The Defenders

 

Ironically the Patsy Walker character of Hellcat was a member of the original Defenders back in 1977 when the Defenders had its own running comic book series. Hellcat made her debut in issue #44.   The series could be found almost in its entirety in the back-of-the-room comic book bins  in the late 80's to late 90's at normally reduced cost from many of its contemporary titles.  The series was an almost forgotten relic giving away to the boom of the 90's, and the resurgence of comic book properties. Like X-men, Joe Quesada's Marvel Knights which included Punisher & Daredevil, and  Marvel's Ultimate's were all gaining a new generation of audiences.  Fast forward  nearly twenty years later; The Defenders of this era are an entirely different cast of characters but is now regulated to the backstreets of New York. We have four urban heroes united against a common enemy whose power and influence dates back a millennia, reaching across all four corners of the globe. Its bedlam happens to be in the heart of New York where the Defenders will  stand united. Unlike is predecessors of individual series, this season was only 8 episodes long as opposed to the normally slated 13 for Marvel/Netflix  shows. The reasoning can be largely attributed to that the back story is less important as over 52 hours of content and story on all its members was readily available to stream prior to the season's release.

The enemy is the Hand, with special attention on the death and resurrection of the character Elektra, both of whom are Frank Miller creations.  The season's showrunners of Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez have written and created a different story arc for these heroes, peeling back the mystery and origins of the Hand to give a big enough conflict to snare all of them to work together on this one.  The build up of the team up stemmed on the third day of release for season one of Daredevil, when ratings and analytics came in; and Marvel/Netflix green lit season 2 of Daredevil along with a Defenders season.  And a call to casting was sent out immediately for all of its members to get formed.  Fans and its Star Charlie Cox  was amazed of the confidence and forward thinking and planning that went into setting up the Defenders in a course of two short years, giving each member their own season.  To establish this series in the making.  with the pinnacle promotional image of all four in a white hallway battling the Hand, with Elektra entering from the back un-dead walking towards them unaware if she friend or foe.

Patsy Walker,  played by Rachael Taylor has a cameo appearance near the end of the season as she is a side kick to the Jessica Jones Character, and develops her own story fully before that series comes to an end.   In the original 1970's comic the members which had a revolving door of characters were all non-team members like Prince Namor, Hulk, Nighthawk, Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and Silver Surfer, they were based at Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. As the reasoning of their formation was never really made clear, and so it is with that blind circumstance that we have these Defenders unite serendipitously.