Warning: contains some spoilers for The Defenders.

Marvel television recently dropped its latest series, The Defenders. The show is the climax of two seasons of Daredevil and a season of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

When the series kicks off, Colleen and Danny are in Cambodia chasing down a member of the Chaste. Matt is a regular lawyer. Jessica is still done with everyone’s shit. Luke is back from prison. The Hand are doing shady things left, right and centre. Oh, and Elektra isn’t dead. She’s now the Black Sky.

The premise of the series is simple. The Hand are trying to get back to K’un L’un so they can get this substance that will continue their immortality. However, they need the Iron Fist to open the door. The Black Sky is their personal assassin-turned-leader determined to get the job done. With her memories reminding her of her love of Matt, will she be able to go through with it? When he runs into her, he is adamant to make her remember everything

How are Jessica and Luke involved? Well, Jessica is on the hunt for an architect who built The Hand’s headquarters, Midland Circle. Well, he kills himself in her apartment, the police bring her in, and her lawyer is Matt. Luke is just trying to help this family in Harlem as The Hand are hiring kids to do their grunt work, but with many criminal organisations, it seems the petty criminals are the ones who always end up behind bars.

The four of them somehow end up at Midland Circle to take on The Hand, barely escaping with their lives. It all goes downhill from there.

One of the great things about this series is that it brings together a group of characters without compromising their own integrity. The cinematography from the character’s series of the same name carries over. Jessica Jones’ scenes are marred by grey tones. Luke’s have that sepia orange vibe. Matt’s and Danny’s are distinctly dark.

It must be clear that these four people are very different. Jess and Luke have history, but that’s about it. Danny Rand is a 25-year-old millionaire, Luke is painfully aware of what the colour of his skin means, Jessica is an abuse survivor and Matt is a lawyer who happens to be blind. It causes tension between them all. You finish the series only just believing they cared about each other.

The biggest tension is probably between Luke and Danny. Luke calls Danny “I’m the Immortal Iron Fist” Rand for his privilege, for failing to see that not all criminals are the same – that some people turn to crime because they don’t have any other option. Instead of hunting down these people, he should maybe use his high profile to help them.

Speaking of Luke and Jessica, it is so nice to see them reunited again. They parted on terrible terms at the end of Jessica Jones, but seeing them together again – and both kicking ass – is the stuff that will melt your heart.

It’s also super nice seeing characters from other shows interacting. When they realise The Hand is after them, the team bring their loved ones to Misty Knight’s police precinct. I had no idea how much I needed to see Karen Page and Trish Walker being journo pals together until they were comparing notes on what was happening in New York.

Now, let’s talk about that ending. Like any Marvel series, they kind of leave the ending open so you can guess what will happen next. The Defenders is no different. A character is never really alive or dead until the new season begins. And, oh boy, are we counting down the days until we get the latest instalment to see how our number one lawyer is doing! We can’t bare the thought of anything bad happening to Matthew Murdock!

You can watch The Defenders on Netflix.