Defenders # 6 NM McKone Headshot 1:10 Variant Cover Marvel Bendis MCU Deadpool c

Description

Defenders (2017) #6D

Published Dec 2017 by Marvel
Limited 1 for 10 Retailer Incentive Variant Cover
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Marquez
Cover by Mike McKone
28 pages, full color

KINGPINS OF NEW YORK Part 1

The Defenders: Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Daredevil, protectors of the people, are in a desperate struggle to keep New York City safe in the wake of the power vacuum caused by the Kingpin’s absence and the all-out street war that results! So what could make things even worse for our team of harried heroes? Would you believe – Deadpool?

PLUS: Includes 3 bonus MARVEL PRIMER PAGES! Story by Robbie Thompson and Pere Perez!
This issue includes Marvel Value Stamp: Series C #28: Nick Fury.

Deadpool wears a Netflix sweater, an in-joke to how this run of the Defenders owes to a streaming show.

Featured Characters:
Defenders
Iron Fist (Danny Rand)
Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
Luke Cage
Jessica Jones
Deadpool (Wade Wilson)
Diamondback (Willis Stryker)
Wilson Fisk
Dani Jones-Cage (Referenced)
Black Cat’s Gang
Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) (Revealed to be alive)
Hammerhead Family
Hammerhead
Diamondback’s lawyer (First appearance; drawing)
Daily Bugle
The Pulse (Named only)
Ben Urich
NYPD

With Black Cat and Diamondback vying to rule Hell’s Kitchen, Jessica is forced to call in some backup in The Defenders #6.

Kingpin might be out of the picture, but that doesn’t mean crime is over in Hell’s Kitchen. The Defenders try to keep Diamondback and Black Cat’s war from destroying the city, but putting Diamondback in prison is easier said than done.

This book starts with a lot of Jessica’s narration, but her set-up quickly leads to action. On one hand, it seems unnecessary for Brian Michael Bendis to establish the troubles of Hell’s Kitchen since anyone with a background in any of these characters should know the neighborhood’s defining factor. However, I enjoyed having Jessica as the voice of this issue and wonder if that will continue since she’s the one who brings in Deadpool.

I don’t consider Diamondback a particularly interesting villain, and too many panels are spent summarizing his history with Luke, but he and Black Cat have great nemesis-chemistry and I look forward to her comeback later in the arc.

More so than focusing on just the villain action, Bendis adds in the details to make this New York-based book feel real. The court scene where we get to see Matt Murdock is as riveting as a classic Law & Order episode, but even more appreciated is having Ben Urich visiting the hospital over and over again trying to get to the bottom of the story.

And then there’s Deadpool, brought in for the “crazy-pants” action. While he only appears on one page, it’s a great introduction. He’s wearing a Netflix hoodie ( a nod to The Defenders TV series perhaps or a pitch for a crossover event?) and quoting Chris Traeger from TV show Parks and Recreation. Naturally, I can’t wait to see him and Jessica continue to play off of one another.

This book has beautifully drawn action sequences by David Marquez (much to the chagrin of Jessica Jones, who doesn’t want to lose her car in one of the panels). The coloring and shading make them pop even more against the city streets thanks to Justin Ponsor. There is a consistent palette that brightens the book up from typical greys and black, but isn’t too neon or flamboyant that it detracts from the grittiness of the world being built.

For the courtroom scene, Marquez draws it sketch style like you’d see from an actual trial. It’s a nice transition that’s subtle enough it doesn’t disrupt the flow of the book. It actually took me a second reading to notice the switch because it feels so natural.

I referenced the Deadpool introduction scene earlier, but Marquez makes fantastic use of full-page and in one instance double-page spreads throughout the book. His style relies heavily on realism but he also plays with shadows and movement in the panels to great effect.

It’s too early to tell how well the introduction of Deadpool will work with the team, but so far it’s entertaining. The bigger storyline being built in this book alone makes the issue worth reading. Street level villains can get tiring when their motivations are too simplistic (greed, revenge), but Bendis hints that the war between Black Cat and Diamondback is part of a bigger, more interesting story awaiting Hell’s Kitchen.

Marvel’s The Defenders is an American television miniseries created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez for the streaming service Netflix, based on the Marvel Comics characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, who form the eponymous superhero team. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the continuity of the franchise’s films. The miniseries is a crossover event for several interconnected series from Marvel and Netflix. It was produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, Nine and a Half Fingers, Inc., and Goddard Textiles, with Ramirez serving as showrunner.

