The official trailer for "The Defenders" dropped Wednesday morning, giving viewers their first true taste of what happens when Netflix's four Marvel heroes — Daredevil (Chris Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) — share the small screen.
The footage is as action packed as clips from a Marvel Cinematic Universe series should be and benefits from the gritty-meets-witty house style employed across Netflix's Marvel properties. For example, our heroes get not one, but two snarky tongue-in-cheek introductions.
In the first, an off-screen voice intones, "The devil of Hell's Kitchen. The smart-ass detective. The righteous ex-con. And the kid with the glowing fist. The war for New York is here."
After a pause the voice adds, "So get your shit together."
Iron Fist itemizes further, describing Luke Cage as "bulletproof," Daredevil as a "blind ninja," and Jessica Jones as, "whatever it is you are."
"Classy," responds Ritter with the weathered contempt that made the first season of "Jessica Jones" a dark delight.
Such contempt for poor Danny Rand may reflect an anxiety shared by producers and viewers. "The Defenders" is the home-streaming version of Marvel's "Avengers," films that made a box-office supergroup out of existing successful franchises (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America). With Rand's "Iron Fist" widely regarded as a failure, it's an open secret that Marvel the needs other, more popular characters to carry the series on behalf of Netflix's unloved kung-fu warrior.
We'll have to wait until Aug. 18 to see if this team can breathe life into the "Iron Fist" franchise and defeat the evil Sigourney Weaver — yes, the evil Sigourney Weaver.
Shares