Defenders Unite August 18th

[Vic Vega]

I thought they did a decent job redeeming Danny Rand as Iron Fist.* He was better here than in his own series.* It showed he can be redeemed as a character if they want to have a second solo series.* I like that they did a good job with the Luke/Danny bromance scenes from the comics.* I hope they try and keep that up in their individual series.

Iron Fist Season 2 should be used as a Daughters of the Dragon platform I feel like. Danny works best as seen in this season when he is paired with grown ups. They need to continue to write out that petulant child part of him and speed up him growing into a character that can be seen as an adult. I think it is telling that of all the sidekicks in all the solo series Colleen probably got the most spotlight here other than perhaps Misty getting her setup at the end. Colleen was the highlight of IF also for me until her and Danny hooked up and she became too supporting.

Hopefully this is the end of the Hand for all Marvel TV shows now. They need to move on and bring in other villains. They relied on the hand for Daredevil, IF and the Defenders now. And this is a good closing point.

The Danny Rand of the comics was a vengeance driven stoic until he finally got his hands of his Father's murderer and met Luke Cage in that order. It's at point he became the more cheerful dude we are all familiar with.

Netflix Danny has to go thru Iron Fist S1 and The Defenders S1 to get to that same point in his character's development except Netflix Danny
was too utterly traumatized to be an effective stoic(which both Iron Fist and Defenders lampshaded).

We do see flashes of comic Danny at the Chinese Restaurant (and anytime he interacts with Cage after that).

The Danny we get after this should be a lot more mellower.

[Midvillian1322]

Going forward how do they not pop up in each other shows? I mean if Matt goes home he has to run into danny given how the show ends.

[Cyke]

Oh Danny. There's a difference between a well-written character who's meant to be terrible, and a character who's terrible because he was badly written. I feel like the latter was Iron Fist, but the former was Defenders. But the key there was that the Defenders, among others, were an ensemble that could continually call out Danny on his terribleness. And in that regard I thought he was handled well, and definitely better than his own show.

(LOL @ Finn Jones for blaming criticism of his show on fans' "dislike" of rich heroes in the age of Trump. That doesn't explain the popularity of Batman, Iron Man, or his near doppelganger Oliver Queen.)

With that said, I love-love-love how Cage tore him a new one about race and class.

Ahem, sour grapes aside, I thought the show started off kind of slow but did a good job ramping everything up. I'm a little displeased that Gao was so subservient -- even if it was part of a bigger plan -- but she had her most material ever in the show, and she likely had more screen time than many of the credited main cast members.

Unlike many team-ups, did anyone notice that Jessica seems to have gotten a powerup? In her show, while she was super-strong she was having trouble moving cars, but in this one she effortlessly yanked Trish's car off of chains and easily shoved an SUV into the restaurant. I still love that she's a shitty fighter and that the writing just flat out acknowledges it, though. Though, even if she's a shitty fighter, she's quite good with team up attacks, and on at least 3 occasions she was the finisher.

The series felt like Daredevil and Iron Fist guest starring Luke and Jessica, but that's okay since the latter two didn't really have big major global conspiracies, and everyone had plenty to do. Still, the story was primarily Matt and Danny's, with Luke and Jessica as the muscle backup.

I'd really love it if RDJ made a cameo in Iron Fist season 2 for Misty's cybernetic arm. Of course, the arm could just be from Stark Industries (Rand's wealth and connections make that an easy sell).

I also very much appreciate that many of the supporting characters had their own agency as well. Foggy with the suit, and obviously Misty, Claire, and Colleen weren't going to sit on the sidelines.

Jessica's skepticism is consistent with her character. But I've a hard time believing that from Luke and Matt, though. Maybe Luke because his powers were from technology, but Matt was already surrounded by mysticism, so there's no need for him to doubt the Iron Fist. For that matter, Jessica, Luke, and Matt all lived through the Chitauri invasion, what with the giant portal in the sky and clear confirmation of the existence of aliens.

The Hand was pretty disappointing, though. This big major threat with connections everywhere, even implied to infiltrate Trish's radio show, and their impossibly old figureheads include a guy running cleanup duties (Sowande), another guy who can fight a bear but can't beat Matt (Murakami), and a yes-ma'am (Gao, who had the longest presence of them all). Plus, they don't really have that great of an army, all things considered and implied. The more we learned about them, the more mundane they became. As well, it turns out that they just want to go home. Immortality is nice, but home is more of a priority for them -- surely the Chaste or Kunlun could have worked out a deal that would cease all hostilities if they just let them in.

Lastly, Alexandra's boardroom henchmen, if played straight to cover their tails, must be the wealthiest, most well-educated, most expensive expendable mooks in fiction. As Murakami and the others like to point out, Alexandra's not exactly the best at resource management. "I graduated from Harvard with an MBA and run a fortune 100 company -- to get punched in the face by a raging alcoholic?" Reconsider your five-year plan, buddy.

Anyway, I like the show more than Iron Fist and Daredevil season 2. It's probably up there with Cage for me.

