Marvel/Netflix Wishlist

Last November, Disney revealed that Marvel and Netflix would partner up to bring some superhero stories to life as TV miniseries. These superheroes include Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, more popularly considered members of the Marvel Knights, a street level corner of the Marvel shared universe. The four series will then crossover in The Defenders. I am very much looking forward to these series. I was unsure if we would ever see live action versions of these characters considering how Marvel’s movie schedule seems committed to more sequels than debuts. Like most anticipated adaptations of comic series, I have a few things I hope I see.

1. Gentrification of Hell’s Kitchen

Officially known as Clinton or Midtown West, Daredevil’s (and possibly by extension The Defenders’) neighborhood was not nicknamed after its’ high number of spicy food restaurants. It was a haven for poor and working-class Irish-Americans and home to the Westies, a very violent Irish gang. The gang has been pretty much taken care of with an ’80s RICO case, and the area started to gentrify, no longer looking like the Frank Miller crime den that Daredevil felt responsible for. Gentrification can be just as key to crime drama as violent gangs, though. It opens up doors to slumlords (like the Windermere case) and other strategies to displace poor residents in favor of wealthier ones. Considering The Defenders will be made up of a lawyer, a private eye, a do-good heir-apparent, and a neighborhood nice guy all of whom care for the little guy, they would definitely have something to say about gentrification.

2. More Practical Stunt Work

All of The Defenders, each with their unique limitations, are superhuman, but for most of them, their powers are second fiddle to other traits, like Daredevil’s acrobatics and Iron Fist’s martial arts skills. These can be delivered with much more practical stunt work. Daredevil and Iron Fist would also fall under a certain kind of vigilante that I would call “roof jumpers.” They don’t have a devilmobile or a Fist-copter. They get around by literally jumping roof to roof. The closest thing to a real life equivalent is the French mix of martial arts and gymnastics, parkour, made popular by Casino Royale (but infamous by District B13). Simply watching one of District B13’s chase key chase scenes immediately makes me think of Daredevil.

3. Legal Drama

Daredevil is a lawyer, and Jessica Jones is a private eye. Certainly, their stories have much more to offer than just fight scenes on rooftops. Their day jobs are pretty much the go to day jobs of every protagonist on television. Normally, I would say the case-of-the-week structure has been squeezed of all possibilities, but it would be an easy backbone to support the superheroics. Shows like Hannibal and Burn Notice successfully mined that structure to make exciting episodic TV while developing a mythology subtly and well-placed in the background.

4.  Ben Urich 

Samuel L. Jackson’s super spy, Nick Fury, and his partner in crime(fighting), Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson were the glue that stuck the Avengers movies together. The fluidity with which they left and entered each of the solo movies before all the Avengers were brought together help sell the audience that we were viewing  whole world, not just loose adaptations. This project will need someone similar, and since this project is a scaled down version of The Avengers, you need some scaled down glue. Simultaneously a nuisance and a man of the people, reporter Ben Urich turned over every stone trying to figure out the truth. When a couple of masked do-gooders start making waves in the red-headed step-child New York neighborhood (or at least formerly), he should definitely be counted as one of the interested parties.

5. The Hand

The Defenders will also need a villain to team up against. They definitely won’t be going up against alien hordes and with Baron von Strucker making his debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I’m guessing HYDRA will be off limits. That still leaves The Hand, a ninja cult not unlike DC’s League of Assassins that have had plenty of run ins with the Marvel Knight level heroes. Hell, both Daredevil and his long-time rival Kingpin have been leaders of the cult at one point or another.

6. Matt Murdock Outed

One of the most interesting things to happen to Daredevil in a long time was when it was publicly revealed that Matt Murdock, blind lawyer, was in fact Daredevil. Murdock would time and time again deny it and play stupid, but eventually everyone just came to accept it as fact. The reason it would be interesting is that ever since their first movie ended with Tony Stark revealing his identity, Marvel movies have never really dealt with secret identities. In a way, it seems more relevant to Daredevil and his equally scaled cohorts. The Defenders actually live double lives.

7. Iron Fist’s 33rd Birthday

This is incredibly specific I know. This comes from the very awesome series Immortal Iron Fist, where Danny Rand (the contemporary Iron Fist) connects the dots and realizes that every Iron Fist that came before him dies at the age of 33. The Immortal Iron Fist series was characterized by lots of myth building around Iron Fist increasing the scope without increasing scale (if you get my meaning). It is the perfect threat for Iron Fist, a personal one,  On a TV budget that reportedly will be almost entirely shot in New York City, this threat can that strikes at the root of his origin without travelling to the mystical world where he got his powers.

8. The Punisher

The Punisher has been attempted in movies 3 times. 3! And the third time was not the charm apparently. They all had their pros and cons. Most of the actors chosen were badass in the role, but many of his trademarks (from his style to his tone) were sacrificed to some how make a better movie. Maybe, Punisher is just a bad protagonist for the medium. He could still be a great villain though, and making him a villain is not a egregious change in his character. he has probably butted heads and teamed up with Daredevil more so than any other solo character in the Marvel universe. He deserves to get done right at least once, changing his role from lead to supporting might just be the ticket.

9. Characters Meet Before the Defenders

Part of my hope with this project that it does something that the Avengers movie didn’t do as much: add fluidity. Other then SHIELD, Stark shows up in The Incredible Hulk and there is a very funny cameo in Thor The Dark World  that I am still wary to spoil. I’d like to see these characters actually hang out and work together.

10. Do Not Waste Opportunity to Subvert Marvel Movies

“Agents of SHIELD” is not the disaster that most forums would have you think, but it isn’t good either. The funny thing is I don’t blame Marvel. I blame ABC. ABC in general is not the home of showrunner television. It is the home of processed content meant to grab the biggest audience possible. In comparison, channels like FX or AMC develop and evolve shows with auteur showrunners that end up garnering overwhelming critical praise and a constantly growing life in new media. One of those new media sources is Netflix which has since started copying the auteur showrunner direction. Hopefully, this huge difference between ABC and Netflix also means a huge difference in the quality of either project. This way, the Defender project might actually be able to swoop in and subvert the Marvel movie way where “Agents of SHIELD” just phoned it in.