Last year, Marvel studios took a noticeably different creative direction with the release of "Daredevil" and "Jessica Jones" on Netflix. These weren’t the kind of superheroes that fly around New York City and fight off alien threats to the world. These people do their work in the streets of New York’s slums, fighting against gangsters, corrupt politicians, and rapists. These kinds of things were meant to appeal more to adult viewers, which worked perfectly as these two shows were declared better than anything Marvel had ever released theatrically. With other shows in development leading to a full-out crossover eventually, let’s see what Marvel has coming up.
"Daredevil" Season 2
The first season ended with Daredevil getting his proper costume and defeating the Kingpin. His alter ego Matt Murdock finally has his law firm going right. So what does the man without fear have to deal with this time? Well, Jon Bernthal ("The Walking Dead") plays Frank Castle, The Punisher. A vigilante who prefers to use lethal force in fighting crime instead of just regular force. Also appearing is Elodie Yung as the ninja, Elektra, one of Daredevil’s love interests. While it remains to be seen if either or both of these new additions is the main antagonist, fans should be plenty excited.
Luke Cage
Mike Colter has already appeared as Luke Cage in "Jessica Jones" as a supporting character. He will get his own show later this year that hopefully deals with more minority issues than other Marvel properties have done. So far, the only new major supporting character for that show is Misty Knight, a frequent player in Cage’s comics
Iron Fist
Luke Cage’s partner-for-hire, Iron Fist, has had a hard time getting his show going, given that his backstory is very tonally different from the other Marvel shows. For one thing, Iron Fist is a martial arts character. His powers come from the beating heart of a dragon in a mystical Tibetan city. That doesn’t scream “dark and realistic.” Iron Fist’s stories are a lot fun due to the martial arts action involved and hopefully we do get to see that.
"Jessica Jones" Season 2?
The main story-line of "Jessica Jones" comes from her first main comic, Alias. Given the heavy reliance on that story-line, I have no idea where her story can go next. She does interact plenty with other characters, but that was really her most iconic story arc. It can really go anywhere.
Defenders
This is way down the line; as we don’t yet know how all four of these shows will properly tie together. But fans can be excited about these gritty superheroes coming together to clean up the streets.
