History YMMV / TheDefenders2017

** Alexandra might be the biggest. One side of the fan base liked Creator/SigourneyWeaver's AlphaBitch performance and found her motivations interesting. The other side found her to be a very underwhelming villain, nothing more than a BigBadWannabe whose legendary status was an InformedAbility. The fact she was the true leader of the Hand is another point of contention, especially because it was founded in the source material by the much more popular Nobu's comic counterpart.

* CounterpartComparison: It's easy to see a lot of parallels between the Defenders and the Avengers. Though none are exact counters to the Avengers, and one could argue there's multiple they could be compared to, the easiest ones to spot are:
** Luke and Captain America. Both are the most mature, level-headed, and good-matured members of their team, both are inspirational symbols for their community/nation, and their origins have a lot of parallels, both being soldiers subjected to an experiment that granted them their powers. Also Luke has already been referred to by Cottonmouth as "Harlem's Captain America" in his own show.
** Jessica Jones and Natasha Romanoff. Both are badass female heroes with a DarkAndTroubledPast which includes being orphaned, abused, and brainwashing. They also spy on people for a living, have the most cynical outlook compared to the others, have a complex and troubled relationship with their allies.
** Danny and Thor. Both are from a mystical alien warrior culture of whom they are the most skilled, which makes them something of a FishOutOfWater among the comparatively more comprehensible teammates, while also having the most personal connection to the main threat among the team.
** Matt and Iron Man. Both are disabled heroes (Matt's blindness, Tony's heart problems), which lead into and enabled their superhero origins but also serves as giving them a pretty big weakness. They're both depressed and suffer from a variety of personal problems that puts strain on their personal lives, and they struggle to balance both sides of their lives in a healthy way. They also both starred in the work that launched the respective groups, are seen as a BreakoutCharacter and serve as a SeriesMascot of their works, and the first BigBad they faced being bald-headed CorruptCorporateExecutive types.
*** Notably, both Tony and Matt have the most possible parallels among the opposite group. Aspects of Tony can be found also in Danny (his RichIdiotWithNoDayJob civilian life, his time spent away from home, dead parents, etc), Luke (kept wrongfully imprisoned and nearly killed before using their recovery to escape and help people, and have something of a womaniser streak), and Jess (alcoholism, PTSD, DeadpanSnarker and the above-mentioned strained relationships), while aspects of Matt can be found in Natasha (almost identical fighting styles, similar costumes and colour associations, and were both raised to be a ChildSoldier before eventually using their experiences for good), Bruce (their civilian identities both being introverted intellectuals as well as a shared struggle with anger issues), and Steve (similar costumes, ill-defined superhuman abilities, nice guys who hide deep personal struggles, have an ultimately idealistic view of the world, and are the default leaders of their respective groups). This unusually gives them something else in common too.
** Colleen and Hawkeye. Both are the BadassNormal SixthRanger to the group who's main contribution is their mastery of martial arts, specialising in an outdated weapon. They've spent time brainwashed which gives them a chip on their shoulder, and struggle with feeling like they're not as important as the others. They're far less advertised and weren't given their own show prior to the start of the series, but have notably more screen time than other side characters as well as actual plot importance.
** Stick and Nick Fury. Both are older leaders of secretive groups of good guys who tend to be morally grey. Also, both men have eye problems of one sort or another, have a very shaky relationship with Matt/Tony Stark, and serve as the BigGood to the eponymous super team, despite the methods they're willing to employ.
** Elektra and the Winter Soldier. Both are trained killers who started off as acquaintances of a titular hero (Matt, Steve Rogers), only to seemingly be killed, and then be revived and brainwashed by a fanatical cult-like organization (the Hand; HYDRA) into being an even deadlier assassin. Matt's bewildered "Elektra?" upon recognizing her is also shot and staged very similar to Steve's "Bucky?" upon recognizing the Winter Soldier as Bucky.
** Claire and Coulson (prior to his [[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD jump to television]]), something people noted since the Netflix shows first started. They're both a normal person who assists the heroes best they can, and have prior association with most/all of them prior to them uniting as a group, serving as their moral compass who assists their efforts, despite being way in over their head. Misty also has some aspects of this, being a member of law enforcement who tries to help them, and is injured severely by one of the villains for their efforts.
** The Hand and HYDRA. Both are secretive cults who have existed for quite some time[[note]]though HYDRA's true origins are only delved into on ''Agents of SHIELD'' rather than the movies[[/note]], founded for the purpose of bringing powerful beings back home (the Fingers home to K'un-Lun, Hive home to Earth), seeking to acquire as much power and influence as possible, as well as destroy human civilisation in the process, as a means to that end. They both believe themselves to be immortal, and have waged a bloody war with their respective enemies, SHIELD/The Chaste. They also operate with multiple sects, with several leaders who themselves all resemble one from the other in different ways.

