The response The Defenders got was a mixed one in terms of the success the miniseries has had. But the critics were generally disappointed with the overall story, pacing, and the use of The Hand as villains. Third-Party analysis indicated that the miniseries was the least-viewed of the Marvel Netflix series and had the largest week-over-week drop in viewership of them all even though it was the third-most binge-raced series globally at the time of its release according to Netflix. And now that Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Elizabeth Olsen’s (Scarlet Witch) solo TV series have been announced, the focus has further been shifted from the Defenders and maybe we’ll not get to see them again.
But the ambition Disney has right now is to start their own streaming service in order to challenge their top-rivals Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others. There have been reports of Avengers shows coming up in this also, as the studio currently has funds for this and also it is a good time to launch their own streaming service. With Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) reportedly reprising their respective roles in the series, it hasn’t been told yet that which character’s timeline, this series will take place in.
With increasing rumors about this initiative of Disney, it’s very hard to tell something about Defenders for now. But we should appreciate the idea of bringing Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist all together to fight against one common enemy, the Hand in New York City.
The Showrunner Marco Ramirez has stated his views on the challenge of margining elements from the individual series to craft the tone of the Defenders,
“There’s a recurring theme here with the people who are orphans or people who don’t understand this urge but feel the need to do good and are constantly fighting inner turmoil…we didn’t think about it in terms of how we’ll combine all the tones.”
But with Disney focusing on their own shows maybe it’s time to say goodbye to the Defenders from our sight. Still, it looks quite good to have their individual shows getting on the small screen. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, all are going to have their second season coming respectively with The Punisher also coming with its second one.
The fans don’t seem to be too pleased by this move of stopping Defenders but when they’ll realize and think about the bigger picture then I think they’ll be less displeased. Disney’s plan of getting their own streaming platform is expected to go live next year. With plans of MCU characters getting their own TV spin-offs, the tension into the camps of fans is also about the future of those joint projects between Netflix and Marvel TV. Marvel has revealed that the MCU and Disney films will not be available on Netflix and the change will start with the release of Captain Marvel.
But all the hope isn’t lost yet as Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb has said,
“No, all we’ve seen ever said is that there are no plans right now. It doesn’t mean that it’s off the table and it doesn’t mean that it even has to be with the original characters that were in the first Defenders.”
It has created even more confusion as comments about the new characters coming in the next season is getting all the attention now.
The fans of this series should wait a long while but they have a new series in front of them. But we have to admit that the Defenders had a great viewership. As in October 2017, Netflix revealed,
“The Defenders” was the third-most “Binge Raced” Netflix original series globally, and first in South Korea. Netflix defined “Binge Racers” as viewers who watched the entire series within 24 hours after its release, and that data was accommodated “for time zones and is reflective of a show’s launch within 24 hours of a country’s release.” The company did note in their announcement that the “Binge Racing” ranking had “no relation to overall viewership”.
