Netflix won’t be the only place you can catch the Defenders protecting the streets of New York City this year. Brian Michael Bendis, the man behind Alias and the current run of Jessica Jones, will be bringing the team together on comic book pages in June. The new ongoing series will star Jessica, Luke Cage, Danny Rand and Matt Murdock – an arrangement clearly made with the success of Netflix’s programming in mind.
Of course, Marvel’s Senior VP executive editor Tom Brevoort claims otherwise. As Hollywood Reporter wrote when they broke the news earlier today, Brevoort explained that the impetus for this line-up actually came form the 2012 run of New Avengers. “Read the last two pages… Certainly that there is a big new exciting Netflix TV show coming is a good excuse for us to get to that story that we planted the seed on.”
It also sounds like the tone of the comic will be in keeping with the gritty noir aspect of Marvel’s Netflix fare. According to Bendis, The Defenders will continue the story of street-level heroes fighting more real world crime:
“I wanted do a sprawling, Godfather-like epic at the street level of the Marvel Universe, really putting out hooks down and creating a modern, elaborate organized crime story that is different than what has gone before, but builds on everything that has happened to these characters, as individuals or as a team, and putting them in the hardest battle for the street that anyone can imagine.”
Whether or not you are looking forward to the street-fighting tone of the comic, there’s no doubt that Bendis has a good deal of experience writing these characters. It’ll also be interesting to see what Jessica and Luke’s relationship will look like – they’ve gone through a huge shake-up in Bendis’ other Jessica Jones book. Will the same hold true here?
Artist David Marquez, who has previously worked with Bendis on Iron Man and Spider-Man books, will be on board for the journey. As will colorist Justin Ponsor, who collaborated with both men on Civil War II.