Published Aug 2017 by Marvel
Limited 1 for 25 Retailer Incentive Variant Cover
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Marquez
Cover by David Mack
36 pages, full color

Daredevil! Luke Cage! Jessica Jones! Iron Fist! Individually, these four heroes have been on the front lines of the battle to keep the streets of the city safe and secure! But now, with a deadly enemy from the dim past making a major move to unite the underworld, they will need to become more - they will need to become DEFENDERS! Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez unite to bring you the next great super-team, in the tradition of NEW AVENGERS!

Featured Characters:
Defenders (First appearance chronologically) (Main story and recap)
Luke Cage (Main story and recap) (Joins team)
Jessica Jones (Main story and recap) (Joins team)
Daredevil (Matt Murdock) (Main story and recap) (Joins team)
Iron Fist (Danny Rand) (Main story and recap) (Joins team)
Diamondback (Willis Stryker)
Goddard (drug dealer) (Only appearance; dies)
Unnamed Harlemites
New Avengers (Recap)
Thing (Ben Grimm) (Recap)
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) (Recap)
Wolverine (James Howlett) (Recap)
Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Recap)
Doctor Doom (Victor von Dom) (Recap)
Dani Jones-Cage (Recap)
Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) (Recap)
Hand (Recap)
Maggie Farrell's father (Recap)
Elektra (Recap)
Karen Page (Recap)
Milla Donovan (Recap)
Bullseye (Lester) (Recap)
NYPD (Mentioned)
Shou-Lao the Undying (Recap)
Yu-Ti (Nu-An) (Recap)
Thunderer (Lei-Kung) (Recap)
Steel Serpent (Davos) (Recap)
Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave) (Recap)
Mount Sinai Hospital staff
Black Cat's Gang
Black Cat (Felicia Hardy)
Hammerhead (Joseph) (Voice)

In New York, during a party at a nightclub a man by the name of Goddard is talking to some girls when he's interrupted by a menacing man with a hat. The man accuses him of selling a drug (which is actually laundry detergent) while claiming it is I.G.H. The man gets infuriated when Goddard pulls out a gun, so he has Goddard ingest his own medicine, which causes him to collapse as it has a deadly effect on people freebasing. The man with the hat leaves, throwing behind himself a handful of diamonds, which reveals him to be Willis Stryker, a.k.a. Diamondback.

Two girls walking home on the street meet a national hero: Luke Cage. As they greet him, he suddenly notices a missile falling their way and manages to save himself and the two girls just in time. Cage locates the rooftop the missile was launched from and when he arrives on location, he finds a handful of diamonds left on the ground. He's called on the phone and informed that his wife, Jessica Jones, has been shot and hospitalized.

At Mount Sinai Hospital, Luke Cage asks for his wife, whom he finds asleep in a room. Daredevil turns up from the ceiling, and explains that he had the name on the door changed to prevent whoever shot her from finishing the job. He explains he was attacked that same day too, and in his civil attire, meaning that the person who's trying to kill them knows things he shouldn't about their private lives. Another hero was attacked as well, Iron Fist, who appears at the door as well. As the three heroes elaborate on who to call for help and who could be the instigator, Jessica wakes up and tells them the culprit is Diamondback. Luke explains to her that Diamondback died a long time ago, but she's adamant in her conviction.

Black Cat, on a roof, is studying an apartment's window as her partner in crime, Hammerhead, tells her through earbud not to go in. Black Cat resolves to make the call herself, so she breaks in and is welcomed with a bottle of milk by Diamondback. She's sure Stryker called the meeting to be adviced on a hiding place, as the heroes he targeted are looking for him, but instead, Diamondback states that he's going to extend his base from Harlem all across the Eastern Seaboard: if Black Cat intends to collaborate, she will get a lot of money. She answers that she would've been very cordial to him (he destroyed "Heroes for Hire", after all), hadn't he attacked her with this intimidation. She adds that he's already killed his chances before starting when he shot Luke Cage's wife and also... that Cage is right there with them. Cage destroys the wall that separates him from his enemy with a punch and grabs Diamondback: he's been alive all those years and now he returns to attack his wife, something that Cage can't accept.

At a bar, Jessica meets with Daredevil and Iron Fist. While Daredevil finishes knocking out some thugs, they all agree that they weren't prepared for what happened, and that it would be best for them to unite against possible new local threats, like the Avengers do with global ones.

During his fight with Cage, Diamondback seems to be better prepared against him than it appeared at the beginning: he blows a dust in his face that causes him to collapse and then proceedes to smash his head in the floor of the apartment, to Black Cat's dread. As the sound of Cage's head being bashed reverberates, Diamondback contemplates how stupid it was of Luke to leave his friends behind...

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, Ramon Rodríguez, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ann Woll, Elodie 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.”