Will Netflix’s partnership with Marvel continue to create solid and visually appealing shows?
The Marvel and Netflix combination have so far delivered hits. Despite critics panning Iron Fist, the audience still gave the show a favorable score. It received a 78% average audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
And if the early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are any indicator it looks like The Defenders will be another hit!
The Defenders is the upcoming eight episode Netflix series that sees Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist finally team up to defend New York City against a common foe.
Early reviews have the show sitting at an 80% Fresh rating. Eight out of ten reviews give the show a fresh rating. Meanwhile it has an average score of 6.25 out of 10. The big catch here is that reviewers were only given access to the first four episodes. That means they have yet to see the final four episodes.
Here’s what they are saying:
Susana Polo at Polygon reviews:
Once all the scene setting is done, the show does a great job of being a split narrative instead of an ensemble, juggling five separate plot lines… all without feeling like the audience’s attention is being juggled around too fast.
David Betancourt of The Washington Post gives his take:
The coming together of the streaming service’s four superhero shows — each with varying styles on how to be a hero — works in part because of how they focus on why such a get-together shouldn’t work at all.
Dan Jolin begins to temper expectations with his review at Empire Magazine:
It’s a long-anticipated crossover series that delivers some engaging character clashes, but which fails — in the first half at least — to up the ante story-wise.
Then on the opposite end of the spectrum, Alan Sepinwall at Uproxx voices his distaste:
It would be nice if at some point, both show and team could justify their existence as something more than a package Marvel put together years ago in the hopes everything would work out.
Marvel shows on Netflix, for the most part, have all been rated highly. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones sit above 90% on the critics score while Daredevil has a not so shabby 86% critics score. The only show to score low is Iron Fist which sits at a 17% critics score.
The Defenders comes to Netflix on August 18, 2017. We’ll be watching! Will you?