Rest Easy Defenders, We’ll See You Soon

In a matter of hours, The Defenders will leave Netflix and slip into the ether until their next home is decided. In some markets internationally, the shows will be added to Disney+ wherever Star is also available on the service. Stateside, however, the House of Mouse has yet to unveil plans for where to place the shows. That means that at least temporarily, shows from Daredevil to Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and everything in between will be unable to stream in the United States.

The days of Marvel fans needing to keep up a Netflix subscription to relive the glory days will soon be over. Never mind the fact fans looking to get their Defenders fix will never again need to wake up at three in the morning and binge through 13 episodes to avoid any and all spoilers. It’s the end of an era. The good old days just slowly slipping out of our reach.

Admittedly, this is all rather melodramatic considering the shows will, likely in no time at all, be available to stream either on Hulu or edited in some form on Disney+. Still, let a guy live a little and reminisce about the days of yesteryear.

Despite Marvel Television having far smaller budgets than its film-making counterpart, the outfit still managed to put out quality content every now and then. That budget, by the way, got roughly $55 million per 13 episodes. Considering Marvel Studios’ Disney+ shows like WandaVision and Moon Knight get film budgets for half the time, it’s a wonder anything coherent was sputtered out into the fandom.

But I digress.

These Defenders may not have had film-worthy budgets, but they each had their own sense of charm. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) continually wrestling with his own beliefs, Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) hellbent on vengeance after enduring unspeakable terrors, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) being the most naive person in the Big Apple despite having one of the city’s largest bank accounts. Scrappy characters with hearts ten sizes too big, dealing with what they’ve been given.

They built a fandom within a fandom, shielded off from the rest of superhero cinema in their own little corner of the world. The shows will live on, likely sooner than any of us know. Even then, their removal from Netflix is certainly the end of an era. Godspeed, Defenders—we’ll catch you on the other side.

What characters would you like to see make up the Defenders in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things Marvel!