Marvel's The Defenders Review: 5 Ups And 7 Downs

2. The Hand

If there is one fatal flaw made in Netflix's Marvel Universe, then it's investing so much into the Hand.

First in Daredevil Season 2, then Iron Fist, and now here, the shadowy, ridiculously-named organisation has had New York in its clutches, and not once has it been an entertaining aspect of any of them.

In theory, the Hand should work: they're a ninja death cult, for f**k's sake. But their fights have been terribly inconsistent in how easy or difficult they are to deal with, their power structure constantly changing and featuring characters it's hard to invest in at all (Madame Gao is the only one who comes close to succeeding, and apparently she's developed Force powers now), and their motivations a complete muddle to the point where they're just a complete bore (again, ninja death cult).

If there's one excellent point to come out of The Defenders, it's that this universe moving forward should be Hand-free.