Marvel’s really been getting around lately. With the stellar success of Age of Ultron, Ant-man and Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has been raking in the cash and praise from all cylinders. However, Marvel seems to have adopted an interest in the smaller scale as of November, when they announced a Mini-Avengers of sorts with previous business partner Netflix.
The plan is simple: Take the lesser known characters of Marvel’s superhero roster and give them each a unique series that will ultimately end with all of said heroes meeting in a conjoined series.
The results so far? Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
Daredevil was a sort of water testing series for Marvel. Yes, Marvel’s success with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. predates Daredevil, but this was Marvel’s first foray into MA television. Marvel had never made an MA anything before because they feared it would tank without the younger demographic (and they are owned by Disney). Luckily, both Daredevil and Jessica Jones were smash hits for the Marvflix compact and paved the way for more.
It’s rather nice to see B-list superheroes getting adaptations.
Two series, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, are in production (though the former has fallen into production purgatory) along with a third season of Daredevil and a sequel season for Jessica Jones. This all culminated in the announcement of The Defenders and its estimated arrival sometime between late 2017 and mid 2018.
So, why should you care about something that’s that far off? Well, do you like Daredevil and Jessica Jones? If yes, then over the span of the next two-ish years, you’re going to get two more Marvel series by the same people, more Daredevil and Jessica Jones and a series where all the plot threads intertwine and all of the heroes team up.
In my opinion, aside from their awful first episodes, Daredevil and Jessica Jones are solid shows and Netflix having more like them is an all-around good thing. It’s rather nice to see B-list superheroes getting adaptations that aren’t boring trash (cough, cough, cough, The Fantastic Four, cough, ahem). I wish The Defenders the best and can’t wait to see what they do with it. Who knows? Maybe The Defenders will kick-start the careers of other less notable Marvel heroes and it’ll snowball.
Maybe DC will team up with Hulu and make a dark and gritty Aquaman?
(Image is official publicity material from Netflix.)
TV Talk is a regular television column written by Robert Pulford, Current Staff.
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