Ranking the Members of Netflix's "The Defenders"

Scene from The Defenders
The moment has finally arrived. After five seasons of TV, Netflix's partnership with Marvel has finally produced their TV equivalent of The Avengers. The Defenders is an eight part series that follows street heroes as they fight crime where Captain America and Iron Man refuse to fight. While each series hasn't had long to introduce itself and leave a lasting impression, it's exciting to see a diverse team of heroes join together for what will hopefully be one of the best superhero TV series of the year. In preparation for that series, here's a look at how each of the heroes rank based on each of their series as well as their general appeal as characters. 


1. Jessica Jones

Over the course of one season, Jessica Jones has proven itself to at least be the epitome of what these shows could be. With an interesting villain, the stories of the former superhero-turned-detective focused on a variety of themes related to the struggles of women in the 21st century. It also helps that the dynamic was met with a strong centralized story that explored struggles in the workplace for supporting characters (some of the strongest in this universe) and found ways to be a darker story without being a grimmer one. This is the superhero genre being allowed to be more than hero fighting crime. Jessica Jones at least has the most character to her story, and she's also the most fun to watch. 

2. Daredevil

It's a bit difficult to judge Netflix's first Defender since it has had two wildly different seasons to its credit. At its best, Daredevil was a show that had cool action sequences that dazzled viewers. At its worst, it was exposition and bizarre set-up for a story beyond its control. While it introduced a great supporting cast of Elektra and The Punisher, season two bogs down an interesting character with a nonsense story that never quite gets interesting enough. Still, the first half is strong enough to turn the blind crime fighting lawyer shtick into something that is fun to watch and overall a perfect start to this franchise.

3. Luke Cage

While introduced in Jessica Jones, Luke Cage's main series is a fascinating shift from the other heroes on this list. Along with having a main villain who would go on to win an Oscar (Mahershala Ali), he had among other things the coolest soundtrack and a general fun vibe to the series. Like the other series, the back half of the episodes were a bit dull. However, he still has a cool energy and his status as the bulletproof black man will never get old as long as Mike Colter brings a smooth swagger to his performance. He's already proven that he plays well with Jessica Jones, so who knows what happens when he assembles with the rest of the team.

4. Iron Fist

It's hard to tell if Iron Fist just suffered from bad timing, but its entitled white guy rich protagonist definitely didn't help matters - let alone have his introductory episode be about getting into a building. His series is definitely the weakest of the group, and his skills of being able to punch real hard after finding his chi isn't exactly exciting when compared to Luke Cage. He has a lot to get over if he wants to be more than the black sheep of The Defenders, and part of that is come across as more than the economic stronghold of the group who is able to hook everyone up with a lot of money and gadgets. Otherwise, why would you have him around? 

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