** Danny Rand is still one, though not to the same extent as ''Iron Fist'' season 1 had been.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The very final scene appears to introduce Matt's mother Maggie Murdock prior to making her onscreen debut in ''Daredevil'' season 3.

** Danny Rand gets called a thundering dumbass by Stick, and two moments in particular establish why:

*** [[spoiler:Once Danny's kidnapped and taken beneath Midland Circle, Elektra outright tells him that the Iron Fist is needed to open the barrier. What's the one thing he shouldn't do while fighting her there? Activate the Iron Fist. Which he does. This leads to Elektra bullfighting him into punching the barrier with the Iron Fist.]] Granted, [[spoiler: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]].

* AwesomeMusic: Nirvana's "Come As You Are" is used again for the full trailer and it fits the theme of the heroes having to come together but not wanting to quite nicely.

** Since Sowande is an African ArmsDealer, one can only imagine if he ever had a business with another ArmsDealer [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ulysses Klaue]] or came into conflict with [[Film/BlackPanther Kingdom of Wakanda]] in at least one of his lifetimes.

** The Hand in general are considered underwhelming by many. This is an unfortunate side effect of having to retcon the Hand mythology to weld it into the Iron Fist mythos. What was shown of the Hand in ''Daredevil'' suggested a more comics accurate Hand storyline (focus on mystical ninjas, Stone in Stick's intro episode of season 1, Nobu was basically Kirigi with a different name, Stick's description of the Hand in season 2), but by the time ''The Defenders'' rolled around, anything to do with the Hand called back directly to ''Iron Fist'' season 1 and the only ''Daredevil'' related Hand elements that stayed were Elektra and the work that the Hand did with Wilson Fisk to acquire the lot for Midland Circle.
*** It didn't help that in the cases of ''Daredevil'' season 2 and ''Iron Fist'' season 1, many felt the Hand plots left those two shows busier setting up the spinoff instead of focusing on telling their own stories.

** 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.]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvcwnEOWPV0 actual main theme]] is quite excellent as well, sounding similar to the ''Daredevil'' theme [[note]]it's the same composer, John Paesano[[/note]] but with an Avengers-esque flair to it.

** Danny punching Luke Cage with his Iron Fist technique, started making rounds as soon as it showed up in the trailer.
** Daredevil has a better Iron Fist costume than Iron Fist does.[[note]]Matt came to Midland Circle in civilian clothing since he was just following Jessica, so has to steal her scarf, which comes off looking like Danny's comic mask. Danny himself has thus far [[NotWearingTights not donned any sort of costume]] in the MCU continuity.[[/note]]

** Luke finally got to have that coffee with Claire![[note]]They kissed in the finale of his series, and have sex the moment he gets back to Harlem[[/note]]

** Sowande's ''very'' long story about how he and his Hand mooks attacked K'un-Lun reeks of this, because the show doesn't bother to show any flashback clip depicting the event, instead we had to listen to him narrating it and gloating to Stick about how they killed the monks there. You have to wonder if he's telling the truth or just lying to taunt Stick.
** Similarly, anytime Alexandra out-of-nowhere reminisces about any of her previous lives, such as referring Istanbul with its historical name Constantinople. It comes off as pretentious because all we see of her is a normal-looking woman living in 21st century since the show doesn't bother to show any flashback of her lives.
** The big Defenders vs. Hand leadership fight in "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E7FishInTheJailhouse Fish in the Jailhouse]]" has [[TheBigGuy Luke]] and [[SuperStrength Jessica]] tag-teaming [[EvilOldFolks Madame Gao]]. Granted, she's a BadassAbnormal, but the sheer visual incongruity of two ''extremely'' physical types having trouble taking down a little old lady who walks with a cane is kind of hilarious.

