The Defenders

You know, bringing up the "Mike Murdock" twin brought up a related trivia point that I thought just had to be mentioned if it hasn't been mentioned already: Matt fakes his death a lot in the comics. Far more times than any reasonable person should. It's like it's his go-to solution whenever things are falling apart for him in his personal life.

Well, we know Matt can make out basic shapes (world on fire), and his senses allow him to see better than someone who does have eyes, but if you asked him what colour someone's hair or eyes were, he'd be right screwed.

Very plausible deniability.

Edit: ....how often are we talking here?

edited 16th Dec '17 10:39:34 AM by HandsomeRob

Do you suppose that Charles Xavier was his professor in law school?

I just went on a fucking journey. First, I was gonna say that I liked how Xavier was acknowledged by the government as a WMD in Logan, depite being a 90-year-old in a wheelchair with Altzheimer's. Then, I thought not to because Logan is FOX and it'd be off-topic. Then, I remembered that FOX is now part of Disney and Logan could very well be part of the MCU so it's not off-topic. Then, I realized this is the Defenders thread and so Logan actually is off-topic. Then, I remembered that the original post I was reponding to was a joke about how Matt and Xavier fake their deaths a ton in the comics, and Xavier now being in the MCU and teaching Matt to do that is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

edited 16th Dec '17 1:54:57 PM by PushoverMediaCritic

Because it never gets old, here's Matt punching Danny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZkKCO20sU

And then you looked into a mirror, and you were Xavier all along!

edited 16th Dec '17 2:45:33 PM by KnownUnknown

The advantage to Matt's superpowers is that they're really borderline as to what constitutes a superpower. People think superpowers and they think shooting lasers out of your eyes, mind controlling people, commanding the weather, regeneration, etc.

A blind person's other senses become stronger to compensate for the lack of vision, allowing them to still experience the world around them, just in a different way. Matt's power is "That, but more." He's like a guitarist having the power of "play the guitar, but better," or a medical doctor having the superpower of understanding anatomy. It can be hard to tell where the mundane ends and the fantastic begins, and that makes for a character whose powerset is something where you kinda have to take him on his word that it's even a superpower.

He's basically blind, middle-class Batman. The radar sense did not make him DareDevil. Years and years of ninja training made him DareDevil. The radar sense just helps a bit.

edited 16th Dec '17 4:50:13 PM by TobiasDrake

Even Real Life blind people are capable of performing lesser Daredevil-esque feats with training, such as navigating an unfamiliar room or building by clicking their tongues and hearing it bounce off objects, or driving a convertible around a neighborhood by listening to the engine.

Matt could have taken the gun from Lewis, but the bomb would still stay, and Lewis would be more nervous and, therefore, more inclined to use it.

Why would they need to do it? Dinah isn't an enemy to Frank and David, they didn't need to pressure her into treating them properly. She was more than willing to work with them, not against them.

"The Punisher" was barely connected to other MCU movies/shows. They didn't mention "The Incident" once, they didn't mention any other MCU superheroes, there were no people with superpowers (unless we count Frank's fast regeneration as superpower, that is). I think they wanted to make it as realistic as possible. Makes sense that no one mentions "friendly neighborhood superpowered vigilante who regularly fights magical ninja".

He'd probably have the same reaction as in ".380": "I don't like that you recklessly put yourself in danger, but I understand where you were coming from and ultimately I accept that this is your choice to make, not mine".

I actually recall reading testimonies of blind people trained with echolocation and one of them mentions being able to hear footsteps several floors away in a apartment building, in a DD-ish type of feat.

Curiously, another one mentions the Achilles' Heel of echolocation is speaking in a microphone. It apparently gets hard to tell which echo is yours and which is the mic's. Funny how no one ever tried that on DD.

@Tobias: Frank Miller, back in his saner days, actually had an interesting insight regarding Matt's powers, observing the DD is probably the only superhero characterized by something he cannot do unlike all others who are defined by their extraordinary skills. His distinguishing trait is that he is blind.

I imagine that would make things tough for Matt on the subway in most occasions, given where the train announcements come from.

MCU Matt has the whole world on fire thing down, he can probably sense the air vibrations and smell whether the person is there or not. I don't know if comic book Matt's senses are quite that acute. Depending on the Writer, probably.

Having finished the series, my brief thoughts in no particular order:

> Finn Jones' similarities to Stephen Amell seemed unusually more obvious here than in Iron Fist. Maybe it's the way they both pronounce the word "city".

> Considering what Jess went through in her series, Malcolm's persistent violation of her privacy is really dickish.

> I don't get Foggy's logic of bringing Matt the suit. I could understand if he decided that there was no stopping Matt and was trying to help him hide his identity but the idea that it was some secret test of character makes no sense. It's like bringing a recovering alcoholic to a bar.

> So the most I can gather is that the Black Sky is supposed to be some kind of evil counterpart to the Iron Fist with a name that doesn't in anyway explain it's abilities.

> When Jess asked Luke if wanted to go out for coffee some time, I briefly thought she was asking him to have sex.

> "Cut off one finger, you can still use your hand." That phrase alone shows why Hydra is a better organization than you are.

• Alexandra: Cut off one finger and you can still use the rest of your hand, once you've staunched the bleeding and bandaged the wound. Even two or three fingers is no major loss! You'd be surprised what a thumb and index finger are capable of, and it's only a short time before the other fingers grow back and you're at 100% again anyway.
• Murdock: ...I don't think you actually know how hands work.
• Cage: Wait, go back. You can cut off fingers?

edited 30th Dec '17 7:52:21 AM by TobiasDrake

To be fair the Hand is supposed to be a united brethren of masters seeking to return to their homeland. The name was probably chosen intentionally to reflect that "we're all in this together" feeling. The "cut off one finger..." phrase says more about how dysfunctional the Five are rather than the metaphor itself.

It would've made a certain amount of sense for Hydra to be connected to the same secret society as the Steel Serpent. Though I guess you might also wonder why there are so many motherfucking snakes in Luke Cage's motherfucking rogues gallery.

Speaking of snakes, has Luke ever fought the Sons of the Serpent, in the comics?

I'm pretty sure he fought them with the Defenders

It turned out that Nighthawk's Not-Alfred was funding them because race wars are big money making opportunities

I'm more confused as to why the cops didn't search the bag when Foggy brought it in. Wouldn't they have had to search it just to make sure Foggy wasn't bringing in a bomb or guns?

More of the typical idiocy from the MCU police.

Same reason the evidence locker was left unlocked so that anyone could just walk in, fill up a duffel bag with C-4, and then just cart that shit out of the police station with nobody thinking twice. And then didn't even arrest anybody when that C-4 was then used to commit an act of domestic terrorism.

Netflix MCU cops are the worst.

edited 8th Jan '18 3:17:24 PM by TobiasDrake

Should have had the Defenders leading the police in the final battle. Would have been awesome and explained why the police are willing to just ignore everything that happened.

But no. These are superhero shows, so the police have to be either fascists or useless. The only ones who ever do anything useful are on Fisk's payroll.

I still hate that idea.

Of the Defenders leading the police?

Yes, that one.

Well, perhaps "hate" is a rather strong word, but I'm still not fond of it.

I mean, just what are we proposing here, anyway? Cops vs. Ninjas set to Wu Tang Clan? I can't see it.

edited 8th Jan '18 10:29:36 PM by KarkatTheDalek