Hawkeye, Ant-Man and the Wasp were among the biggest omissions from Avengers: Infinity War, but the MCU blockbuster had no room in its ranks for Marvel’s street-level heroes, either, as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Mike Colter’s musclebound Luke Cage were all absent as well.
Together, they form the four pillars of Netflix’s superhero universe, which has only alluded to the events of the MCU (see: The Avengers) in passing. So when the time came to assemble Infinity War‘s massive ensemble cast, Joe and Anthony Russo made the decision to exclude The Defenders, as factoring Marvel’s TV series into the equation would have only muddied the waters.
Besides, bringing them into the battle against Thanos would have surely pushed Infinity War‘s runtime north of three hours, and even if their appearance catered to some ardent fans, others would have felt shortchanged by their all too brief cameos. But that doesn’t mean we won’t ever see a crossover happen. Speaking to Deadline in a recent interview, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige once again stressed that he “won’t rule anything out.”
So, while it seems there’s hope for a meeting between, say, Iron Man and Daredevil one day, the continual avoidance of referencing the Marvel/Netflix heroes in the movies is still annoying for fans, as it only makes us second guess the studio’s promise that “it’s all connected.” What that really seems to mean is just that we’ll get a namedrop here and there, with maybe a subtle easter egg or two thrown in for good measure.
Anyways, though we may not see them on the big screen anytime soon, it’s business as usual for Matt Murdock and co, what with new installments of Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist all coming down the pipeline. Let’s just hope that one of these days, the studio finds a way to tie the entire MCU together in a more satisfactory manner.
