‘Daredevil’ Showrunner Addresses the Absence of the Defenders and the Punisher

In the new season of Marvel’s Daredevil that just premiered on Netflix, many people assume Matt Murdock is dead when he finally resurfaces to battle Wilson Fisk.

The series takes place after the events of The Defenders, in which Daredevil made friends with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. It’s also after the events of The Punisher, when Frank Castle commits to rid New York City of criminal activity. So where are these characters when Daredevil restarts his fight against the Kingpin?

Warning: Spoilers for Daredevil Season 3, but you should know that by now…

ComicBook.com caught up with Daredevil showrunner Erik Oleson who addressed the story reasons of why Murdock decided not to recruit his fellow allies to take on Wilson Fisk.

“Well, there’s a number of reasons,” Oleson began. “There’s the story reason of that Matt feels that it is his responsibility that Fisk’s release in large part is on him for not having taken care of it the first time around, or the second time around. And so Matt Murdock is determined to right the wrongs that he himself set in motion.

“He also, in a kind of a spiritual way, feels like God is speaking to him and is putting in front of him a raison d’etre, a reason to keep going and to keep existing after his heartbreaking life turn at the end of Defenders, where he walked out of the building, Elektra did not. And in episode one of this season, Matt essentially attempts suicide by thug. So he has spiritual and emotional reasons for why he doesn’t call in the Defenders.”

Aside from Murdock’s own personal issues, there’s a big issue of how feasible it is to get all of aligning all those actors schedules, if it’s financially feasible, and many other issues that fans don’t always take into consideration. But Oleson admitted that it would cut through the tension of the narrative he wanted to tell.

“Then there’s the kind of meta writerly reason why I didn’t want to do that, and if one of the basic rules of great drama writing is that your protagonist must be out gunned by the agonist or else there’s no dramatic tension,” Oleson said. “If Matt can simply call Luke Cage and Jessica Jones and Danny Rand to come in and beat these other villains, your dramatic structure is lopsided. It becomes boring. It’s like suddenly the heroes have all the power and the villain is outgunned, and that becomes a major impediment to telling a great story. So that’s the other reason we did it, truthfully.”

So even though the Defenders do not show up in Daredevil Season 3, it’s probably for the best. The series is receiving tons of praise from fans and critics, with some calling it the best Marvel series on Netflix yet.

You can judge for yourself by watching the new season, now available on Netflix.