It seemed like a perfect creative
tandem at the time. As early as 2013, one year after “Avengers” hit cinemas,
Marvel and Netflix agreed to co-produce miniseries for some of the former’s
street-level, mature-leaning heroes such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones and the
Punisher. The result was some of the most visceral, action-packed and grittily
dramatic streaming superhero shows. But the partnership ended in 2019, when
Marvel began planning original content on parent company Disney’s upcoming
exclusive streaming channel. Netflix had rights to the produced series for two
years after the deal ended. While “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist”
reverted to Marvel last year, the last two only happened now.
Comic Book Resources tells us that as of this Thursday, February 18,
the original deal between Marvel and Netflix to produce live-action Marvel-hero
shows for exclusive streaming on the latter’s platform has been wholly
completed. As such the last characters used in the Marvel-Netflix series, the
Punisher and Jessica Jones, have thus returned to Marvel’s control. As the original
Marvel Television division that had formed the co-production with Netflix has
since shut down, this means that the characters can be used by Marvel Studios
in future projects, like the shows they are producing for Disney+.
By order of premiere on Netflix,
the Marvel series that appeared on streaming were “Daredevil” (2015-18) followed by “Jessica Jones” (2015-19),
then “Luke Cage” (2016-18), “Iron Fist” (2017), team-up series “The Defenders” (2017)
and finally “The Punisher” (2017-19). As seen in the end-dates for their final
seasons, Iron Fist was the first to complete the two-year post-agreement
exclusivity of the series on Netflix, followed by Daredevil and Luke Cage, and
finally Jessica Jones and Punisher.
As for what comes next, Marvel
Studios head Kevin Feige has been tight-lipped about whether the characters
will be reintroduced into the MCU, as they ostensibly were during their Netflix
runs. Rumor has it that Daredevil star Charlie Cox had been seen on the set for
the third “Spider-Man” MCU film with Tom Holland. Meawhile, one of the Disney+ MCU
shows being developed is “She-Hulk,” and there is speculation that Jessica
Jones, possibly portrayed by her Netflix actress Krysten Ritter, might return
there. All Feige would say is that regarding Marvel, “everything is on board”
when it comes to adapting stuff for the MCU franchise.
The Marvel heroes that had series
on Netflix were pretty low-key in abilities. Daredevil/Matt Murdock was blind
but had hypersensitive other senses and martial arts mastery. Similar is Iron
Fist/Danny Rand, but with the addition of a chi-empowered super-punch. Jessica
Jones is a super-strong private detective with PTSD, while Luke Cage is
super-tough with “unbreakable” skin. Lastly, the Punisher is an ex-Marine
vigilante with a massive arsenal of firearms, killing criminals in revenge for
the mob-related death of his family.
Image courtesy of IndieWire
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