It looks like another superhero squad is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and they are not afraid to fight dirty. This year, Netflix will debut The Defenders, a long-awaited series that will see Daredevil team up with vigilantes like Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. The past week has been filled with updates and first-look photos of the series, so fans have been keen to examine the pictures for whatever secrets they may possess.
UP NEXT: Marvel Head Of TV On How Defenders Will Connect To Marvel Movies
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And, of course, it didn’t take fans to find one particularly clever nod to Marvel’s comics.
In a photos released by Entertainment Weekly, fans are shown the Defenders all assembled in style as they lounge on the back of a truck. Characters like Matthew Murdock and Jessica Jones look particularly threatening while Luke and Danny Rand rest to the side. But, if you look up, there is a cool easter egg that you might have missed.
The truck is marked with a fleet number that differentiates it from its fellow vehicles, and its designated number is 616. Of course, Marvel fans will be familiar with the digits. When it comes to comic books, Marvel stories take place in a fictional multiverse, and Earth-616 is the most popular timeline for continuity. The term, which was first Dave Thorpe via Alan Moore, is often used to differentiate whether a comic book storyline takes place in the on-going continuity or an alternate universe such as the Ultimate Universe.
Netflix’s The Defenders will also connect to the overarching MCU thanks to the studio’s insistence on continuity. Recently, Jeph Loeb told Entertainment Weekly that the show relies heavily on the pre-established world fleshed out in movies like Iron Man and The Avengers.
“I don’t know that you’d be asking this question if we were a medical show or a law show or a cop show. I think the other part that separates us from, let’s just say, our distinguished competition is that we take place in a very real, grounded world. We’ve always said that there is a fifth Defender, and that is New York,” he explained.
“If the story warrants it, we will obviously do our best to have folks cross into each other’s story lines.โฆWe certainly communicate with each other in terms of what we’re doing and what we have planned and the characters that we’re using and where it’s all going.”
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Finn Jones will debut as Danny Rand in Marvel’s Iron First, coming to Netflix in March 2017. Marvel’s The Defenders will debut on Netflix later in 2017.