A Spoiler Free Look At "The Defenders"

The Defenders (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Elodie Yung, Jessica Henwick, Scott Glenn, Simone Missick, Eldon Henson, Wai Ching Ho, Rosario Dawson,

Created by Douglas Petrie & Marco Ramirez

The Story:

The Hand has used the last of their mysterious life restoring energy to resurrect Elektra from the dead. With her leading the charge, their goal is to retrieve the Iron Fist to unlock an ancient door and give The Hand the ultimate power. The downside, opening that door will cause the total destruction of New York City. Looks like the heroes of New York will need to band together and save the day.

Now that is more like it.

8 episodes.

Very little drag to them at all.

Not as much time for redundancy and stalling as the tale needs to be told and finished with far fewer episodes than the Netflix series have previously enjoyed.

And it shows.

The first 2 episodes cut back and forth between Jessica Jones (Ritter), Luke Cage (Colter), Daredevil (Cox) and Iron Fist (Jones) and the members of their supporting cast who will be seen briefly in The Defenders.

I would argue if you've not seen, or didn't care for certain characters, this is the show for you that will give them a chance to shine and change your opinion on them.

The weak link is still Iron Fist, but the show acknowledges that, and actually spotlights that this is kind of the point.

He's still "a kid" in theory. He's learning the ropes as a superhero who has been handed a ton of responsibility in life and realizes he's already failed at just about everything he was born to do.

Everything wraps up fairly nicely and sends the heroes back to their own shows, ready to hit the ground running.

There are also a few surprises and changes for some characters along the way as well.

Finally, once you've completed episode 8, stick around after the credits for a trailer for Marvel's next Netflix Original.

Final Grade: A-