We learned a few days ago The Defenders are leaving home. All the Marvel shows available on Netflix so far, including Daredevil, will not be available on the platform beginning March 1st. We explained at the time that Disney Plus is the natural destination for the six TV shows, especially now that Marvel brought Daredevil (Charlie Cox) to the MCU.
At the time, we lacked an actual announcement from Disney that the Netflix Marvel shows will move to Disney Plus. That meant we had no idea when the transition would happen or how long Disney would wait before putting The Defenders on its streaming service. Now, we have new developments for Daredevil fans. Disney Plus is getting all six shows, but things are complicated.
Defenders shows are going away
It all started a few days ago with Netflix users finding notices attached to the Netflix Marvel shows that the TV series will stop streaming on March 1st.
Netflix soon confirmed that it will lose the rights to stream the six TV shows. That means Netflix will stop airing about 160 episodes of Marvel content that make up the following shows:
- Daredevil (Seasons 1-3)
- Iron Fist (Seasons 1-2)
- Jessica Jones (Seasons 1-3)
- Luke Cage (Seasons 1-2)
- The Punisher (Seasons 1-2)
- The Defenders (Limited Series)
If you’ve been following the MCU closely, you shouldn’t be surprised to see Netflix lose access to these Marvel shows. Marvel is getting ready to reboot some of the characters in those TV series, starting with Daredevil and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). We saw them late last year in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye, respectively.
Reports say that Marvel will soft-reboot Daredevil. If accurate, that means keeping the characters and actors who played them in place. It also might mean retaining some of the character development.
The multiverse gives Marvel the freedom to do that. The MCU’s Daredevil and Kingpin might be different from the Netflix versions. But the characters could also be very similar to the variants in the Netflix Marvel shows, sharing nearly identical histories.
Future of Netflix’s Marvel shows on Disney Plus
Disney has not made any official announcements about the Daredevil reboot. And Charlie Cox isn’t ready to say anything about it.
But with all that in mind, it makes sense to have all The Defenders on Disney Plus. Marvel fans who haven’t seen the Netflix shows might want to keep their subscription in place to see them. Others might open new Disney Plus accounts to watch them.
But as we learned earlier this week, the Netflix Marvel shows aren’t coming to Disney Plus immediately. The shows are leaving Netflix on March 1st, and they’ll return on March 16th via Disney Plus… but only in Canada, for the time being.
It’s unclear what Disney plans to do in the US and other Disney Plus markets. Moreover, it’s unclear what will happen in territories where Disney doesn’t have a streaming presence.
The good news in all of this is that Disney will air the six Netflix Marvel shows as they are. Disney will not recut or edit any of the TV series, according to ThatHashtagShow.
