When Kevin Feige confirmed that none of the previous Marvel TV shows would be regarded as official canon, and the studio will be wiping the slate clean and officially launching their small screen expansion with The Falcon and the Winter Solider, fans instantly began to wonder what this meant for the characters that had previously appeared on Netflix.
The members of the Defenders will inevitably be rebooted and absorbed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the near future, and there’s already been countless rumors making the rounds about how it could potentially happen. One major issue is set to be the tricky contractual situation, with the stars of the shows reportedly tied to the streaming service itself and not the individual projects they appeared in.
Not only that, but there’s been widespread reports that the rights wouldn’t officially revert back to Marvel until two years after the cancellation date, and if that turns out to be the case, then Iron Fist and Luke Cage might be the first two former Netflix superheroes to make their MCU debuts, with the two-year hold expiring in a little over four weeks following their respective cancellations in October 2018. That being said, there have been conflicting reports about this, with word that the rights may’ve returned to Marvel a little earlier than expected.
Regardless, this isn’t exactly going to cause fans to jump for joy given that Iron Fist was the weakest show in the lineup by quite some distance, and Mike Colter has rarely been linked with reprising his role even though Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal and Krysten Ritter have all found themselves the subject of intense speculation that Kevin Feige would be happy to keep them on.
An Iron Fist cameo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been mentioned in the past, though, and with the movie having recently resumed production and Danny Rand soon to be free from his contractual obligations, Marvel might surprise everyone by having him be the first Netflix alumni to join the shared universe.