[SpiderClops]

O

Unlike many team-ups, did anyone notice that Jessica seems to have gotten a powerup? In her show, while she was super-strong she was having trouble moving cars, but in this one she effortlessly yanked Trish's car off of chains and easily shoved an SUV into the restaurant. I still love that she's a shitty fighter and that the writing just flat out acknowledges it, though. Though, even if she's a shitty fighter, she's quite good with team up attacks, and on at least 3 occasions she was the finisher.

I think the reason for the upgrade might be Luke Cage's solo. I think the creators wanted to establish that Jessica is still the stronger one.

[Cyke]

I think the reason for the upgrade might be Luke Cage's solo. I think the creators wanted to establish that Jessica is still the stronger one.

My head canon says it's part of a manifestation of recovery over Kilgrave (even if she's not totally over it or her PTSD is somehow worse, I like the idea of her strength having some relation to her mental condition. As if she pops a can of beer the way Popeye pops a can of spinach). Of course, that's not confirmed anywhere, but it works for me.

Anyway, I feel like Cage is the stronger/tougher one but Jessica is faster/can jump higher (we've never seen Cage super-jump before, and don't know if he can actually do it)/ but more importantly the team detective. Of course, I've no qualms if she's stronger while Cage is tougher/wiser. What matters more to me in this case is that every one of the four has something different they can bring to the table, i.e Iron Fist has chi but Daredevil has his own superpowers.

[Midvillian1322]

My head canon says it's part of a manifestation of recovery over Kilgrave (even if she's not totally over it or her PTSD is somehow worse, I like the idea of her strength having some relation to her mental condition. As if she pops a can of beer the way Popeye pops a can of spinach). Of course, that's not confirmed anywhere, but it works for me.

Anyway, I feel like Cage is the stronger/tougher one but Jessica is faster/can jump higher (we've never seen Cage super-jump before, and don't know if he can actually do it)/ but more importantly the team detective. Of course, I've no qualms if she's stronger while Cage is tougher/wiser. What matters more to me in this case is that every one of the four has something different they can bring to the table, i.e Iron Fist has chi but Daredevil has his own superpowers.

Yea they seemed impressed with her elevatot feat but i dont think it anything Luke cant do. I still wanna know what happened with him an Tsundae(spelling? White hat) off screen. We just know the end result. I think Luke and Jess were both goven upgrades. Luke was able to shake off punches from IF the same way anyone whos not Luke would shake off a normal punch. I think danny hits harder then a shotgun blast since a shotgun wont send you flying.

[Cyke]

Ugh, yeah, agreed about Sowande (I think). I really wanted to see how Luke Cage managed to capture him, especially since he was using pressure points to bypass Cage's invulnerability. For that matter, shutting off the lights to show Elektra killing a squad of ninjas as her test was disappointing, and it was just like how Daredevil in season 1 beat a room full of machine gun toting mooks -- but from the perspective of a blindfolded kidnap victim.

[Sain]

Seriously I don't even know how they could write them to be together like the comics. Those 2 actors are so far apart from each other personality wise. I couldn't possibly see Misty interested in Danny. I do believe they should have her in Iron fist s2 with Coleen though. They had chemistry in Defenders

I actually agree with all of that. I think Misty and Coleen are gonna become close they kinda made that clear

I'd be ok with the adventures of Misty and Colleen. It's one of those things where they don't see it now, but they could be great friends one day.

[ZoomZolomonZoom]

I'm not gonna lie, this wasn't very good. Not terrible by any means. But not hyped up team up TV show quality we were all expecting. Mostly The Hand was just not an interesting villain and the plot seemed really, empty and devoid of anything truly fun or creative. I know the series was well-like by a lot of fans, but I'm personally not satisfied by it.

[Cyke]

I'm not gonna lie, this wasn't very good. Not terrible by any means. But not hyped up team up TV show quality we were all expecting. Mostly The Hand was just not an interesting villain and the plot seemed really, empty and devoid of anything truly fun or creative. I know the series was well-like by a lot of fans, but I'm personally not satisfied by it.

I liked the series overall, but it was a slow crawl for me. The first two episodes didn't exactly have me glued to the screen.

[tsaimelemoni]

I think the first two episodes were needed, even if they are slower. They serve as a good intro/re-intro, both for new viewers and those who haven't rewatched some of the series. They won't be included in any rewatch, however.

[Midvillian1322]

I think the first two episodes were needed, even if they are slower. They serve as a good intro/re-intro, both for new viewers and those who haven't rewatched some of the series. They won't be included in any rewatch, however.

Yea ima jump into episode 3 when i rewatch

[Cyke]

I think the first two episodes were needed, even if they are slower. They serve as a good intro/re-intro, both for new viewers and those who haven't rewatched some of the series. They won't be included in any rewatch, however.

They're needed, but they could've been handled/written better.

[Mormel]

I gave it a try for 3 episodes, and it just completely failed to grab me. I found myself not caring for any of the characters. Won't be finishing this series.

[daisetsu100]

loved it. i understand why other wouldnt, but i absolutely loved it. i wish we're only going to have more defenders seasons instead of back to single characters again.