History YMMV / TheDefenders2017

* EvilIsSexy: Elektra may be a villain now, but she's still played by the beautiful Creator/ElodieYung.

** Elektra being the "Black Sky" is a major plot point of season 2 of ''Daredevil'' and the Hand goes to great lengths to turn her to their cause and make her their leader as she is supposed to bring their nefarious schemes to fruition; in ''The Defenders'', she's largely reduced to being Alexandria's glorified assassin and daughter substitute with even the other Hand leaders question what purpose, exactly, she serves for their plans. She does, eventually, kill Alexandria and take control of the Hand, but this was completely unexpected by any of them and the survivors are clearly just manipulating her out of convenience and don't actually need her for anything at all- most of this is caused by ''Daredevil'' and ''Defenders'' having two separate writing teams who were not trading notes at all, so the writers of this show truly didn't know what to do with the character other than make sure she was prominent.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** If you've forgotten just [[Series/Daredevil2015 how]] [[Series/IronFist2017 bad]] The Hand is, this series is more than happy to remind you, particularly when [[spoiler: they murder the brothers of the [[Recap/LukeCage2016S1E13YouKnowMySteez recently deceased]] Candace Miller. Their poor mother has now [[OutlivingOnesOffspring seen her three children die from criminal violence in the span of only a few months]]. Cole's murder is ultimately what causes Luke to go on his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, thus meeting the other Defenders.]]
** If [[spoiler:Elektra]] doesn't cross it when murdering [[spoiler:Stick]], [[spoiler:she]] definitely does by deciding to carry on the original plan of [[spoiler:removing the dragon bones, as it'd've sunk a large portion of New York.]]

* AcceptableTargets: The wealthy. All the Defenders join in on ribbing Danny for his privileged naivete. Luke specifically calls out Danny for attacking Cole as a "rich white man beating up a poor black kid".

** Trish and Karen have a conversation at the police station where they talk about being involved in their superhero friends' lives, with Trish comparing her relationship with Jessica to what Karen has with Matt. But try watching this scene following season 2 of ''Jessica Jones'', and knowing that Trish actually harbors a degree of jealousy towards Jessica, to the point that she relapses on Simpson's inhaler and goes so far as to kidnap Dr. Karl Malus to get Jessica's powers.

*** Trish Walker never gets to make use of her krav maga, not even in the one time where it would've come in handy (when Murakami made an attempt on her and Jessica). Also, she stays in the precinct with Karen, Foggy and Malcolm, rather than go down to Midland Circle. Admittedly, though, the fact that Trish was cut out of the Hand investigation and forced to stay on the sidelines [[FridgeBrilliance certainly would explain]] her later drive to get superpowers in ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' season 2.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Previous Netflix MCU shows were criticized for dragging the stories on after the first half of their thirteen-episode seasons. The first season of ''The Defenders'' is only eight episodes long.
** After many complaints that the portrayals of the Hand in ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' and ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'' didn't fit well together and were just confusing, at long last this show gives us a singular depiction of them that fits reasonably well with everything seen beforehand. Justified in that the show was written around the same time as ''Iron Fist'' was going into production, so it's highly likely they always meant to gradually reveal the Hand and explain what they were over the course of the various shows.
** Elektra finally gets a pretty comics-accurate outfit. [[spoiler: And in his last scene, Danny Rand gets a take on his current (at the time of production) outfit as well, sans the yellow bandanna. He ultimately gets the yellow bandanna during ''Iron Fist'' season 2.]]
** After his solo show shied away from the mystical elements of his backstory in favor of corporate drama, this show features Danny using the Iron Fist much more, his wealth is more actively used instead of boardroom scenes and [[spoiler: they actually show a dragon. Well, a dragon skeleton, but still]].

