‘The Defenders’ Season 2 Is Finally Happening, but There’s a Catch

At long last, Marvel Studios is finally paying off a set-up from 2017, but after almost a decade it’s clear that The Defenders reunion fans wanted is going to look very different than they were expecting. This corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe started off on Netflix, before Marvel was making its own content for its parent company’s streaming service, Disney+. The studio took its time picking up the pieces of the “Defenderverse,” but in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, the whole gang is finally back together. Now the question is where the Defenders fit into this new period in MCU history — especially with the big crossovers coming up.

For those catching up, the Disney+ original series Daredevil: Born Again primarily follows Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, but most of the main characters from The Defenders have now shown up. Season 1 saw the return of Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, who is now entering the MCU on the big screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day later this month. Earlier this year, Season 2 brought the return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, with the addition of Mike Colter as Luke Cage. Now, leaked set photos suggest that Finn Jones will be making his return as Danny Rand — a.k.a. Iron Fist — along with Élodie Yung as Elektra. This means The Defenders will be back at full strength, even if they don’t get top billing.

‘The Defenders’ Is An Odd Cultural Artifact In This Streaming Era

It’s hard to believe that the way our entertainment is produced, distributed, and consumed has changed so much in the last decade, but The Defenders might be the best example of how far we’ve come. Back in 2015, the MCU was the biggest box office juggernaut on the big screen, but it was a novel idea to put that same continuity on TV. Marvel made a deal with Netflix to produce and stream shows that would ostensibly share continuity with the movies, but at the time there was no attempt to intersect the stories. The grounded, gritty Netflix shows would make occasional references to the Avengers’ exploits, but other than that were virtually separate.

Things were so different then that each of the main characters got their own series with a whopping 13 episodes per season before they even crossed over with each other. Since Daredevil got two seasons, that means we spent over 65 hours with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, before we finally got to the 8-episode crossover series. It’s hard to imagine a streamer investing that much time and money into a series now without cashing in on more crossovers and major events, as the current state of the MCU — and streaming in general — clearly show.

Still, the long history of The Defenders is intact as part of the MCU’s canon and it will contribute to the foundation of what’s coming next for the franchise, and for this plucky little team in particular. Fan theories are already trying to pull these characters in various directions to participate in other stories around the multiverse, but for now the best move Marvel can make is simply to get the team back together. Seeing the Defenders all on one screen again will be a triumphant moment both in-world and in real life.

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ May Need Some Spinoffs

As exciting as it is to see Jones and Yung on the set of Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, it is a little heartbreaking to see this whole team falling in behind a de facto frontman. The Defenders are a complex group, and their cooperation is not contingent on an Avengers Tower to unite them. The team has come together in various iterations in each other’s shows before, but for many fans, the reunion won’t be complete until they get a title card.

Hopefully, Marvel Studios has that high on the to-do list, but it’s hard to imagine there will be time. Right now, every storyline in the MCU is coalescing towards Avengers: Doomsday, where the multiverse makes all manner of crossovers possible. Many fans expect to see The Defenders pulled into this madness somehow, but all the moving parts here make it hard to predict. Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 began filming in March of this year, but it has no release date yet. It’s hard to imagine we’ll see that season before Doomsday debuts in December.

There are still other ways the whole team could come back together — Danny Rand could easily be roped into the story of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), for example. With multi-dimensional travel, just about anything is on the table, but the Defenders reunion shouldn’t be rushed or shoehorned into another story as a B-plot. Fans have waited a long time to see these characters back together, and Marvel must make the time to do them justice. Until then, The Defenders and all of their individual series are streaming now on Disney+, along with Daredevil: Born Again.