The Defenders The Defenders Discussion Thread (NO SPOILER TAGS NECESSARY!)

[Nathan]

Problem is that Finn only seems to be able to pull off lighthearted goof. His serious side is cringe worthy. Still wish they'd recast.

 

[Iceman]

Problem is that Finn only seems to be able to pull off lighthearted goof. His serious side is cringe worthy. Still wish they'd recast.

There probably was someone out there who could have done better with this character but they have their guy now so I hope they make the best of him. Being able to pull off the lighthearted goof is still an asset and he needs to work (be made to work) on the other side of his game. And I'll give him a chance in a 2nd season free from the clutches of Dr Bucktupus.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Just finished it... It's a mixed bag all around for me. I liked a lot just getting back into the world of Matt, Jessica, Luke and Danny. I thoroughly enjoyed the character interactions but there are issues with it from the get go, biggest being it depends on lots of threads from IF. I mean Kun'Lun is a giant part of DEFENDERS but... We have no experience of it, it's populace or any individuals outside of Rand and Davos. The Hand is intimately tied to it and yet we as the audience have very little information. We haven't been shown it, we've been told about it. That is going to hamstring any story like this. Also I am still in the dark on what the Hand was about other than just seeking "the substance" to continue to live after death. Yet they kept alluding to it being about even more than that but never refined that idea.

That said, again, I liked getting back in the groove with our heroes and I have to say I liked seeing where all the characters were at by the end and I want to see where each of their stories go from here. And the show didn't suffer quite the way LUKE CAGE/IRON FIST did by overall being uninteresting or not compelling. But it was in taking it all in total, some what underwhelming.

 

[Iceman]

The story was tripe and the villain weak (apart from Elektra who was a badass), but those things will change in future seasons of Defenders. Getting these characters together along with their supporting characters was every bit as good as I'd hoped and promises a lot for the future. This is the more important aspect and can be built upon for future seasons. If the story and villain had been great but the characters hadn't worked together it'd be pretty much done now. The MCU has worked with similar strengths and weaknesses (strong hero characters who interact very well together along with weak villains and unmemorable stories).

 

[KevTravels]

"I'm the Immortal Iron Fist" and "Kun Lun" Phrases that should be held to a bare minimum . Each time I hear either, I begin to cringe.


Danny being all brooding in one scene and a naive moron in the next is so inconsistent, as if he's bi-polar.

I don't get how he's the dumbest or naive guy around. As well as everyone else knowing more about him than he does himself. Not very compelling.

 

[Dasher10]

If they want to improve IF2, they should just adapt Immortal Iron Fist #1-16 from Brubaker/Faction.

Introduce Orson Wendell, the Immortal Weapons w/7 cities of heaven, Davos and the IF outfit. Have Colleen, Luke & Misty team up in the end and you've got a helluva 13 episodes.

I'd rather it be Immortal Iron Fist 1-6 and Immortal Iron Fist 16-20.

Immortal Iron Fist 8-14 should be Defenders Season 2.

 

[kguillou]

Just finished it... It's a mixed bag all around for me. I liked a lot just getting back into the world of Matt, Jessica, Luke and Danny. I thoroughly enjoyed the character interactions but there are issues with it from the get go, biggest being it depends on lots of threads from IF. I mean Kun'Lun is a giant part of DEFENDERS but... We have no experience of it, it's populace or any individuals outside of Rand and Davos. The Hand is intimately tied to it and yet we as the audience have very little information. We haven't been shown it, we've been told about it. That is going to hamstring any story like this. Also I am still in the dark on what the Hand was about other than just seeking "the substance" to continue to live after death. Yet they kept alluding to it being about even more than that but never refined that idea.

That said, again, I liked getting back in the groove with our heroes and I have to say I liked seeing where all the characters were at by the end and I want to see where each of their stories go from here. And the show didn't suffer quite the way LUKE CAGE/IRON FIST did by overall being uninteresting or not compelling. But it was in taking it all in total, some what underwhelming.

Dude, you hit the nail on the head. We know NOTHING about K'un L'un. We the audience have only been told stuff about it but we have no investment on what this mystical place is. They absolutely need to fix this in IF season2. We need to see K'un L'un and Danny's training.

 

[Zarex]

Dude, you hit the nail on the head. We know NOTHING about K'un L'un. We the audience have only been told stuff about it but we have no investment on what this mystical place is. They absolutely need to fix this in IF season2. We need to see K'un L'un and Danny's training.

I haven't gotten around to seeing Iron Fist due to the poor reviews and my disappointment with Luke Cage. But watching the Defenders I figured a lot of the action in the solo series took place in K'un L'un, including Danny fighting a dragon onscreen.

 

[Iceman]

"I'm the Immortal Iron Fist" and "Kun Lun" Phrases that should be held to a bare minimum . Each time I hear either, I begin to cringe.


Danny being all brooding in one scene and a naive moron in the next is so inconsistent, as if he's bi-polar.

I don't get how he's the dumbest or naive guy around. As well as everyone else knowing more about him than he does himself. Not very compelling.

It was ok once as a joke but got silly after that.

 

[kguillou]

I feel bad for Finn, he seems like a cool guy and wants to make this work but I truly feel as if he was miscast. They needed someone charming with a naturally infectuous personality to play this character. Oh, and someone who can actually fight too.

 

[DyeLorean]

Just finished it.
Everything around Matt, Jessica and Luke was truly fun to watch, but everything from Iron Fist, the villains, Elektra, The Hand, etc was so boring and cliched and generic, it ultimately brought the season down for me.

