10 Huge What Ifs That Could Have Changed The MCU Forever
9. What If The Netflix Shows Became Canon?
For a while it seemed like the roster of Netflix shows based on the Defenders existed as part of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, given the fleeting but never direct references to events that had happened in the movies.
Once Netflix had canceled their entire slate of Marvel projects, along with the reveal that Disney Plus was set to be established as the official home of the MCU's small screen expansion, Kevin Feige publicly admitted that none of the previous Marvel shows were considered canon anymore, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier set to mark the genuine kick-off point.
This means that the Defenders will inevitably be rebooted at some point in the future, but if Marvel had embraced them as a part of the shared continuity instead, they would have had a handful of ready-made shows with a built-in fanbase at their disposal.
Iron Fist may have been terrible and the Defenders miniseries itself was a letdown, but viewership numbers and the general critical consensus proved that Charlie Cox's Daredevil, Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones, Mike Colter's Iron Fist and Jon Bernthal's Punisher had plenty more to offer.
While there's been rumors that some of them might eventually reprise their roles under the Disney banner, if they'd just been accepted as official canon then the cast, crew and creative teams were all ready to for more adventures.