Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies, Netflix, TV | Tagged: marvel, netflix, the defenders, tv

How [SPOILER] Became The Villain Of The Defenders

Time to talk the villains of The Defenders. There are actually quite a few but showrunner Marco Ramirez spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the villains of the show and what happens to some of them. Huge spoilers to follow so if you haven't finished the show yet it would be best to walk away.

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At the end of the sixth episode Elektra (Elodie Yung) stabs her mentor Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) in the back and kills her. It's a shocking moment but one that the various Netflix series have done in the past. Elektra then declares that she's in charge now, no longer making her the weapon of the Hand but the leader. Ramirez talked about the surprising death and how Alexandra weaves into Elektra's story.

Well, part of it was just about giving the audience a little something unexpected. Audiences I think sometimes expect that a major storyline or major character is going to end in the ultimate or penultimate episode so they go, "Oh all right, something's going to happen here at the end of the story," so it just felt like a jolt, and it was exciting to write. The second part was really in a way we introduced Sigourney's character a little bit to highlight Elektra's story. I like to think that we wrote a really fun cool character for Sigourney but really it was also a way for us to say this is the journey that Elektra is going on.

When asked if they always intended for Elektra to become the villain or if it was a response to her reception in Daredevil season 2, Ramirez confirmed that it was a bit of both.

I think it's half one and half the other. I definitely think Jeph Loeb really wanted the idea of an Elektra resurrection storyline to be a part of her story, and I think that once we got to where we got organically by the end of season 2 of Daredevil, the idea was pretty clear that she's coming back.

When Jeph and I made the phone call to Elodie before the [script for the season 2 finale] came to her because she was getting killed, she was made aware [that Elektra would die in the finale]. We were like, "Hey, we're really sorry you get killed. Also, though, you come back from the dead." [Laughs] She was kind of like, "So why are we having this phone call?" [Laughs] Which was funny, but I would say half of [why we made her so important] was because it felt like that's the story to tell, and she's a major figure in the comics, she's really beloved by the audience, and her resurrection storyline is very iconic

When asked if there was a version of the script where one of the Defenders took Alexandra's life Ramirez hesitated but didn't think anyone was "murderous" enough to do it.

Right, none of them would get to the place where they're taking a life. They would really have to be pushed there… [Having Elektra kill Alexandra] felt more in terms with this conceptual mother-daughter dynamic that we wanted to explore thoroughly. We wanted to build that so we could subvert it and have [Elektra] say "I'm taking over." We wanted to show Sigourney as a regal maternal figure and a master, and for Elektra to basically say, "I have no master." To me, it's organic in the writing of Elektra, because Elektra has been told by many people in her life what she is, whether it was Stick or Matt, it had been them telling her who she is…. So when she kills Alexandra, it's really her saying, "People need to stop telling me who I am. This is who I am." And I think there's something particularly interesting about that idea.

The theme of identity is one that comes up a lot in the various characters of the show. Matt is trying to distance himself from Daredevil and just be Matt Murdock. Jessica is rejecting the title of hero and even walking away from being a PI. Luke is out of prison and trying to find himself now that he has nothing to hide. Danny has lost everything and is trying to figure who he is aside from just being the Iron Fist. Elektra was brought back to life, she wasn't given a choice, and was told she was the Black Sky. She wanted to be more and Alexandra wouldn't allow that which is why she needed to die. It's an interesting dynamic and Yung, to her credit, does a great job of giving Elektra plenty of character despite her hardly speaking.

Summary: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist team up to fight crime in New York City.

Marvel's The Defenders, created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez, stars Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, and Sigourney Weaver. It's streaming on Netflix now.

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