The series stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, all reprising their roles from their individual series. It also stars Eka Darville, Elden Henson, Jessica Henwick, Simone Missick, Ramón Rodríguez, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ann Woll, Élodie Yung, Rosario Dawson, and Scott Glenn, all also returning from previous series, as well as Sigourney Weaver. Development began in late 2013, with Cox the first actor cast in May 2014. Petrie and Ramirez joined as showrunners in April, after doing so for the second season of Daredevil. Petrie left with the start of filming, which took place in New York City from October 2016 to March 2017. Cinematography and design work established the different color palettes from the characters’ individual series, and combined them as the team is formed.

In January 2015, Netflix COO Ted Sarandos said that The Defenders was “eligible to go into multiple seasons for sure” and Netflix would look at “how well they are addressing both the Marvel fanbase but also the broader fanbase” in terms of determining if additional seasons would be appropriate. However, in July 2016, Loeb referred to the miniseries as a one-off event rather than a season of an ongoing story. Jones said the miniseries “feels like the end of Phase One” of the Marvel Netflix series, with the events of the miniseries leading into “the beginning of another phase”, while Ritter said she would be happy to return for more after enjoying the experience making these episodes, despite it planned as a one-time event. In mid-2018, Loeb and Netflix vice president of original content Cindy Holland both said that there were “no plans” to continue the series.

In September 2018, Netflix renamed the Facebook page for the series to “NX”, Netflix’s “new geek-friendly division of genre content”. Netflix did not alter the series’ Twitter account in a similar manner. The change left fans upset at the apparent “bait-and-switch”, with many suggesting they would have followed a separate page for NX had it been created in that manner. Kofi Outlaw of Comicbook.com felt this change was “a pretty big indicator that Netflix is done with The Defenders as one of its original series”. In response to this, Loeb reiterated that there were still no plans for the series to continue at that time, but this did not mean that it would never be continued in the future, especially since a “Defenders” team was not actually formed in this miniseries and future Defenders stories could then focus on different characters.

Charlie Cox Knows What’s Next For Daredevil In The MCU
Following his cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Charlie Cox hints he knows what is next for Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Following his cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Charlie Cox hints he knows what’s next for Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No Way Home brought Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men and their respective baddies into the MCU. Before Ned Leeds opened those portals, and the iconic pair talked to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker about great power and responsibility, Cox’s Matt Murdock aided Peter in his legal troubles.

Marvel’s street-level heroes defended the small screen on Netflix long before the MCU hit Disney+. Of Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, Daredevil led the charge as the most beloved series in the Defenders universe. Netflix’s cancellation of Daredevil in 2018 prompted campaigns ala #SaveDaredevil seemingly to no avail. Despite rumors that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would return in No Way Home, Cox (like Garfield) played coy leading up to the film’s release. Now that virtually everyone has seen No Way Home, the actor can finally talk about his MCU return/debut.

In a recent interview with HeyUGuys, Cox discussed Matt Murdock’s No Way Home cameo and what’s next for his character. While addressing the fact that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has publicly said Cox is the MCU’s Daredevil, the actor spoke about (possible) appearances in future projects. Read the full quote below:

“I think at this point, I expect to be involved in some capacity. Otherwise, it would be a bit of a weird one-scene moment. I don’t know much, I know a little, and what I do know I’m very excited about…there’s a chance it could be the next ten years of my life.”

Cox’s No Way Home return, as well as Vincent D’Onofrio’s role in Disney+’s Hawkeye, has revitalized interest in streaming Daredevil, The Punisher, and Netflix’s other Marvel shows. While those shows reference MCU events, they were never necessarily a part of it. On top of being much more mature than the MCU, the latter universe never acknowledged the Defenders. With many hoping for future Daredevil/Spider-Man team-ups and theories galore, it’s almost impossible to predict if/where Cox’s Murdock will appear next. That being said, Wilson Fisk’s appearance in Hawkeye may foreshadow the “how.”

Kingpin is an adversary of Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Echo, and Daredevil in the panels and on the page. At the end of Hawkeye, Maya Lopez/Echo shoots Kingpin in retaliation for her father’s death, the camera panning away before the audience can see him die. In Daredevil (Vol. 2) #15, Maya shoots Kingpin after he manipulates her into believing Daredevil was responsible for her father’s death. Kingpin survives that attack and is temporarily blinded. Echo will now headline her own MCU series. It seems more than likely that both Kingpin and Daredevil could appear in Echo. Given Cox and D’Onofrio’s chemistry, it would be a shame not to see them together again on screen. Marvel Studios’ biggest challenge revolves around making these already-established, TV-MA characters family-friendly, which is something that ruffles the feathers of ardent fans.

Near mint, 1st print. Bagged & Boarded.