Ever since Marvel started expanding their cinematic universe on Netflix, fans have been crying out for the street-level heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to crossover with Iron Man and co. on the big screen. Our best hope for this happening was in Avengers: Infinity War and/or its sequel Avengers 4. And while we fully expect those movies to feature lots of fan-pleasing cameos, we’re pretty sure we’re not about to see Iron Fist or Matt Murdock put in an appearance.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Infinity War screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus were asked why they didn’t include the Defenders alongside the Avengers in the upcoming event movie, which otherwise unites the whole of the MCU. According to Markus, introducing five more heroes from a very different part of the franchise into the narrative would have been “a bridge too far.”
“It’s hard to factor them in because that is what, five more heroes and you’re trying to blend them in and trying to get them, you know, we’ve taken some people off to the end of the universe but again, it’s a, it’s a bridge too far, I think on a storytelling level.”
Going by the trailers, we know that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will split off into teams in order to take down the Mad Titan. For instance, Iron Man’s troop, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Star-Lord, will travel to Thanos’ desolate homeworld of Titan. Given that, you can kind of see where Markus is coming from. After all, it would be bizarre to have Krysten Ritter’s private eye and Charlie Cox’s Man Without Fear end up on an alien world.
Still, the continual avoidance of referencing the Marvel-Netflix heroes in the movies is annoying fans, as it flies in the face of the promise that “it’s all connected.” What that actually seems to mean is that we’ll occasionally get a namedrop of Captain America or the Hulk in Daredevil. But hey, there’s always a chance of a crossover when things calm down again in Phase Four, right?
Besides, it’s not like we’re strapped for hero team-up action. All of the leading men and ladies from the big screen will come together later this week to fight Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, which opens on April 27th.
