, self-satisfied Tony Stark.

3 SUPERHERO FASHION ADVICE

One of the recurring pieces of comic relief throughout Luke Cage is the idea that, while Luke Cage does not wear a costume, it still does not mean that he likes getting his outfits all shot up when he fights bad guys. After all, while he is bulletproof, his clothes are not. So Luke is always complaining about his clothes getting ruined due to his superpowers.

However, do you know who the king of getting his clothes ruined due to his superpower? That would be none other than the Incredible Hulk, who typically destroys whatever outfit that Bruce Banner is wearing when he transforms into the Hulk (other than somehow his purple pants stick around). Therefore, this meme notes that the Hulk has no sympathy for Luke Cage's problems.

2 WE ALL KNOW WHAT QUICKSILVER DIDN'T SEE COMING?

One of the most popular memes related to Avengers: Age of Ultron are those that make fun of Quicksilver, namely the fact that he famously has a scene early in the film where he knocks down Hawkeye (back when Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are working as adversaries of the Avengers) and taunts him, saying, "You didn't see that coming?" It's funny, of course, since Quicksilver later gets killed in the film, so there have been lots of "didn't see that coming" joke memes surrounding him not seeing his own death coming.

However, in this instance, the meme extends the joke a bit and now Quicksilver's taunt is directed not at Hawkeye, but at the blind hero, Daredevil. In either instance, to borrow a phrase from Kitty Pryde, "Quicksilver is a jerk!"

1 COULD USE SOME MORE BACK-UP

In Captain America: Civil War, Captain America and Iron Man are at odds over a couple of different matters. Firstly, Iron Man is pushing for all of the Avengers to sign the Sokovia Accords, which basically state that the Avengers are no longer a private organization, but now must follow the direction of the collective governments of the world. Captain America refuses to sign. Meanwhile, Cap and Iron Man are also at odds over Cap's old friend, Bucky, who is wanted for a murder he didn't commit as the Winter Soldier.

So Iron Man corners Captain America and the Winter Soldier with Iron Man's remaining Avengers, but then Cap reveals he has brought back-up. In this meme, it suggests that one of the heroes he brought for back-up was Daredevil, to which Iron Man was quite unimpressed.

Who you do like better, the Avengers or the Defenders? Let us know in the comments section!