Even though all of Marvel’s live-action projects take place in the same universe, they don’t all have the same tone and feel. Just look to Daredevil for proof. Aside from veering into R-rated territory, the Netflix series is also a more intimate adventure that stays away from the fantastical world seen in the movies, delving instead into a gritty crime story. While Daredevil and the other Netflix shows still embrace their superhero roots, it turns out these smaller-scale adventures are the main thing that separates them from their cinematic colleagues.
Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada talked to IGN about how their Netflix shows, including the upcoming Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, allow the MCU to tell darker stories, which is why their exploits are smaller in comparison to the the global conflicts the Avengers and the other big screen heroes handle. Quesada said:
The Avengers are about saving the world. Daredevil, Jessica Jones and all those other characters, they’re about saving a neighborhood, they’re about saving a block, they’re about saving an apartment complex. So it’s smaller, but the stakes still feel the same because they’re just as important. To the people living in Hell’s Kitchen, saving their neighborhood is as important to the people in Manhattan when aliens start coming out of a portal in the sky and the Avengers came to save them.
Matt Murdock’s battle with Wilson Fisk in Daredevil Season 1 exemplifies Quesada’s point. Their fight may not have had global implications, but to the Man Without Fear and his gigantic bald nemesis, Hell’s Kitchen is their home, which is why they were willing to do whatever it took to see it become a better place. While Jessica Jones and the other upcoming shows will be more direct with superpowers and other unusual abilities, the heroes’ main job will be to deal with crime happening in their neighborhoods. The Avengers can handle the evildoers that put the entire planet at stake, and the bigger budget means they can go all out with the explosive fight sequences.
While Quesada didn’t rule out the possibility that Marvel’s street-level heroes will eventually help out with saving the world (don’t forget about that Avengers: Infinity War Part II rumor), for now they’ll just deal with problems in their neck of the woods. That said, there are already threads in place connecting the Netflix shows to each other, both directly and indirectly. As Quesada mentioned, the Netflix protagonists will operate in the same areas of New York City, and Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple will be the bridge between these shows. The heroes are also set to team up in the near future for the Defenders miniseries.
Fans can look forward to Jessica Jones airing later this year, while Daredevil Season 2 will premiere sometime in 2016.
