Marvel Introduces ‘The Defenders’, Announces Sigourney Weaver as Villain, Releases New ‘Iron Fist’ Trailer

Evan Lewis October 8, 2016, 9:34 pm

Marvel's Iron Fist NYCC - Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), and Finn Jones (Iron Fist) — Craig Barritt/Netflix

Netflix presents Marvel's Iron Fist at New York Comic-Con 2016. Left to right: Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Finn Jones (Iron Fist)

It was supposed to be Iron Fist’s panel, but it wouldn’t be a Marvel event without some massive crossover potential. After all, as moderator Jeph Loeb, Marvel Television’s executive vice president, was keen to remind New York Comic Con attendees, it’s all connected.

Toward the end of Saturday’s event, Iron Fist’s very own Finn Jones asked to bring a few friends out on stage, and fans lost their minds as he was joined by Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage), who will join him on the upcoming Netflix team-up series The Defenders. Just when it seemed like a nerd-riot might break out as a result of all the excitement, Loeb dropped the biggest news of the evening. Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Avatar) will play the main villain of the series, although aside from her status as the big bad, little was revealed about her character.

For the majority of the event, Marvel and Netflix premiered plenty of new Iron Fist footage, culminating in the release of the first official trailer for the series.

Representing Iron Fist at the event were Jones, showrunner Scott Buck, Jessica Stroup (Joy Meachum), Tom Pelphrey (Ward Meachum), David Wenham (Harold Meachum), Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing) and Marvel mainstay Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), whose character Loeb teased would get a chance to kick some ass in Iron Fist under Colleen Wing’s tutelage. Clips shown at the panel included footage of Danny Rand’s (Jones) re-acclimation to New York after having been away in the mystical area known as K’un-Lun, and his conflict with Joy and Ward Meachum, who he previously considered to be like siblings, over his father’s legacy.

There was also no shortage of brutally choreographed martial arts. In one scene reminiscent of Daredevil’s famous single-shot hallway scene, Danny takes on a crew of axe-wielding thugs, and in another, Colleen shows off her skills by beating two musclebound fighters to a bloody pulp in a cage match.

Other stars of the Netflix Marvel universe who made appearances at the event included Jon Bernthal, who is set to star in 2017’s The Punisher, which will continue the character’s story from Daredevil Season 2; Daredevil’s Deborah Ann Woll, who will reprise her role as Karen Page in The Punisher; and Luke Cage’s Erik LaRay Harvey, who was brought out to soak up some fan adoration after not being able to participate in the series pre-release press due to the midseason reveal of his character, Diamondback.