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

Marco Ramirez On Giving Everyone Really Bad-Ass Moments In The Defenders

It was going to take a gentle hand to figure out how to blend the four Marvel Netflix series into one. Thus far all four of the shows have had very different tones and looks. Marco Ramirez, the showrunner for The Defenders,recently spoke to Collider about blending the four shows and finding the right balance.

It was very difficult to do it, but I knew we had to make the show for the audience members who had never seen any of the shows, or who had only seen one of the shows and were tuning into this because they really loved character X. I didn't want to let any of those people down. We all worked really hard to protect the characters and the integrity of the characters, and to make sure that the show felt evenly spread across those worlds, that everyone got really bad-ass moments, and that everyone got to make choices, change, have story moments and pivot. Everybody comes out of The Defenders a little bit different from when we first meet them at the beginning of The Defenders.

Now that The Defenders has happened the Marvel/Netflix shows are going to run into the same problem the movies have; they know about one another so why not call a friend for help? Ramirez acknowledges that this could be a problem but it's not one he specific has to address.

Now that they've all been cross-pollinated, it might be something that people have to think about. I don't know. That's more of a Marvel question. I have nothing to do with any of the other shows. But now that they've all met, all bets are off. They know each other, so you have to address that. I think that's actually, as a storyteller, very exciting.

The Defenders is the first Marvel/Netflix show that is only eight episodes compared to the normal thirteen. This seemed odd to people considering the team-up is the thing you're leading up to. It turns out the reason behind the shorter season was based on schedules.

It was actually also a lot about schedule, which is another thing that eludes people. We knew that we needed to have Mike [Colter] in the chair in his own show, and we knew we needed to have Krysten [Ritter] on her own show by a certain date, so we knew that we had this much time to shoot, no matter what we shoot and no matter how many episodes we needed to shoot. That was one factor. Netflix and Marvel were both very flexible, in terms of how many episodes I pitched them. I actually had the writers' room for awhile before we came up with the number eight. And then, we went in and said, "We can do this in eight episodes," and they were all systems go on it. That was really a testament to them, to be honest. There was never a quota we were trying to fill. We just wanted to tell a story that was satisfying, and I think these eight episodes are satisfying.

There isn't any time in The Defenders short running time for filler so perhaps the shorter season is the way to go.

The Defenders 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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