Marvel's Netflix television series are a set of interconnected American television series created for the streaming service Netflix, based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. Produced by Marvel Television and ABC Studios, they are set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledge the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series. Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb revealed the group of shows were known internally as the "Marvel Street-Level Heroes" or "Marvel Knights" series.
A deal between Marvel and Netflix to produce several interconnected series was announced in November 2013, with the individual series Daredevil (2015–2018), Jessica Jones (2015–2019), Luke Cage (2016–2018), and Iron Fist (2017–2018) culminating in the crossover miniseries The Defenders (2017). A spin-off from Daredevil, The Punisher (2017–2019), was ordered in April 2016. The series were all filmed in New York State, forming the state's largest television production commitment across 161 episodes. They star Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, who all star together in The Defenders, as well as Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher. Many actors have roles across the different series, including Rosario Dawson who signed a special deal to portray Claire Temple.
The series are believed to have generated strong viewership for Netflix, who do not release exact viewership details, and received positive reviews for their casts and darker take on the MCU. There were some common criticisms of the series, such as for their pacing. Netflix had cancelled all of the series by February 2019, when Marvel's parent company Disney was preparing its own streaming service, Disney+. The series were all removed from Netflix on March 1, 2022, after Disney regained the licenses for them, and they began streaming on Disney+ from March 16, where they were collected under the title "The Defenders Saga".
Contractually, Marvel had to wait two years before they could use the characters without Netflix. Vincent D'Onofrio and Cox were the first actors to reprise their roles in Marvel Studios-produced MCU projects, in December 2021. A new Daredevil series titled Daredevil: Born Again, with Cox, D'Onofrio, and Bernthal returning, is in development for Disney+.
Development
By October 2013, Marvel Television was preparing four drama series and a miniseries, totaling 60 episodes, to present to video on demand services and cable providers, with Netflix, Amazon, and WGN America expressing interest. In November 2013, Marvel's parent company Disney was set to provide Netflix with live-action series based on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a crossover miniseries based on the Defenders. Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that Disney had chosen Netflix to air the shows when they realized that the audience of the streaming service would provide a way to "grow the popularity of the characters".
Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb later stated that Marvel was not "interested in making four pilots and then hoping someday that they could all get together. Netflix really understood what it is we wanted to do. They're very open to directors that might not have that same opportunity in broadcast television. The notion of having all 13 episodes at one time, particularly in serialized storytelling, is very appealing." Loeb also added that the four characters "lent [themselves] to a world" due to their relationships and shared locale of New York City in the comics but that the individual series would be different form one another because "the characters have different issues, different problems, different feelings about them". Loeb gave as an example the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy (both 2014), on which he said, "I cannot think of two films that are more different in tone" than them, and yet "they feel very Marvel ... like, 'Oh, it is still the same universe that I'm in.'" Despite being branded as "Netflix Originals", the series were licensed to Netflix from Disney.