Marvel Officially Sets Up The Defenders' Return In Avengers: Secret Wars

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is preparing for its next two big crossover events, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and for the latter, it has quietly set up the long-awaited return of the Defenders team. Despite some failures in both its TV and film branches, the MCU continues to expand and shows no signs of stopping soon. To culminate its Multiverse Saga on a high note, the MCU will bring two massive crossover events bigger than Infinity War and Endgame.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Doomsday will bring together some of the remaining original Avengers, the New Avengers, Fox’s X-Men, Ant-Man, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, and other allies to face Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). Doomsday is only the beginning, as one year later, Secret Wars will arrive. While the cast for Secret Wars isn’t confirmed yet, Marvel has quietly set up the long-awaited, highly anticipated return of the Defenders for it.

The MCU’s Defenders team is formed by Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Iron First (Finn Jones), who starred in their own miniseries back in 2017 as part of Netflix’s Marvel shows. With the Defenders, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist officially added to the MCU, this universe has been subtly and slowly reintroducing them and making them an active part of it, and thanks to the latest Spider-Man movie and another Netflix Marvel character, they can make a triumphant return in Secret Wars.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Successful Punisher Inclusion Is Key To The Defenders’ Return

The most recent MCU movie and the one right before Avengers: Doomsday (in terms of release date) is Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Brand New Day takes place four years after the events of No Way Home and reunites the audience with Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who keeps mourning his past life while continuing to fight crime in the streets of New York City as Spider-Man.

When a mysterious threat that takes over the city’s residents through mind control emerges, Spider-Man must find out who is causing it, and for that, he teams up with a new ally: Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). The Punisher is also part of Netflix’s Marvel heroes, debuting in season 2 of Daredevil and later starring in his own TV show for two seasons. The Punisher was reintroduced in season 1 of Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again and got his own TV special in The Punisher: One Last Kill.

Brand New Day is the big-screen debut of Bernthal’s Punisher, and while he’s not part of the Defenders, this is a huge step towards the team’s jump to the big screen. Unlike Matt Murdock in No Way Home, The Punisher had a much bigger role in Brand New Day as an ally of Spider-Man without falling into sidekick territory, with actual depth, and staying true to the character’s essence and tone.

Brand New Day proves that characters like The Punisher and the rest of Netflix’s Marvel characters, who are as dark or more, can work in the current MCU, in PG-13 properties, and on the big screen, making it a lot easier for the Defenders to finally join the rest of the MCU’s characters in upcoming movies.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man Movies Have Been Key To The Defenders’ MCU Reintroduction

Spider-Man: Brand New Day did a great job in bringing The Punisher to the big screen with a big role in the story, but it’s not the first time the MCU has done this to Netflix’s Marvel characters in a Spider-Man movie. As mentioned above, Matt Murdock had a very small role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which served as his official reintroduction ahead of his new solo TV series, Daredevil: Born Again, released two years later.

Murdock appeared as the lawyer who helped Peter after his identity was revealed by Quentin Beck at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, managing to drop the charges against him and warning him about public backlash. Although his appearance was very brief, it was the perfect reintroduction of the character as part of the MCU and setup for his solo series, which has also done its part in bringing the Defenders back.

Daredevil: Born Again season 2 brought Ritter’s Jessica Jones back along with Colter’s Luke Cage, with Jones’ Iron Fist set to appear in season 3. Now, the Marvel characters from the Netflix shows were notoriously darker and more grounded than those introduced directly as part of the MCU, but this universe has turned darker since Avengers: Endgame. Avengers: Doomsday is expected to continue on that path, but it’s unlikely the Defenders will appear in it (except, probably, as a tease) – but there’s still hope for Secret Wars.

Will The Defenders Return In Avengers: Secret Wars?

Avengers: Secret Wars is set to be the end of Phase Six and the Multiverse Saga, and given its source material and everything the MCU has been building up, it will be the biggest crossover event. As such, Secret Wars is expected to have the biggest cast the MCU has had so far, most likely including superheroes from other universes, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Spider-Man, Tom Hardy’s Venom, and others. Although the cast of Secret Wars hasn't been confirmed yet, it could very likely be the long-awaited return of the Defenders and their big-screen debut.

The massive threat that’s coming in Secret Wars will need all types of heroes (and anti-heroes) in the MCU so far, and not just those from space (like the Guardians of the Galaxy), mutants, and those who already fought in Endgame. Street-level heroes will also be needed, and it would be very hard to ignore their existence in such a massive event. The MCU has already proven that characters like the Defenders work on the big screen and are welcomed by the audience, so it’s the perfect time to make them part of the film side of this universe.

Daredevil: Born Again season 3 will arrive before Secret Wars, so it could be key to further setting up the Defenders’ long-awaited jump to the big screen – and, of course, Doomsday will also be of great help. While I wouldn’t discard a Defenders cameo or tease of some sort in Doomsday, I do think it’s unlikely they will be a surprise addition with an actual role in the story. It’s a lot more likely that they will be included in Avengers: Secret Wars, and, hopefully, they will have a big role in it.