* WhatAnIdiot:
** "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E2MeanRightHook Mean Right Hook]]": Danny and Colleen are in a warehouse where they've found the bodies of recently killed Chaste soldiers. A group of cleaners including Cole enter the building carrying [[HollywoodAcid acid]] and a spray hose to dissolve the bodies. Danny and Colleen reveal themselves and engage the cleaners.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That the cleaners would try spraying them with acid.\\
'''Instead:''' They put their acid cans down and instead fight Danny and Colleen with their fists.
** "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E4RoyalDragon Royal Dragon]]": After fleeing Midland Circle and hiding in a Chinese restaurant trying to keep their presence a secret, Matt, Jessica, Luke and Danny are found by an injured Stick who explains that he found them because Danny tried to call Colleen. Stick smashes Danny's phone and reminds him that the Hand can trace their calls.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That they relocate to another safe place, probably somewhere like the ''Bulletin'' or Matt's apartment, before the Hand can get to the Royal Dragon.\\
'''Instead:''' They stay put, and the Hand are able to follow them there.
*** Also from this episode: Matt has just recognized Elektra is still alive and has been brainwashed into being the Hand's top assassin.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Matt, remembering how he burned his bridges with Karen and Foggy as a result of keeping them in the dark about what he was doing with Elektra during ''Daredevil'' season 2, as well as the closure of Nelson & Murdock, would immediately come clean with the other Defenders about who Elektra is and his attachment to her.\\
'''Instead:''' He and Stick make it their little secret, meaning that when Elektra shows up for the fight at the Royal Dragon, the other Defenders are quite baffled when Matt splits off from them to fight her one-on-one. And things don't go over well when Matt is eventually forced to come clean about his ties to Elektra when interrogating Sowande.
** "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E6AshesAshes Ashes to Ashes]]": Stick, Matt, Luke, and Jessica decide that if Danny were out with them he would be easier to kidnap, so they need to hide him away.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That they listen to Danny's side, that hiding him away isn't a smart move, and let him have a say in the decisionmaking.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' That Danny would keep his emotions in check so that the others might be more willing to listen to him.\\
'''And You'd Also Expect:''' That since the four know the Hand had a habit of popping up when least expected, that Elektra could very likely find them and try to capture Danny.\\
'''Instead:''' Between being shut out of the discussion, and not keeping his anger reined in, Danny lashes out at the group, forcing Matt, Luke and Jessica to tie him up.\\
'''End Result:''' Elektra is able to capture Danny without him being able to defend himself, and she also ends up killing Stick and knocking out Matt, Luke and Jessica in quick succession.\\
'''Even Moreso:''' Even if Danny had just cooperated and stayed behind willingly, it's unlikely that he could have stopped Elektra from capturing him if he fought her alone.
** "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E7FishInTheJailhouse Fish in the Jailhouse]]": Once Danny's kidnapped and taken beneath Midland Circle, Elektra outright tells him that the Iron Fist is needed to open the barrier.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Danny realize that the one thing he shouldn't do during the subsequent fight with Elektra is summon the Iron Fist.\\
'''Instead:''' He does. This leads to Elektra bullfighting him into punching the barrier with the Iron Fist. Granted, he spends most of the fight using his regular martial arts, and only activates the Iron Fist when Elektra pushes him to do it by taunting him.

*** Claire Temple, as the crossover character who linked the first seasons of the solo shows, has a bad case of this. Back during her time on ''Daredevil'', she was emphasized as an outsider, the audience stand-in, the mortal in a world of gods and monsters. But by the time of this show, Claire has become a part of the strangeness now. And while that is a neat development, it also means she has lost the key elements that made her such a compelling character in the first place. Claire is actually one of the most informed, well-connected, least fazed characters in the show, and thus one of the least interesting. She hangs out in the background for most of the show, handing out clumsy advice and reminding the other characters how important and special they are. She doesn’t even get to perform her standard plot function of providing spectacularly daring medical help (unless you count her checking Matt over for injuries offscreen in "Fish in the Jailhouse"). In fact, the series more or less treats Claire as a ''Luke Cage'' supporting cast member and as just "Luke's girlfriend and Colleen's friend", making no attempt to acknowledge her past relationship with Matt until a conversation with Foggy in the epilogue, and not even acknowledging her past encounter with Jessica[[note]]When Jessica had brought her in to save Luke after Jessica shot him with a shotgun to break Kilgrave's control over him[[/note]] and the role that that played in getting Claire and Luke together. It doesn't help when ''Luke Cage'' season 2 basically treated Claire as nothing more than "Luke's girlfriend" too.

*** Claire Temple, as the crossover character who linked the first seasons of the solo shows, has a bad case of this. Back during her time on ''Daredevil'', she was emphasized as an outsider, the audience stand-in, the mortal in a world of gods and monsters. But by the time of ''The Defenders'', Claire has become a part of the strangeness now. And while that is a neat development, it also means she has lost the key elements that made her such a compelling character in the first place. This change is particularly obvious in ''The Defenders'', in which Claire is actually one of the most informed, well-connected, least fazed characters in the show, and thus one of the least interesting. She hangs out in the background for most of the show, handing out clumsy advice and reminding the other characters how important and special they are. She doesn’t even get to perform her standard plot function of providing spectacularly daring medical help (unless you count her checking Matt over for injuries offscreen in "Fish in the Jailhouse"). In fact, ''The Defenders'' more or less treats Claire as a ''Luke Cage'' supporting cast member and as just "Luke's girlfriend and Colleen's friend", making no attempt to acknowledge her past relationship with Matt until a conversation with Foggy in the epilogue, and not even acknowledging her past encounter with Jessica[[note]]When Jessica had brought her in to save Luke after Jessica shot him with a shotgun to break Kilgrave's control over him[[/note]] and the role that that played in getting Claire and Luke together. It doesn't help when ''Luke Cage'' season 2 basically treated Claire as nothing more than "Luke's girlfriend" too.