** Many viewers have felt that the supporting cast members who aren't Colleen, Misty or Claire were greatly underused.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The very final scene appears to introduce Matt's mother Maggie Murdock prior to her onscreen debut in ''Daredevil'' season 3.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Cole is treated by Luke as a JustifiedCriminal who only got involved with the Hand because he's poor and needed money. The audience is supposed to agree with Luke that Cole didn't deserve to be attacked by Danny due to his background and Luke having known Cole's sister. The problem is Cole wasn't committing some minor, non-violent crime in order to provide necessary support to his mother. He was part of a cleanup crew using acid to break down the bodies of people killed by an evil cult, and when we were introduced to Cole, we see that he's spending his money on frivolous luxury goods like a stereo system and expensive sneakers.

** The big Defenders vs. Hand leadership fight in "[[Recap/TheDefenders2017S1E7FishInTheJailhouse Fish in the Jailhouse]]" has [[TheBigGuy Luke]] and [[SuperStrength Jessica]] up against... [[EvilOldFolks Madame Gao]]. Granted, she's a BadassAbnormal, but the sheer visual incongruity of two ''extremely'' physical types having trouble taking down a little old lady who walks with a cane is kind of hilarious.

* TakeThatScrappy: Repeatedly with Danny. Although the creators have noted that [[ButtMonkey his treatment in this series]] wasn't done as a response to his show being the most criticized (since ''The Defenders'' was written while ''Iron Fist'' was being filmed, and the season was almost in post-production by the time that show premiered). With Luke giving Danny a well-deserved knockdown a couple of times when they first met, and following up as the episode progresses he gives Danny a severe WhatTheHellHero over roughing up Cole, when with his influence he could take the fight off the streets and into courts where no one would get hurt. This surprisingly gives Danny an idea to confront Midland Circle in his capacity as the head of Rand Enterprises, although Luke comes around to also see Danny's point-of-view when his approach fails to save Cole.

** The Hand in general are considered underwhelming by many. This is an unfortunate side effect of having to retcon the Hand mythology in with the Iron Fist mythos. The Hand that were shown in ''Daredevil'' suggested a more comics accurate Hand storyline (focus on mystical ninjas, Stone in Stick's intro episode of season 1, Nobu was basically Kirigi with a different name, Stick's description of the Hand in season 2), but by the time ''The Defenders'' rolled around, anything to do with the Hand called back directly to ''Iron Fist'' season 1 and the only ''Daredevil'' related Hand elements that stayed were Elektra and Midland Circle.

** Back in "Nelson v. Murdock," when Foggy first found out about Matt's secret identity, one thing he said to Matt was, "[[spoiler:You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up. You know that, right?]]" [[spoiler:By the end of the season, Foggy turns out to be right([[HesJustHiding -ish]]) and finds this out the hard way.]]

** When Matt is subduing the thieves after the quake, we get a shot of him backflip kicking someone in an alleyway. Combine this with him being called a kid, this reminds you of when kid Matt in the Daredevil movie did the same to a bully in an alleyway.

** Once [[YMMV/IronFist2017 again]] Claire and Colleen have a lot of this, especially in the climax, where they borderline flirt.

