Cast and creative team members from all of Marvel’s critically praised Netflix series were in attendance at the packed panel, including Daredevil star Charlie Cox, Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter, Luke Cage star Mike Colter, and Iron Fist star Finn Jones. They were joined by Sigourney Weaver, who plays the mysterious villain Alexandra in The Defenders.
Joining those five actors were series supporting cast members Elodie Yung (who plays Elektra), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), and Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing), as well as Defenders executive producer and showrunner Marco Ramirez, with Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb moderating the panel.
Along with premiering a new trailer for the team-up miniseries that brings together the lead characters — and many of the supporting characters — to battle a threat bigger than each of them, Marvel and Netflix also treated attendees to a screening of the first episode of the miniseries.
Panel attendees also witnessed a surprise appearance from actor Jon Bernthal, who made his debut as the Marvel Comics character The Punisher in the second season of Daredevil, and will appear in his own solo series later this year. Bernthal’s appearance was accompanied by the debut of the first clip from The Punisher.
The clip wasn’t made available publicly, but apparently features the same brutal violence that surrounded the character’s scenes in Daredevil.
“In the clip, fans see The Punisher, whose real name is Frank Castle, in a flashback teaching his daughter how to play guitar,” reads a Variety description of the clip. “It then snaps back to the present, with Castle driving a souped-up car as he engages in a driving shootout with a biker. After successfully shooting the man off his motorcycle, Castle circles back and runs the man over.”
“The scene then jumps to El Paso, Texas, where a cartel boss is heading into a club,” the description continues. “Castle observes him through a window via a sniper rifle scope. As the cartel boss gets frisky with two women, Castle kills him from a considerable distance with the rifle. Finally, he corners a hood named Mickey O’Hare in a bathroom at JFK Airport in New York. When O’Hare asks if killing him will bring him any closure, Castle replies no before strangling O’Hare with his own necktie.”
Marvel and Netflix also made it official that Iron Fist, the fourth series introduced in the shared universe, would officially get a second season. Although Iron Fist received the most negative reviews of any of the four solo series, the show received impressive viewership numbers, and was one of the most binge-watched programs on Netflix this year. No date was given for the premiere of Iron Fist Season 2.
The Defenders will debut August 18 on Netflix.
