For those, including myself, that had hopes of seeing Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron-First head over to Disney's new streaming service, the dream is dead. As reported by Variety, Netflix made a smart business deal when they signed the contract for the four heroes that would comprise The Defenders. None of the heroes are allowed to appear in any live-action television shows or movies for two years following their cancellation. This new information seems to confirm that Netflix had suspicions that Disney would one day try to make a move to integrate the characters elsewhere. Since all three male heroes in The Defenders got new seasons this year, it would make them ineligible for a reboot or a continuation until 2020.
Jessica Jones still has a third season in production that is slated to touch down sometime next year. If Jones is also canceled, which is looking like the forecast if we use the others as an example, she wouldn't be able to get a reboot until 2021. The odd man out is The Punisher. The Jon Bernthal starring series was negotiated as a spin-off series, so the details of that contract are still uncertain. Marvel and Netflix did announce a second season for the series would be dropping in January. As for the rest of the heroes, hopefully, we'll see them reborn on screen during the MCU's Phase 4.