 

[samsnee]

Rewatched episode 8. I don't understand why JJ and LC aren't punching these guys harder so they get knocked out and stay down. They are ninjas, not superhuman.

 

[flickchick85]

Just finished it... It's a mixed bag all around for me. I liked a lot just getting back into the world of Matt, Jessica, Luke and Danny. I thoroughly enjoyed the character interactions but there are issues with it from the get go, biggest being it depends on lots of threads from IF. I mean Kun'Lun is a giant part of DEFENDERS but... We have no experience of it, it's populace or any individuals outside of Rand and Davos. The Hand is intimately tied to it and yet we as the audience have very little information. We haven't been shown it, we've been told about it. That is going to hamstring any story like this.

That is a GREAT point about K'un Lun that I hadn't thought about. So basically a lot of the problems here can be traced back to Scott Buck's fear of showing us a goddamn dragon!

Rewatched episode 8. I don't understand why JJ and LC aren't punching these guys harder so they get knocked out and stay down. They are ninjas, not superhuman.

There were a few inconsistencies regarding strength. You'll notice Black Sky!Elektra clearly had super-strength as well...until she had to fight Matt.

 

[DyeLorean]

Yeah, Luke and Jessica's powers are inconsistent. Although I do like when they use their powers in clever ways, like when Luke puts out that fire and squeezes the pipe, or when Matt touches the wall and senses mechanical stuff on the other side. I wish we had more of that.

 

[Elayis]

Punisher has different showrunners. So what happened here has no bearing on the quality of Punisher TV Series. So I wouldn't worry about it.

I realize that, and I hope Steve Lightfoot does a good job as I enjoyed his work on Hannibal. But for me superheroes haven't faired very well on TV. The only show I think is good is Daredevil, and even that one has problems. JJ, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and now Defenders are all heavily flawed, with JJ being the best of that bunch, and that's only because of how good David Tennant was. And the ABC shows are a joke.

I have little confidence in Marvel to get their shows right. It doesn't help that the Netflix model is flawed, with a limited budget and an arbitrary number of episodes, regardless of whether they have enough story to fill all 13.

I'm also not a fan of Tyler Bates (who's composing Punisher), but that's a minor complaint, especially since I didn't like Paesano's work on Daredevil but still enjoyed the show.

 

[writer0327]

Who's the Kevin Feige of the Marvel Netflix universe?

 

[Herolee10]

Who's the Kevin Feige of the Marvel Netflix universe?

Most likely it's Jeph Loeb.

 

[Elayis]

Exactly, a comic book writer whose work I've never enjoyed.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Daredevil Yellow, at least, is a wonderful story. Regardless, he's not writing any of these stories so it's not an apples to apples comparison to his work.

 

[Dark Raven]

I still think Daredevil had the best theme music and title sequence of all the Netflix shows. The Defenders theme tune and title sequence wasn't all that memorable, and more similar to the Iron Fist one. Luke Cage's and Jessica Jones's themes and title sequences were also more interesting than the Defenders.

I'd rate them:

1. Daredevil
2. Luke Cage
3. Jessica Jones
4. The Defenders
5. Iron Fist

 

[SwiftFox]

I feel bad for Finn, he seems like a cool guy and wants to make this work but I truly feel as if he was miscast. They needed someone charming with a naturally infectuous personality to play this character. Oh, and someone who can actually fight too.

To be fair, it's been stated by several Iron Fist cast members that they weren't able to learn their fight sequences until about 15 minutes before they shot the scene. That's not the actor's fault. That's the show runner's fault.

Finn Jones recently said in an interview that Iron Fist season 2 doesn't start filming for 4 months but they are already learning the fight sequences. So I would expect a huge improvement in at least that department.

 

[javonstokess]

To be fair, it's been stated by several Iron Fist cast members that they weren't able to learn their fight sequences until about 15 minutes before they shot the scene. That's not the actor's fault. That's the show runner's fault.

Finn Jones recently said in an interview that Iron Fist season 2 doesn't start filming for 4 months but they are already learning the fight sequences. So I would expect a huge improvement in at least that department.

I thought he was leaps and bounds better in Defenders than IF.

I don't really have a problem with him as Danny Rand. I had more of a problem with the story/direction/fighting in IF. Rand has always been a bit of a cypher in the comics anyway.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah, Luke and Jessica's powers are inconsistent. Although I do like when they use their powers in clever ways, like when Luke puts out that fire and squeezes the pipe, or when Matt touches the wall and senses mechanical stuff on the other side. I wish we had more of that.

Yeah I love those touches and wish we got more of those. JJ really needed to differentiate herself in some way, especially for people coming into the show without having seen her solo show. A couple more jumping scenes would have been nice from her.

 

[Iceman]

I thought he was leaps and bounds better in Defenders than IF.

I don't really have a problem with him as Danny Rand. I had more of a problem with the story/direction/fighting in IF. Rand has always been a bit of a cypher in the comics anyway.

Same here. I mean Finn can certainly improve, especially when he needs to be taken seriously and when talking about lore, but I don't think the actor is a lost cause in the role. And without Buck dragging him down maybe he can start coming into his own in IF S2.

 

[Elayis]

Daredevil Yellow, at least, is a wonderful story. Regardless, he's not writing any of these stories so it's not an apples to apples comparison to his work.

My point was that I don't trust his storytelling abilities, so whatever input he has creatively may be faulty.

As for the themes, my favorite's Jessica Jones, followed by Daredevil and Iron Fist. Luke Cage's is alright, but not very memorable, and Defenders is so simplistic and generic as to almost be offensive (same with its title sequence). Daredevil's titles is probably my favorite; paired with the theme music it might me among my top 20 title sequences in all of TV.