The Defenders Will Change Each Character by Series End

Marvel’s latest Netflix offering, The Defenders, is less than a week away and ahead of the premiere showrunner Marco Ramirez is opening up about the challenges of putting together the unlikely heroic team and where the individual characters will end up when it’s all said and done.

With Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist all having their own stories and history, Ramirez told Playboy that keeping everything straight and making sure The Defenders flowed naturally within the timeline of the other shows made the writer’s room look like something straight out of an episode of Showtime’s Homeland.

“There were charts,” said Ramirez. “I mean, I was just popping pills, Claire Danes style, looking at the walls going, ‘This doesn’t make sense!’ It was seriously color coded like, ‘This is where Luke ended. This is where Claire was.’ It was crazy town. I think ultimately, the goal is that in many years, if you want to sit down and watch the whole thing, chronologically, you can.”

And what about after the Defenders’ team up ends and the heroes go back to their own lives (and shows)? At the end of the day, Daredevil still has Hell’s Kitchen to protect while Jessica and Luke will both have their personal demons waiting for them. And Danny will still have to deal with his guilt and anger issues. Ramirez revealed that what happens on The Defenders won’t stay on The Defenders. There will be repercussions for each of the characters that will follow them back home.

“None of us wanted to do the procedural version where they’ll go back into their own shows completely unchanged,” said Ramirez. “The events of Defenders will affect each of them.”

The Defenders premieres on Netflix August 18th.

Marvel’s The Defenders follows Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). A quartet of singular heroes with one common goal – to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who realize they just might be stronger when teamed together.