The Defenders

Marvel's The Defenders, or simply The Defenders, is an American web television miniseries created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez for Netflix. It is based on the Marvel Comics characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, who form the eponymous superhero team. Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it shares continuity with the films of the franchise and is a crossover event for a series of interconnected shows from Marvel and Netflix. The miniseries is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, Nine and a Half Fingers, Inc., and Goddard Textiles, with Ramirez serving as showrunner.

Plot
Set a few months after the events of the second season of Daredevil, and a month after the events of Iron Fist, the vigilantes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist team up in New York City to fight a common enemy: The Hand.

Main

 * Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil:  A blind pro-bono lawyer in Hell's Kitchen, with his remaining senses enhanced, who is secretly a vigilante.[4][5] Cox felt the second season of Daredevil, in which Murdock fought alongside Elektra Natchios and the Punisher, prepared the character to accept help in The Defenders,[6] and that moving into the miniseries the death of Natchios would be weighing heavily on Murdock.[1] Ramirez likened Murdock and Natchios' relationship to a more overtly sexual version of Edward Norton and Brad Pitt's characters in Fight Club (1999), with Natchios being Murdock's "burden to deal with" after she is resurrected.[7] Cox felt that Murdock and Jessica Jones would have a "fiery relationship" in the series since both characters are "quite opinionated and quite stubborn".[8]
 * Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones:  A private investigator suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who runs her own agency, Alias Investigations.[9][5] Ritter felt it would be interesting to see what forces Jones to team up with the other heroes, since "she doesn't want to be a superhero. She doesn't want anything to do with that."[10] She added that at the start of the series, Jones is still dealing with the aftermath of killing Kilgrave at the end of the first season of Jessica Jones, and has not adjusted to the increase in the number of people wanting to hire her since then. Showrunner Marco Ramirez noted that Jones would struggle with letting "three men into her life who she doesn't 100 percent trust". Ritter said that Jones and Murdock would have a "cat and mouse" dynamic.[11]
 * Mike Colter as Luke Cage:  A former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin who now fights crime in Harlem.[12][5] Colter felt that none of the Defenders seemed like they would want to be in a superhero group together, and said that Cage specifically is "in his own world".[13] He added that Cage's imprisonment at the end of the first season of Luke Cage would be dealt with at the beginning of the miniseries, taking away a "big burden to bear ... Now that that's out of the way, I think we can give him a different approach to life." Colter said Cage would act as "the conciliator" for the group as well as a mentor to Danny Rand; pairing Rand with Cage is a homage to the Heroes for Hire comics, which Colter thought was cool and had a "wisdom-versus-youth quality".[14]
 * Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist:  A billionaire Buddhist monk, co-CEO of Rand Enterprises, and martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the mystical power of the Iron Fist.[3][15][5] Jones said Rand is the driving force of the group as he "knows how serious this situation is".[8] Jones felt the combination of the first season of Iron Fist and The Defenders formed "the complete first season of Danny's journey", with the latter seeing him become untrusting due to the events of the former.[16] Rand is influenced by the other Defenders, who are older than him and are examples of heroes who "manage to keep their shit together".[17] In particular, Colter said Rand has "an exuberance ... that Luke Cage wants to temper a bit".[14] Rand is picked on by the other Defenders, which some viewers saw as an acknowledgment of the poor reception that the first season of Iron Fist received. However, Ramirez said that season had not been released when they were making The Defenders, and that dynamic was how they naturally felt his character would be treated.[7]
 * Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse: Jones' neighbor and assistant at Alias Investigations.[18]
 * Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson: Murdock's close friend and former law partner who now works with Jeri Hogarth.[19]
 * Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing: A former member of the Hand, Rand's lover, and the owner of a New York City dojo.[20]
 * Simone Missick as Misty Knight: A Harlem police detective part of a citywide task force who is Cage's ally.[21][22]
 * Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto: One of the five "fingers" of the Hand, and Wing's former sensei.[23]
 * Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker: Jones' adoptive sister and best friend who hosts her own radio talk show.[24]
 * Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page: Murdock's close friend and former secretary, and a burgeoning newspaper reporter.[25]
 * Élodie Yung as Elektra Natchios:  A mysterious and dangerous woman from Murdock's past, who is the Black Sky, a weapon of the Hand.[26] Executive producer Jeph Loeb had wanted to adapt the storyline featuring Natchios' resurrection from the comics, with Ramirez commenting that "once we got to where we got organically" with the character's death at the end of the second season of Daredevil, it "was pretty clear" that her resurrection would be featured in The Defenders.[7] Yung called Natchios "an amnesiac [who] doesn't remember who she is or anything about her past life", with the question being how much of the original character remains following Alexandra's training. Sigourney Weaver, who portrays Alexandra, found the relationship between the characters to be "unusual".[27]
 * Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple: A former nurse who gives medical aid to vigilantes.[24]
 * Scott Glenn as Stick: Murdock's mentor and leader of the Chaste who wages a war against the Hand.[24]
 * Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra:  One of the five "fingers" of the Hand and its leader.[28] Weaver called the character "really smart", "very in charge",[29][30] and more of an adversary than a villain.[31] Ramirez described her as "a survivor" and "a very powerful force in New York City",[31][32] adding, "She's everything Sigourney is: sophisticated, intellectual, dangerous"; the antagonist of the series had to be "something massive to pull these four [hero] characters from their individual worlds to work together".[32] Alexandra is "charmed" by the four heroes teaming up against her, having "never met four people who are seemingly just interested in taking care of this one little part of New York ... they're unlike anybody she's ever faced off against before". Weaver worked with the writers to avoid a cliché portrayal, specifically "terms like 'ice queen' that are often thrown at women who aren't completely sympathetic".[31] It was important to Ramirez and Weaver to introduce Alexandra sympathetically.[33] The character is ultimately a supporting player for Natchios' overall story, with Ramirez saying that "we wrote a really fun cool character for Sigourney but really it was also a way for us to say this is the journey that Elektra is going on".[7]

Recurring

 * Wai Ching Ho as Gao: One of the five "fingers" of the Hand.[34]
 * J. Mallory McCree as Cole Miller: A young man from Harlem who gets involved with the Hand.[35]
 * Michelle Federer as Michelle Raymond: A woman who approaches Jones about her missing husband.[36]
 * Chloe Levine as Lexi Raymond: The daughter of John and Michelle Raymond.[36]
 * Babs Olusanmokun as Sowande: One of the five "fingers" of the Hand, who hires Harlem teenagers.[23]
 * Ron Simons as Strieber: Knight's police captain.[37]
 * Yutaka Takeuchi as Murakami: One of the five "fingers" of the Hand.[23]

Guest

 * Peter McRobbie as Paul Lantom: A Catholic priest and confidante for Murdock.[38]
 * Debbi Morgan as Delores Miller: Cole's mother.[39]
 * Marko Zaror as Shaft: A member of the Chaste.[40]
 * Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth: A lawyer and ally of Jones and Rand.[19]
 * Rob Morgan as Turk Barrett: A low-level criminal who crosses paths with Daredevil and Luke Cage.[41]
 * Amy Rutberg as Marci Stahl: Nelson's girlfriend and fellow lawyer.[42]
 * Susan Varon as Josie: Owner of a bar frequented by Nelson and Murdock.[43]
 * Alex Moggridge as John Raymond: An architect who gets involved with the Hand, and is investigated by Jones and Murdock.[36]
 * Nichole Yannetty as Nicole: An intern at Walker's talk show.[44]

Episodes
Main article: The Defenders (Episode Guide)

Seasons

 * Season 1 (2017)