Marvel’s The Defenders

The Defenders miniseries premiered on the 18th, just two days ago, and already a lot of fans have strong opinions and questions about the future of the Marvel Netflix universe. It picks up directly from where we left each respective Defender; Danny Rand is hunting down members of The Hand with Colleen Wing, Luke Cage is just finishing his time in prison, Jessica Jones is still dealing with the aftermath of her victory against Kilgrave and Matt Murdock continues to lead his ordinary life as a pro-bono lawyer having retired his days as The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. The cinematography alone deserves an award – with its experimental camera angles and continuous exploration of colours relating to each hero intermingling in the credits as they learn and grow from each other. Daredevil’s red silhouette stands beside Jessica’s bold blue – previously briefly flashing Kilgrave purple before snapping back. Danny’s green outline stands in Luke’s larger gold tones dissolving as more crosses are made between them and ending with their four profiles blazing before the title. There’s a slow but satisfying build to the eight-episode arc, pulling in characters organically and playing off the chemistry of the actors more so than the plot – which has been heavily criticised – so I’d like to discuss the interactions between certain paired characters.