Are Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist Coming Back? Marvel Studios Teases The Defenders' Return

Marvel Studios' Head weighs in on reviving The Defenders characters such as Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Updated on Feb 20, 2025 | 04:24 PM IST | 27.4K

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Marvel Studios is presently actively considering a comeback for favorite The Defenders characters following the return of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again. This includes Jessica Jones played by Krysten Ritter, Luke Cage played by Mike Colter, and Iron Fist played by Finn Jones.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the studio's Streaming, Television, and Animation Head, Brad Winderbaum revealed, "We are very much exploring" bringing the superheroes back. Although nothing has been officially announced, Winderbaum assured that Marvel is giving serious thought to their comeback.

Winderbaum further added, "I can't say much, but I'll tell you that it's so exciting to be able to play in that sandbox. Obviously, we don't have unlimited storytelling resources like a comic book. If you can draw it, you can do it."

Winderbaum concluded, "It's dealing with actors and time and the massive scale of production in order to build a cinematic universe, especially on television," before adding, "But I can just say that all those variables taken into account, it is certainly something that is creatively extremely exciting and that we are very much exploring."

Ritter starred as the former superhero and private detective in Melissa Rosenberg's MCU series which ran for three illustrious seasons on Netflix. While she led the psychological thriller as Jessica Jones, it also introduced other famed Marvel characters such as Rachael Taylor's Trish Walker aka Hellcat, and David Tennant's villain Zebediah Killgrave aka The Purple Man.

The Marvel-Netflix deal first debuted in 2015 with Daredevil, leading to the solo series, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, ultimately resulting in the crossover miniseries The Defenders in 2017. However, they started to get canceled a year later as Marvel Studios transitioned toward its own internal Disney+ offerings.

With the street heroes returning, rumors of more The Defenders characters coming back have been on the rise. Krysten Ritter had also shown interest in returning as Jessica Jones, reacting positively when Winderbaum suggested the possibility during the D23 Brazil fan expo in 2024.