5 / 10. Netflix’s Marvel shows limp towards their demise with this lacklustre combo effort, I award the 5 rating for Jessica Jones’s appearance

Marvel and Netflix’s The Defenders throws together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist as a superhero team in a mini-series crossover fighting against a singular big bad in New York City as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The series stars Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Iron Fist, who all reprise their roles from their individual series.

I didn’t go into The Defenders with high hopes, but I watched it for continuity reasons to catch up before Jessica Jones season two. I lasted two episodes of Iron Fist and couldn’t abide it, or Finn Jones’ terrible acting as petulant Danny Rand. I watched two seasons of Daredevil, could never make up my mind, then decided it was crap and gave up. Luke Cage Season 1 was quite cool, but nothing original.

However, I loved Jessica Jones season one. Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast and gives a raw, witty portrayal of Jessica in a gritty, dark story, with a fantastically creepy turn from my favourite Doctor Who, David Tennant, as Kilgrave. Looking forward to season two now the misery of the Defenders is behind me.

The way the heroes are thrown together in The Defenders just comes across as cheesy, and no one has any personality but Jessica. The storyline was lame, there are some interesting aspects to the mythos of the Hand, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere, and the ending was ‘meh’ and abrupt.

I’m a massive fan of Sigourney Weaver and her performance as Alexandra Reid was quietly threatening, but she wasn’t given a lot to do. I wonder if it would’ve been better a show if they’d included The Punisher (Jon Bernthal)?

The best part of The Defenders isn’t Luke Cage walloping Danny Bland (it’s up there), but is Jessica telling Matt Murdock that he ‘looks like an asshole’ with a scarf on his head. Love her.