Your humble MS-QOTD was born in the far-off year 1970, but unlike my peers and cousins, never got into comics during that decade. When I started collecting, though, I soon discovered that the back issue outlets I had access to were chockful of 70s ephemera and my childhood fave-rave had to be The Defenders; a dysfunctional group of mostly RIDICULOUSLY POWERFUL characters held together by a need for companionship and some bad interpersonal skills. The Valkyrie was a lost goddess with memory issues; Hellcat a show-off who worried no one would ever love her real self; Namor a headstrong nobleman with major trust issues. Add in the literal Son Of Satan, the world’s most powerful sorcerer, the always-lovable rage-dynamo known as the Hulk, a 100-year-old man trapped in the body of an immortal Gargoyle, and you had a stew with a little something for everyone (as long as you didn’t mind the metaphorical tuna in your marmalade.) With Marvel building a Defenders team out of their Netflix stories (Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones), the non-team is back in the spotlight in the modern age, which leads us to today’s non-query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) loves all the characters Marvel is bringing to TV, even Daredevil in certain incarnations, but really wishes for Valkyrie, Nighthawk or Hellcat, asking: What classic Defenders character would you most like to see join the Marvel TV Defenders?
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If its going to be in addition to DD, Luke Cage, Iron Fist & Jessica Jones, then Doctor Strange or Tigra. (like her better without Hellcat costume).
I dont even have good reasons, just always liked them.
Well, Doctor Strange is not only my favorite Defender, but one of my top Marvel characters period, so part of me wants to say him. However, he’s getting a movie (starring someone who unfortunately doesn’t look much like Vincent Price), so he’s probably out of the running. He wouldn’t fit anyway, since the shows’ team seems to be “Defenders in name only”, in practice more of a Heroes for Hire/Marvel Knights thing. Much more street-level than Strange usually is.
That said, the OTHER Stan Lee/Steve Ditko creation for Marvel would be a fantastic fit for this team. He’s getting a movie as well, unfortunately, which is a shame, since I’d much rather see Spider-Man stopping street crime and fighting alongside Daredevil against the Kingpin, than I would see him hanging out with the Avengers.
The Isaac Christians incarnation of Gargoyle just because I’d love to see how they explain his half-demon side. There are plenty of plausible ideas within the MCU setting, such as how Thor and the Asgardians aren’t really Gods but a race of aliens, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched that there could be a demon-like race out there. But they could also rework the character as they have with a few others, and there are a ton of different ways they could do that and still fit with the setting (perhaps a connection to the Inhumans, for instance) without compromising the character completely. Plenty of options available if they decide to use him but don’t want to use magic or demons.
Similarly, while he wasn’t an actual Defender, Sleepwalker was part of the Secret Defenders. I’d love to see him get the MCU treatment in general, and much like Gargoyle, I’m curious how they would work him to fit the setting.
To me you need Doctor Strange & Valkyrie to make a Defenders team. Nighthawk & Hellcat would also be pretty awesome.
Definitely Nighthawk, the good old-fashioned 70s version. He could easily be designed to fit into the Netflixverse and he is the heart of the Defenders to me.
With such a strong emphasis on the street-level heroes (only Iron Fist is not one of those) this is not really the Defenders, but rather more like Marvel Knights. Daredevil had IIRC four missions with the Defenders all things told, Luke Cage even less, Iron Fist may well never have even been featured in the book, and Jessica did not even exist back in the day.
Iron Fist is of course almost literally the sleeping dragon of the team. He is by far the most interesting and complex character of the quartet.
Working with this in an attempt to make a Defenders team, and realistically expecting the Hulk and Spider-Man not to be available, I think the best choice would probably be Hellcat. The character can easily be made into an interesting source of plots and good episodes, given adequate talent working on it. She also plays to the strengths of this actual series concept, particularly for TV. And she is probably available and free for development.
Accepting that this as a matter of fact Marvel Knights, and seeing how I just don’t miss Cloak and Dagger, nor Punisher, Deathlok could work as a member, given a bold enough writer.
Dr. Strange, naturally – he can be tweaked to work as a ‘street-level’ hero, especially if he’s during his one-eyed era.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the green goliath himself make a one-off appearance, even if it is so he can throw out a dismissive “No bird-nose? No magician? No sword-girl? This not Hulk friends!”