Getting four street smart Marvel heroes on screen together in The Defenders took a superhuman behind the scenes effort.
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The Defenders arent the Avengers or the Justice League.
Theyre literal social justice warriors, working to change their neighborhoods, not the world, for the better.
The Defenders are underdogs, and if theres one thing New York City loves, its an underdog.
Other superheroes operate in fictional locales like Metropolis or Gotham, but Marvel heroes have always called NYC home.
This might seem like an overstatement.
After all, star-studded superhero announcements at comic cons are hardly new.
I was definitely not prepared for the wild fan reaction, Ritter recalls via email.
No one could have prepared me for that.
That room went NUTS!
Getting the stars of all four Marvel Netflix shows on a stage for a few minutes is one thing.
Getting them together on-screen is another story.
Jones reflects, It was fun, but…
I was kind of numb to it all because I was just so tired by that point.
After his appearance at NYCC, Jones only had two weeks before he had to begin work onThe Defenders.
(Due to theLuke CageSeason 2 shooting schedule, Colter was unavailable for interviews for this article).
Some of the exciting challenges inDaredevilwere that we were kind of creating Elektra and Frank Castle in that world.
We were casting them.
We were figuring out what their voices sounded like.
[It] was really exciting.
The actors certainly have really good senses of who they were, Ramirez says.
They already exist on their own shows.
Complicating things further as creative work onThe Defenderscommenced was that neither Luke Cage nor Iron Fist had been completed.
Since all of the shows work out of New York City, it allows everyone to remain in touch.
Ramirez describes it as all making stuff from the same DNA.
This consistency seems to be paying off.
Ideally, I feel like were carrying over everybodys stories into the next chapter, Ramirez says.
So this should also feel likeLuke Cageseason 1.5 and Jessica Jones season 1.5 to a certain degree.
By the time we got intoThe Defenders, it was very much an equal playing field, Cox says.
We were all given a similar amount of material, similar storylines.
We got on fantastically well, the four of us.
There was no feeling at any point that any of us are more or less important than the others.
It never felt like Ive been there the longest.
At least, it didnt for me.
The show is in no hurry to bring the team together early on, and thats by design.
Ramirez admits it took a couple of months to figure out the right way to do it.
It really felt like we could use the format as a way to tell the story really organically.
The strong voices of each of the characters presented its own challenges.
Everyones just so unique.
What brings these characters, who might not play well with others, together?
They dont fit into the world.
They feel like freaks of nature.
And theyre ashamed about what theyre doing in many ways, as well as recognizing the importance of it.
And if put to the test, she freaking will.
Which is what I love so much about her.
The highlight ofThe Defendersfor me is working with Krysten Ritter, Cox says.
It was really fun to try exchanging witticisms with Krysten on a regular basis.
And Im pretty sureI havent seen the show yetbut Im pretty sure she wins most of the banters.
Charlie Cox is one of my favorite humans on the planet, Ritter writes via email.
We have similar acting processes and working styles on-set… Thats really the case with all of us in the entire cast.
It was kind of a game of feeling each other out and really earning each others trust.
I love Mike [Colter].
Hes a great guy, Jones says.
I think were kind of blessed that we get on with each other so well.
Luke Cage is from the streets.
And hes trying to do good.
As you might expect, it sounds like they eventually work it out.
And I think the way that Marvel has written the beginning of this friendship, it feels very real.
It feels like it comes from a very genuine place.
Marvel didnt have story specifics in terms of what needed to happen inThe Defenders, he tells me.
This will get more difficult when it comes to Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
Danny Rand and Matthew Murdock have experience with these people, with the Hand, Cox says.
So the story for them is already personal.
ButThe Defendersis the culmination of four shows that pride themselves on keeping their superheroics street level.
We dont fight in the sky on this show, Ramirez assures me.
To a certain degree, sure, it gets a little bit bigger as it opens.
But in terms of spectacle and scale, these are really character-centered shows and really grounded ones.
Even in the first two episodes, you might see those big decisions coming into play.
It really is terrifying.
It should feel really scary.
And it should feel painful, emotionally as well as physically, what these characters go through.
I dont think the shows ever want to glamorize violence.
It wasnt always about special effects, spectacles, and big bombastic fight scenes, Ramirez says.
That felt just as big as something practically big, like cars exploding or stuff getting thrown around.
But Marvel still had their special guest villain to announce.
I myself was like, Holy shit, Ritter recalls, It was totally insane and amazing.
None of those characters are traditional supervillains, and all have some serious acting chops behind them.
Its tricky to even call them villains, Ramirez admits.
He was just this other character who wanted another version of New York.
Weve just always been encouraged [by Netflix] to make [the villains] as complicated as possible.
This is the connection that gave usHouse of Cards.
Theyre not interested in black-and-white villains.
You dont see much of Weavers Alexandra in the first two episodes ofThe Defenders.
The understated performance makes her potential for villainy even more intriguing.
We never expected to get Sigourney Weaver on the line, and much less on-set.
So really, it was one of those dream scenarios.
Of course, the villains of the other shows all have histories that stretch back decades in the comics.
So which world-famous Marvel villain is Weaver playing?
I cant answer that question.
None of that would be possible if the characters werent already so distinctive.
Ramirez grew up reading comics by Jeph Loeb and Joe Quesada.
You have these comic book geniuses who are legends, he says.
So whenever they have notes on how Matt Murdock would do something, I listen real close.
Its really about the characters and who the people are.
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