Marvel's The Defenders: 10 Reasons To Be Excited

1. It's Just The Beginning

If you'd been told in 2012 that, in five years time, Marvel would have integrated some of their most mature and violent properties into the MCU through Netflix - spearheaded by Daredevil no less - to critical and commercial acclaim, you'd have laughed. Ugly laughed.

And yet here we are; Matthew Murdock has shaken the memory of his underwhelming 2003 comic book misfire with ease, Iron Fist and Luke Cage - both victims of Hollywood purgatory - are now sharing the screen together and Jessica Jones, a cult-favourite character known for her early 2000s comic book series, is one of the most popular Marvel heroes out there. Things are - for the most part - pretty great.

To compound the revitalising qualities of Marvel's Netflix deal even further, The Punisher - a victim of successive blockbuster failures for decades - is now receiving the most faithful portrayal the character has ever seen, and he's doing it all surrounded by Marvel's other street-level characters. It's totally surreal, but no less fantastic, and only reminds us that the best is yet to come when it comes to the MCU's TV spin-offs.

As for now, well, we've got The Defenders to look forward to of course! And while it does of course look spectacular, it's promising bigger things than Marvel's other Netflix shows. We're entering a whole new phase of the street level project, and as Matt, Danny, Luke and Jessica gear up to take down The Hand once and for all, it's clear that they're all (hopefully) going on to bigger and better things. Indeed, don't be surprised if The Defenders plants some pretty hefty seeds for all four heroes to follow; in Daredevil's case, we could even be witnessing the start of a Born Again-style event. Which is terrifying, to say the least.

Adding to that, there are a wealth of characters out there that are just begging for the Netflix treatment, and it wouldn't be surprising to see more of them on the way in the coming months and weeks ahead - especially if these shows continue to hold the critical and commercial reverence so many other comic book adaptations fail to find.

Are you hyped for The Defenders? Or are you firmly tempering your expectations? Let us know in the comments below!