Netflix’s Marvel Shows Like ‘Daredevil,’ ‘The Defenders,’ ‘Iron Fist,” and More to Leave Platform on March 1
It looks like Disney is calling all its Marvel properties home, including those found on Netflix.
Starting today, episodes of the Netflix Marvel shows (“The Defenders,” “Iron Fist,” “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage,” “Jessica Jones,” and “The Punisher”) feature a bug in the top corner of the screen during the show’s first few moments, alerting viewers that their chosen show is available until March 1. If you’ve been putting off watching these excellent shows, it may be time to hunker down and binge them all.
In the early days of streaming services, especially for Netflix, it wasn’t uncommon for properties from many powerful licensors to be found on a single service. Now, with most major media entities starting their own service, it’s simply a case of pulling their branded properties back to the service whose parent company owns the IP. We saw this recently with “The Office,” which was pulled from Netflix to go back to Peacock, as NBCUniversal owns the rights to the show and obviously wants people to sign up for Peacock in order to watch it (because of the monstrous appeal it has.)
After canceling Netflix’s Marvel series en masse, many figured these characters would be introduced into the MCU to create one enclosed story. Marvel has already started to use some of the characters from the Netflix shows in their Disney+ series, such as Kingpin in “Hawkeye.” Matthew Murdock (the face behind Daredevil) showed up in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” though the film isn’t exactly included in the MCU. Even the 20th Century Fox-owned Marvel properties like “X-Men” and “Deadpool” could find their way into the MCU sooner than later after Disney acquired the studio last year.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Netflix, though — they still have access to certain Marvel properties through an agreement with Sony Pictures. And yes, it’s going to be bittersweet to have to pivot from characters we invested time into like Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, et. al., but consumers really enjoy Marvel content and will watch whatever gets released, especially if it’s on Netflix. The post-credits scene in “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” also revealed a potential Spidey/Venom crossover, which could mean these Sony properties find their way into the MCU anyway.
Netflix could also lease the shows to Disney, which would be a pretty funny role reversal, and throw a wrench into the well-oiled machine that is the MCU. We hope both sides play nice here and make things easier for consumers to enjoy their Marvel content wherever it is.
Related: Marvel Streaming Guide: How to Watch All MCU Movies Online
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Marvel's The Defenders
August 18, 2017Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces to take on common enemies as a sinister conspiracy threatens New York City.
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Marvel's Daredevil
April 10, 2015Lawyer-by-day Matt Murdock uses his heightened senses from being blinded as a young boy to fight crime at night on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil.
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Marvel's Jessica Jones
November 20, 2015After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.
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Marvel's Iron Fist
March 17, 2017Danny Rand resurfaces 15 years after being presumed dead. Now, with the power of the Iron Fist, he seeks to reclaim his past and fulfill his destiny.
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Marvel's Luke Cage
September 30, 2016Given superstrength and durability by a sabotaged experiment, a wrongly accused man escapes prison to become a superhero for hire.