** Similarly, anytime Alexandra out-of-nowhere reminiscents about any of her previous lives, such as referring Istanbul with its historical name Constantinople. It comes off as pretentious because all we see of her is a normal-looking woman living in 21st century since the show doesn't bother to show any flashback of her lives.
** The big Defenders vs. Hand leadership fight in "Fish in the Jailhouse" has [[TheBigGuy Luke]] and [[SuperStrength Jessica]] up against... [[EvilOldFolks Madame Gao]]. Granted, she's a BadassAbnormal, but the sheer visual incongruity of two ''extremely'' physical types having trouble taking down a little old lady who walks with a cane is kind of hilarious.

** Father Lantom's appearance in "The H Word" when Matt goes to him for confessional.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Luke treats Cole as a JustifiedCriminal who only got involved with the Hand out of necessity, but some viewers take issue with this due to the ObviouslyEvil nature of the Hand and how Cole spends some of his money (luxury goods like sneakers and a stereo system).

** Trish and Karen's conversation at the police station gets harder to watch knowing how come season 2 of ''Jessica Jones'', Trish is going to relapse on Simpson's inhaler and go so far as to kidnap Dr. Karl Malus to get Jessica's powers.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Cole is treated by Luke as a JustifiedCriminal who only got involved with the Hand because he's poor and needed money. The audience is supposed to agree with Luke that Cole didn't deserve to be treated like any other Hand henchman due to his background and Luke having known Cole's sister. Thing is, Cole wasn't committing some minor, non-violent crime in order to support his mother. He was part of a cleanup crew using acid to break down the bodies of people killed by an evil cult, and when we were introduced to Cole, we see that he's spending his money on frivolous luxury goods like sneakers and a stereo system. So Luke's belief that he's an victim of circumstance who didn't deserve to be handed over to the cops doesn't really hold up. He did leave a bunch of money for his mother, though, seeing as Cole is killed shortly thereafter, we don't know if it does any good for her.

* FanPreferredCouple: Matt / Jessica became a very popular ship in fanfiction thanks to the quick bond the two manage to form as professional acquaintances.

** Karen Page has been criticized for hypocrisy over her reluctance to support Matt as Daredevil given her differing attitude towards Frank Castle, while her supporters argue that this reluctance is justified due to her main problem being Matt's failure to be honest with her.

** Karen Page, with supporters understanding her reluctance to support Matt in his vigilante endeavors, and detractors stating that her attitude is hypocritical at best when taking her actions in both seasons of ''Daredevil'' and her support for Frank Castle into account.

** How effective Luke calling anyone out varies, considering he is bulletproof but took a while to be convinced by Claire to use his powers for good. Versus Danny who has been using his power to fight a war Luke knows nothing about. Considering Luke has also been okay with beating up Cottonmouth's and Diamondback's henchmen, it may come across as Luke playing the race card.

** How effective Luke calling anyone out varies considering he is bulletproof but took a while to be convinced to use his powers for good. Versus Danny who has been using his power to fight a war Luke knows nothing about. Considering Luke has also been okay with beating up mooks it may come across as Luke playing the race card.

** Danny punching Luke with the iron fist technique.
** The Midland Circle fight scene.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The very final scene appears to introduce Matt's mother Maggie Murdock.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Cole is treated by Luke as a JustifiedCriminal who only got involved with the Hand because he's poor and needed money. The audience is supposed to agree with Luke that Cole didn't deserve to be treated like any other Hand henchman due to his background. Thing is, Cole wasn't committing some minor, non-violent crime in order to support his mother. He was part of a cleanup crew using acid to break down the bodies of people killed by an evil cult, and when we were introduced to Cole, we see that he's spending his money on frivolous luxury goods like sneakers and a stereo system. So Luke's belief that he's an victim of circumstance who didn't deserve to be handed over to the cops doesn't really hold up. He did leave a bunch of money for his mother, though, seeing as Cole is killed shortly thereafter, we don't know if it does any good for her.

** How effective Luke calling anyone out varies considering he is bulletproof but took a while to be convinced to use his powers for good. Versus Danny who has been using his power to fight a war Luke knows nothing about.

** Back in "Nelson v. Murdock," when Foggy first found out about Matt's secret identity, one thing he said to Matt was, "You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up. You know that, right?"