Marvel’s The Defenders was the small-screen equivalent of The Avengers, mashing our heroes together. But it’s not as popular as everyone thought.
Marvel’s The Defenders brought our four street-fighting superheroes into the same story and pitted them against the same enemy. It took two years and five seasons’ worth of shows to get us to this point.
It was pretty good. I binge-watched them over the course of the first weekend and gave it a solid B. Nothing earthshattering and just a fun way to see these four characters bounce off each other. Fans have had mixed feelings about it, too. I liked it more than my husband, who found it enjoyable but predictable (and was frustrated by Elektra’s inconsistent powers).
We all know that Netflix never reveals any of their viewing data, but third-parties estimate for us. Jumpshot put numbers out there for all of the Marvel Netflix series.
The results don’t paint The Defenders in a good light. Per Variety:
"For the comparison, Jumpshot created an index benchmarking each of the Netflix Marvel series against the top-viewed of the bunch, which was “Daredevil” season 2 in March 2016. Following its Aug. 18 premiere, “The Defenders” clocked in with just 17% of the viewership that “Daredevil” season two received in the first 30 days."
Their article goes on to say that Defenders also had the largest week-over-week viewership drop.
So … why did it not spark as much excitement in fans?
Finn Jones as Danny Rand in “Marvel’s Iron Fist,” photo credit Netflix
It’s easy to point the blame at the preceding Netflix show, Iron Fist, which was one of Marvel’s first big stumbles. I didn’t finish it until the week before Defenders came out. It just wasn’t very good. And if you had to struggle through that to get to this, I’m sure some fans were lost along the way.
Even hosting a big name baddie in Sigourney Weaver didn’t seem to draw people in (though she was one of the bright points in the series). Maybe it’s because the Defenders aren’t as name-brand as the likes of the Avengers?
Or maybe fans don’t necessarily need a giant mash-up of their street-level heroes. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a passing comment or Claire Temple pop in for an episode or two.
There have been no comments from Marvel or Netflix about a second season of The Defenders, but the finale set up both a team-up of Danny Rand/Luke Cage and Misty Knight/Colleen Wing (Daughters of the Dragon) that would make for fun series on their own.
Next: Dave Gibbons interview: The appeal of the Kingsman
In the meantime, we have Marvel’s Punisher this year, and season 2 of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage next year as well as TBD dates for season 2 of Iron Fist and season 3 of Daredevil.
So there’s still plenty of Marvel superheroes to look forward to on the small screen.