The shows Marvel produced for Netflix are no more, and that's a damn shame. What, if anything, will become of that work as Marvel moves forward is an open question. I jotted out a brief look back at them on Facebook; this is a version of that.
While CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER is arguably Marvel's best feature, DAREDEVIL is the best thing Marvel has ever brought to the screen, and the first season of JESSICA JONES is almost as good. Both are miles beyond most superhero stuff we've so far gotten.
The first season of IRON FIST was not the atrocity many were determined to label it before it had even been released but it was terribly unfocused, getting lost in uninteresting subplots that seemed of absolutely no consequence to the main plot, paled in comparison to it and were of a radically different character. And they didn't go anywhere.
The first season of LUKE CAGE was really good but the creators were inexplicably resisting the "Hero For Hire" premise of the comic. Mike Colter, who was a very good Cage, said at one point he assumed that would be the focus of season 2. Then, of course, it wasn't. The 2nd season wasn't terrible but it had so far departed from the source material by then that it was really just borrowing the name of the character, who was reduced to virtually a guest-star in his own show. By the end, Cage had become a sort of Michael Corleone, or, more to the point, he'd become Daredevil from Brian Michael Bendis' Matt-is-the-Kingpin epic from the comics--a plot the show appropriated, root and branch. Except in that DD story, it made sense and was an outgrowth of that character's worst instincts. In a Cage show, it's just an interloper, something filling time while the show ignores the comic's premise. The only 2nd-season ep that felt remotely like a Cage show was the one in which Iron Fist showed up, and that just served to underline that point. It was like it was being phoned in from a different world, one in which we eventually got the Cage/Fist show comic fans wanted. In the comics, Luke Cage and Danny Rand--Iron Fist--became pals and partners in Cage's business: the Heroes For Hire.
Back when the Netflix projects were announced, I don't think there was a Marvel fan alive who didn't eventually want a Cage/Fist show. The comics featuring that team were perfect for it. More broadly, Cage, Fist and DD had long-established relationships in the comics, and Jessica Jones had been added to that mix years before the Netflix shows--she and Cage had married, started a family. Great interrelationships between all of them and I think everyone assumed Marvel would work toward establishing those. Why pick those particular characters if that wasn't the plan? Marvel even launched a new Cage/Fist comic at the time, as if anticipating this. Cage/Fist/Jessica Jones could have eventually even folded into the same show, if one or more of the series wasn't successful. Instead, all three went off in different directions, getting further and further away from all of that.
Behind the scenes, there were production problems. Having launched these shows, Marvel was either unable or unwilling to work on them in any structured way that made sense, treating all of them as just one series, instead of individual efforts, producing one season of this uber-show at a time. This would have made sense if the path I just outlined had been followed but with each series going off in different directions rather than becoming more closely-knit, it just meant long delays.
As a story, the DEFENDERS crossover mini wasn't very good or well-plotted but it gave plenty of glimpses of what could have--and should have--been had the shows come together.
Outside of these, the Netflix shows dicked around with the Punisher too. Great casting and the character was given a great introduction in DAREDEVIL season 2 but when he got his own series, Marvel then tried to reinvent the wheel, instead of building on what they'd already established. THE PUNISHER season 1 was really good but it opened with the Punisher avenging his family and retiring from the punishment business, which was just a bizarre turn, then came up with a reason to bring him back with an--honestly--rather stupid conspiracy plot, then had him take up the mantle again to deal with it, then retire again. So in season 2, they had to reboot yet again. The character appeared in 3 seasons of these shows and had to be launched anew 3 times.
Now, Marvel is talking about rebooting most of these. I'm not really interested in a reboot, particularly with Daredevil. That would require recovering all the ground already covered (covered in the case of the Punisher repeatedly). I want to see a continuation, though one that cleans up some of the mess I've been describing here and puts things back on track. The casting on these shows was excellent, the look of them a cinematic feast, the best of the writing is the best Marvel has ever adapted. It seems insane to simply abandon them.
