Marvel's Netflix television series

**The Defenders Saga**, also called **Street-Level Heroes** and **Marvel Knights**, is a group of Marvel Television series originally released on Netflix, focused on the New York City vigilantes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It began with season one of *Daredevil* and concluded with season two of *The Defenders*.

## Television Series

1. *Daredevil*
	* *Season One* (2014)
	* *Season Two* (2015)
	* *Season Three* (2017)
	* *Season Four* (2018)
2. *Jessica Jones*
	* *Season One* (2014)
	* *Season Two* (2017)
	* *Season Three* (2018)
3. *Luke Cage*
	* *Season One* (2015)
	* *Season Two* (2017)
4. *Iron Fist*
	* *Season One* (2016)
	* *Season Two* (2017)
	* *Season Three* (2018)
5. *The Defenders*
	* *Season One* (2016)
	* *Season Two* (2019)
6. *The Punisher*
	* *Season One* (2016)
	* *Season Two* (2018)

## Development

By October 2012, Marvel Television was preparing four drama series and a miniseries, totaling 60 episodes, to present to video on demand services and cable providers, with Netflix, Amazon, and WGN America expressing interest. In November 2013, Marvel's parent company Disney was set to provide Netflix with live-action series based on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a crossover miniseries based on the Defenders. Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that Disney had chosen Netflix to air the shows when they realized that the audience of the streaming service would provide a way to "grow the popularity of the characters".

Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb later stated that Marvel was not "interested in making four pilots and then hoping someday that they could all get together. Netflix really understood what it is we wanted to do. They're very open to directors that might not have that same opportunity in broadcast television. The notion of having all 13 episodes at one time, particularly in serialized storytelling, is very appealing." Loeb also added that the four characters "lent [themselves] to a world" due to their relationships and shared locale of New York City in the comics but that the individual series would be different form one another because "the characters have different issues, different problems, different feelings about them". Loeb gave as an example the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* and *Guardians of the Galaxy*, on which he said, "I cannot think of two films that are more different in tone" than them, and yet "they feel very Marvel ... like, 'Oh, it is still the same universe that I'm in.'" Despite being branded as "Netflix Originals", the series were licensed to Netflix from Disney.

The deal between Marvel and Netflix to produce several interconnected series was announced in November 2012, with the individual series *Daredevil* (2014–2018), *Jessica Jones* (2014–2018), *Luke Cage* (2015–2017), and *Iron Fist* (2016–2018) culminating in the crossover miniseries *The Defenders* (2017-2019). A spin-off from *Daredevil*, *The Punisher* (2016–2018), was ordered in April 2015. The series were all filmed in New York State, forming the state's largest television production commitment across 161 episodes.

Marvel's Joe Quesada confirmed in April 2013 that the Netflix series would be set within the MCU. Loeb explained that "within the Marvel universe there are thousands of heroes of all shapes and sizes, but the Avengers are here to save the universe and Daredevil is here to save the neighborhood ... It does take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's all connected. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we would look up in the sky and see [Iron Man]. It's just a different part of New York that we have not yet seen in the Marvel movies." In January 2014, Netflix COO Ted Sarandos said Netflix planned to release a Marvel series approximately a year apart from each other after *Daredevil*'s April 2014 release. A year later, Sarandos noted that the release schedules of the Marvel Netflix series are dependent on the "long production times and long post times. In some cases, when we have characters crossover, it makes it more difficult to manage production. It's not the goal to put out more than one or two [each] year ... The complex one is really *The Defenders*. *The Defenders*' production schedule will determine a lot of the season 2 and 3 output of those shows." He also noted on potential spin-offs that "all the characters in the universe could also spin out" into their own series at some point, with Netflix ordering *The Punisher*, a spin-off from *Daredevil*, in April 2016.

## Potential projects

Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos stated in January 2015 that "all the characters in the universe" could receive their own spin-off series, and that July he added that Netflix was open to exploring the MCU beyond the *Defenders* series, including potential crossovers with ABC's Marvel series. Netflix vice president of original content Cindy Holland reiterated in July 2017 that there were always ongoing discussions regarding creating more spin-offs for characters from their Marvel series. That September, Loeb stated that he would like to make a Daughters of the Dragon series for Netflix, featuring Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing and Simone Missick's Misty Knight.

## Future

After Marvel Studios took control of the MCU's television series, they decided to bring back several characters from the Netflix shows, with *Daredevil* getting a fifth season, and a sequel TV series *Heroes for Hire*, marking the return of Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones. Several characters have also appeared in different main MCU movies.