the defenders

Marvel’s Luke Cage already looms over Harlem in the first Netflix poster, and our third Defender casts and even bigger shadow in the official trailer. After a Comic-Con sneak peek, watch Mike Colter take on Harlem as the hero-for-hire come to life! Did we mention the tiara?

More and more, it seems as if the worlds of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist will bleed into one another for The Defenders, and if you thought Jessica would join up without her best fiend in tow, you’ve got hell to pay. A new post from Jessica Jones star Rachael Taylor makes it seem as if Trish Walker is training to Defend herself in a big way.

For as long and Marvel and Netflix have been putting out series, we’ve had to wonder about release strategy. Two per year has remained the norm; first Daredevil and Jessica Jones in 2015, then Daredevil Season 2 and Luke Cage in 2016, and with Marvel now confirming renewal for the former, as well a Punisher spinoff, it seems all else will wait until after The Defenders.

Marvel’s Netflix Luke Cage may not have led Netflix’s Defenders, but the hero-for-hire certainly broke new ground in taking the series to eager fans at Comic-Con 2016. We already caught the first trailer, but what major details did Harlem’s newest hero reveal from the assembled cast in San Diego? Our full panel report!

As with Daredevil himself, Jon Bertnthal’s Frank Castle didn’t properly adopt the mantle of The Punisher until late in Season 2, but might the character change his ways in time for the confirmed spinoff? Bernthal himself says the Frank Castle we followed through Daredevil was very much not “The Punisher” as fans know him, though that could certainly change.

Kevin Smith seems to have embraced his new role as a TV director, already returning to The Flash with an eye toward Buckaroo Banzai and a Mallrats TV series, but the comic icon now wants to capitalize on his own Daredevil history. Could Smith end up directing an episode of Marvel’s Netflix Defenders, or Daredevil Season 3?

Marvel’s Netflix schedule hasn’t gotten any less confusing with the addition of a Punisher spinoff alongside Defenders team-up filming, but Jessica Jones fans might finally have something to look forward to. Krysten Ritter says Season 2 will start production immediately after The Defenders, for which she’s already begun training.

Attention now turning from Civil War to Avengers: Infinity War (or whatever they end up calling it), time and time again Marvel brass have tempered expectations as to whether the climactic MCU event will finally bridge the gulf between movie and TV. Not likely, it seems, as writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely reveal the “nearly impossible” challenge in logistics.

No matter how great the divide between Marvel’s TV and movie universe, fans have always quietly banked on Avengers: Infinity War uniting all its live-action heroes in one universe-shattering showdown. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo don’t want to get your hopes up, however, noting “our focus is on telling the stories of the characters that currently exist on the movie side.”

It didn’t take for the hype of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher to generate talk of his own Daredevil spinoff, though Marvel and Netflix were quick to keep expectations down, even as Season 2 clearly set the character up for his own adventure. Now, Frank Castle’s war journal is officially open, as Marvel confirms a spinoff, showrunner and all.