Warning: spoilers ahead for The Defenders. Read ahead at your own risk!
While The Defenders ended with a (literal) bang, these heroes' stories have only just begun in some ways. Each of Marvel's street-level vigilantes finally met one another, which has opened up a whole new world for crossovers and team-ups. One hero whose development and progression will prove fascinating to watch is Danny Rand's Iron Fist, especially after Matt Murdock made his low-key request to Danny to keep New York City safe. If the comics are any indication, it seems the youngest Defender could possibly don Matt Murdock's Daredevil costume before stepping into his iconic Iron Fist duds.
Anyone who has seen The Defenders already knows that it's chock full of great relationships. While many of these dynamics aim for laughs (particularly Danny Rand and Luke Cage), the series went more serious in depicting Danny and Matt Murdock's growing respect for each other. Their interplay has a wealth of dramatic potential, and Charlie Cox recently opened up and explained that, in the aftermath of Matt's apparent "death," Danny's respect could compel the billionaire hero to fulfill Matt's requests by temporarily taking over the Daredevil legacy. According to Cox:
There are a few characters who dress up as DD at certain points in the comics. Peter Parker is another one. I think one of the nice relationships in The Defenders is the Matt and Danny relationship. Danny looks up to Matt a little bit, as a sensible older brother who has been doing this for a lot longer. At the same time, there's a mutual respect. Matt is very impressed with Danny's fighting techniques, and his skills, and his style. That friendship, there's definitely a lot of room for it to grow. I loved working with Finn. We had a great time. He's a true professional. If he's involved somehow further on, wearing the Daredevil suit? Yeah, for sure.
As Charlie Cox points out in his remarks to THR, there's already precedent for someone like Danny Rand to take over the Daredevil suit and cover for Matt. In fact, Iron Fist has regularly stood in for Matt Murdock over the years (perhaps most notably during the Civil War comic book arc) to help continue the façade that the blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen has nothing to do with its red-clad vigilante.
And in the case of this iteration of the characters, Danny would be donning the cowl to show the NYC that its Devil is still out there, even if Matt isn't the one handling things. And considering how Matt is the only one of these heroes to make use of a disguise, it's certainly possible that Danny's time inside the suit would inspire him to get his own costume. Well, considering he's a billionaire, he'd probably get like 100 of them.
Of course, even in the face of this massive status quo shift, we already know that Danny Rand won't stay in the Daredevil suit forever. Despite what the rest of the world thinks, Matt survived his showdown with Elektra and The Hand, and the final moments of The Defenders see him waking up in a nunnery -- alluding to an eventual adaptation of Daredevil's "Born Again" storyline. So Danny could keep the suit warm for the real Daredevil while he's gone, but Matt will almost certainly return to continue laying a beatdown on the criminal element of Hell's Kitchen.
The Defenders is now available to stream on Netflix, but make sure to take a look at our summer TV premiere guide and our fall TV premiere guide for more information on all of the shows set to debut over the next few months!
