Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

The Defenders: watch the first trailer for Marvel’s Netflix series

The series’ first look reveals how Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and “the kid with the glowing fist” come together in New York.

Alex Abad-Santos
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.

Everything is connected, and it’s all beginning to make a bit of sense.

On Wednesday, Marvel and Netflix dropped the first trailer for The Defenders, the Avengers-like team-up project that brings together the four Netflix properties of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist. The clip’s main purpose is to show us how the four heroes — Matt Murdock a.k.a. Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Danny Rand a.k.a. Iron Fist (Finn Jones) — find themselves on the same side.

It opens with Misty Knight, a police investigator in Luke Cage, interrogating Jones before she’s stopped by Murdock, who says he’s her attorney. Jones apparently tampered with a crime scene, presumably one involving Cage, who she was romantically linked with in the Jessica Jones series. And in the second segment of the trailer, Claire Thomas, who played a prominent role in both Luke Cage and Iron Fist series — introduces Luke Cage to Iron Fist.

As everyone is coming together, the trailer introduces The Defenders’ main villain, a woman credited on IMDB as “Alexandra” who’s played by Sigourney Weaver. It also brings the return of Stick (Scott Glenn) and the resurrected sociopath assassin Elektra (Elodie Yung), two enigmatic figures from the Daredevil series.

And of course, in true Marvel style, it ends with the Defenders in a hallway fight scene — the signature calling card of the Marvel Netflix universe.

The Defenders premieres on Netflix on August 18.

More in Culture

Life
What is an aging face supposed to look like?What is an aging face supposed to look like?
Life

When bodies and appearances are malleable, what does that mean for the person underneath?

By Allie Volpe
Video
What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?
Play
Video

How The Lord of the Rings lore helps explain the mysterious tech company.

By Benjamin Stephen
Climate
The climate crisis is coming for your groceriesThe climate crisis is coming for your groceries
Climate

Extreme heat is already wiping out soy, coffee, berries, and Christmas trees. Farm animals and humans are suffering too.

By Ayurella Horn-Muller
Future Perfect
The surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habitThe surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habit
Future Perfect

Your morning coffee is one of modern life’s underrated miracles.

By Bryan Walsh
Good Medicine
Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?
Good Medicine

Most health influencers don’t have real credentials — but they are more influential than ever.

By Dylan Scott
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North