Marvel TV Exec Explains Why Its Universe Relies On Daredevil To Work

07/19/2017 07:37 pm EDT

Next month, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will get a team up unlike any other with The Defenders. With three years of the studio's partnership with Netflix culminating in the upcoming miniseries, Marvel Head of Television Jeph Loeb says that it owes a lot to Daredevil.

As Loeb explained to Variety, the initial Marvel and Netflix venture broke ground in a multitude of ways - for both the production company, and the streaming platform that would be hosting it.

"It was a critical show for a lot of reasons — not just that we were on a different platform. Oddly enough, Netflix was a very young network at the time. It's hard to imagine because their growth has been spectacularly high. I remember going in when we first talked to them, and they basically had House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, and Lilyhammer. And all we said was, 'We think we can do better than Lilyhammer.'"

According to Loeb, the success of Daredevil has helped pave the way for the expanded Marvel Television footprint that fans get to experience today.

"The first episode of Daredevil started shooting three years ago. At that time we had Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter on ABC, and that was it. Now we're in some element of pre-, post- or actual production on 14 series that I can talk about. And it just requires that we make sure that there's always someone from Marvel there to help guide the process."

But as Loeb explains, the positive response from Marvel television audiences has been the most rewarding factor.

"We don't tend to think in terms of how well we're doing. We tend to think of how our audience is responding to the stories that we're telling, and at least so far they seem to like what we're doing."

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.

Marvel's The Defenders 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.

Marvel's The Defenders premieres on Netflix on Aug. 18, 2017.

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

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