Trailer Talk: SDCC 2016 Teasers Of LUKE CAGE, IRON FIST & THE DEFENDERS – Netflix’s Shared Superhero Universe

It’s no secret that Marvel’s ‘Daredevil‘ completely reinvigorated the model of serialized Television for the Superhero genre. ‘Daredevil‘ was a resounding success in every way, and launching off of that platform, Marvel looks to imitate the same feature film success with their shared Marvel Cinematic Universe, but on the smaller screen through Netflix. This year at the San Diego Comic-Con, (SDCC2016) Marvel dropped a series of teasers that set up and will culminate in this shared universe.

So check out the Teaser Trailers for ‘Luke Cage’, ‘Iron Fist’ and ‘The Defenders’ and read on for how it’ll all work together.

LUKE CAGE

Already introduced in Marvel’s second series after ‘Daredevil’, the character of Luke Cage will now be featured in his own Netflix series. The teaser for ‘Luke Cage’ doesn’t give much of the story, except for how the brawny hero gets to wanting to be a hero in the first place, by indestructibly kicking some ass in his own patented way. When he first appeared in ‘Jessica Jones’, Cage was an unassuming bar owner trying to live a legit and clean life, until he got dragged into the working of others through someone he loved. The series explores how he uses his invincibility after a failed experiment to become a hero for hire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymw5uvViqPU

Cage is best known in the comic book world for being one of the very first African American comic book superheroes with their own title. Created in the 1970’s, the teaser trailer released in SDCC 2016 seems to pay homage to the roots of the character with some blaring hip hop of that era. The teaser is effective in creating interest around the character, but nothing we haven’t already seen from the character’s appearance in ‘Jessica Jones’. The actor Mike Coulter himself seems very raw and monotone when it comes to acting. While the writers of ‘Jessica Jones’ gave him a lot to do and write him within that range of acting skills, I truly wonder if he’s going to be able to carry an entire series all on his own. The actor may not have the depth or range to convey the emotional depth needed to be a lead character. But I can always be wrong. I am… sometimes. 

Of the two supporting cast members seen in the teaser for ‘Luke Cage’, the only majorly familiar one is that of Mahershala Ali (‘House Of Cards’) playing what may be a supporting antagonist? 

Luke Cage’ releases all episodes on September 30th, 2016 on Netflix. 

IRON FIST

While the rest of the Netflix shared superhero universe of Marvel characters have been kept relatively grounded in reality, the character of Iron Fist may change all that. With an origin story deep rooted in mystical supernatural elements, Iron Fist is a Marvel character that is often partnered with Luke Cage, so it makes sense for them to be part of the same universe. The show also follows the ‘Luke Cage’ series. The character of Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist is a martial artist that wields a supernatural power that allows him to focus his chi and imbues with him awesome power. Of all the characters thus far in the Marvel Netflix Universe, (MNU) Iron Fist is the most supernatural and unrealistic, given the setting established thus far. I’m sure though it will be handled with severe gravitas, but it should be very interesting to see how it all works.

The Teaser itself is very vague and only gives glimpses of Finn Jones (‘Game Of Thrones’) as Danny Rand, returning to the city after some traumatic incident, only to discover his true power and put it to use. So far I personally have a hard time seeing Jones as the character of Rand, given my only experience with him has been on ‘Game Of Thrones’. However, I reserve judgement until we see more of a full Trailer with him fully transformed into the character. 

‘Iron Fist’ releases sometime near the end of 2016, after the completion of ‘Luke Cage’ series. 

THE DEFENDERS

The vaguest of all teaser is a title card sequence teaser from the ultimate team up of all these characters with ‘The Defenders’. This series will see all four characters of Daredevil, (Charlie Cox) Jessica Jones, (Kristen Ritter) Luke Cage & Iron Fist together as they team up and try to save New York City from unspeakable threats. The motivation behind this team up thus far has already been somewhat set up in Season 2 of ‘Daredevil’ as things have already gotten too out of hand for that one character to handle on his own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZtM8q2Z1g

The teaser itself is incredibly vague and only enhanced with a voice over by what sounds like Stick (Scott Glen). Stick is the person who trained Matt Murdock into eventually becoming Daredevil, but is also connected to the big evil threat of his villain The Hand. ‘The Defenders’ seems to also be implying that Stick may be the big bad baddie of that show, but details of that still remains to be seen.

‘The Defenders’ debut on Netflix sometime in 2017. 

THE PUNISHER

Debuting in Season 2 of ‘Daredevil’, Jon Bernthal’s performance as the Punisher has since became the definitive portrayal of that character on the screen. So much so that Marvel has gone ahead and ordered a series starring Bernthal as that character, with plans of him being involved in this shared universe of the MNU. Announced earlier this year, the teaser trailer did not debut at SDCC 2016, however it feel necessary to include him in this Teaser round up. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ySCvq6rL0

It’s very difficult to say exactly how The Punisher will feature into the long planned shared universe culminating in ‘The Defenders‘. Given that the original plans did not feature this series, it’s still too early to say if a ‘Punisher’ Netflix series will be part of ‘The Defenders‘ show, or if it will be feature after Season 1 of ‘The Defenders’ as part of a Phase 2 of the Netflix shared universe.

Which teaser and series are you most looking forward to from Marvel & Netflix?

Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @theshahshahid