'Luke Cage' Was Much More Popular Than 'Iron Fist' Despite Cancellation

The hardest part about being a hardcore television fan is the inevitable sting of cancellations. Viewers are often left with cliffhangers that are never answered and a lingering frustration that never quite goes away. This feeling was recently felt by Marvel fans everywhere when Netflix announced the cancellation of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

While Netflix is notoriously famous for keeping their viewing numbers under wraps, a recent study by Parrot Analytics, a data science company, informs us that Luke Cage was 46% more popular than Iron Fist despite the show's cancellation.

In a Screen Rant exclusive, Parrot Analytics revealed that Luke Cage not only outranked its sister show, but did extremely well in other countries. According to the report, Luke Cage was "the second most in-demand Marvel TV show in France and Germany." The first being Agents of SHIELD, which we learned is the most popular Marvel show.

While the first season of Iron Fist was universally disliked, many people rallied behind the second season, calling it a massive improvement. However, it wasn't enough to save the show which, according to the new data, was the second-to-least popular Marvel series before The Defenders.

Luke Cage, on the other hand, had a much bigger following, which is probably why cancellation came as a bigger surprise. These new researched numbers are proof that Luke Cage had more legs to stand on, but it still wasn't enough for Netflix.

The second season of Luke Cage ended on a surprising note, with the show's ongoing villain, Mariah Dillard, meeting her demise by the hands of own daughter. This resulted in Luke being left Harlem's Paradise, the hub for criminal activity that plagued him for the entire series run.

The unanswered questions and abrupt cancellations of both Luke Cage and Iron Fist left some fans questioning if this was just a ploy to begin a Heroes for Hire series, but Netflix has given no indication that that's the case.

For the time being, Netflix's other Marvel shows, Jessica Jones and The Punisher, are safe for at least one more season. Jessica's third season and Punisher's second are both expected to drop on Netflix in 2019. Another season of The Defenders, however, is looking incredibly unlikely.

While there's still no word on whether we'll be getting a fourth season of Daredevil, the third season was released last month on Netflix.