Marvel’s The Defenders: New Details of Sigourney Weaver’s Villain Role

There so many big things happening on the movie side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (especially with San Diego Comic-Con 2017 coming next week) that it’s sometimes hard to remember that we’re getting a major MCU event on the small screen in just a few weeks – in the form of Marvel’s The Defenders Netflix crossover event.

Today we have new details on one of the more mysterious aspects of The Defenders: the main villain of the story, played by Sigourney Weaver. In a new interview, Weaver reveals a bit more about her character, Alexandra, who she describes as an “adversary” rather than a villain.

Speaking to EW, The Defenders showrunner Marco Ramirez added more about Alexandra’s character:

“…she’s come up against a lot of different people — armies, mercenaries, devoted religious fanatics and all kinds of different groups — who have tried to take her down, but she’s never met four people who are seemingly just interested in taking care of this one little part of New York. I think she’s actually really charmed by it, and weirdly, because they’re unlike anybody she’s ever faced off against before, it’s intimidating to her.”

He also sated that, “She’s about self-preservation, and self-preservation at all costs… She has the long game in mind, and she isn’t thinking about this chess game, she’s thinking about six chess games in the future… she’s seen a lot of beauty in humanity and in the world, but there are certain things that to her are expendable, and that’s a really dangerous worldview.”

For Weaver, the challenge goes deeper, as the actress has strict standards about how female villains are depicted, stating that, “I try to avoid terms like ‘ice queen’ that are often thrown at women who aren’t completely sympathetic… I encouraged [them] to not think in those terms, because I find them completely meaningless, and to help me understand who I was from a really un-cliché-ed point of view. I think we succeeded in that.”

We’ll learn more about Alexandra when The Defenders premieres on Netflix on August 18th. Stay tuned for more Defenders updates during San Diego Comic-Con, which runs from July 20 – 23rd.

MORE DEFENDERS NEWS:

• Finn Jones Discusses Danny Rand’s Character Growth Throughout The Defenders
• Madame Gao Confirmed For The Defenders
• Marvel’s Defenders Takes Place Over A Very Short Period Of Time
• Marvel And Netflix Release A New Look At The Defenders

Marvel’s The Defenders is the miniseries that will bring together all of Marvel’s Netflix stars, including Iron Fist(Finn Jones) Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), and Luke Cage (Mike Colter), to protect New York City from its greatest threat yet.

The series is developed by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez. The miniseries will also feature Sigourney Weaver as the villain, Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver), and several recurring guest stars from Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Marvel’s Luke Cage, and Marvel’s Iron Fist, including Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse, Simone Missick as Misty Knight, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, Scott Glenn as Stick, Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker, Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing.