For those less versed in the Marvel Universe - no, the Defenders weren't originally a street-level group. The character has only recently been associated with the team thanks to 2017's Defenders TV show, while the comics themselves only recently depicted that group that same year.
So, what's the story with the actual Defenders? Well the original group actually have a lot more in common with the Avengers, with the founding members being Doctor Strange, Hulk and Namor. They take on mystical and cosmic threats, something that Murdock only usually tackles on a smaller, ninja-laden scale.
Turns out that Daredevil isn't really that much of a team player. He only briefly joined the New Avengers, and tends to favour brief partnerships over long-running organisations.
Though, given how it's worked out for the character over the years, it's probably safe to say that's a good thing.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
