Every Reveal From The Defenders SDCC Panel

Jeph Loeb kicks things off for Marvel TVs first time in the infamous Hall H, and in the middle of his speech about how The Defenders is a dream come true for Marvel, he unexpectedly receives the SDCC Inkpot Award. He tears up and loses his train of thought, and then suddenly Jon Bernthal comes out and the first trailer for The Punisher fills the screen.

"Frank's very much in my heart and I'm grateful to get another crack at him,” Bernthal said before the trailer played. Check out our recap.

Now, it’s Defenders time. First off, Loeb confirms Iron Fist Season 2 is happening. And, Misty Knight will have a large role. This means we’ll get the Misty Knight and Colleen Wing team up every comic book fan has wanted since each character was first announced.

But all's not well in Colleen’s life in The Defenders. “Colleen has issues,” Loeb says, asking actress Jessica Henwick to elaborate.

“Colleen has really had her whole life ripped from her at the end of Iron Fist . Her religion, family, dojo. We catch up with her and Danny not in New York, somewhere else, and she really hasn't’ come to terms with what's happened mentally. She needs to go through the grieving process.”

Fans who watched Iron Fist know that Bakuto tricked Colleen into believing The Hand was doing good for the community. As it turns out, Bakuto had something else entirely in mind, which involved Elektra.

“Elektra in this world is not who you played before,” Loeb prompts Elodie Yung.

“Elektra doesn’t remember who she is and she’s trained by Alexandra to be some sort of weapon and the question for my character is how much of the Elektra that we know remains,” Yung told the SDCC crowd.

Yes, it’s confirmed Elektra and Alexandra are directly involved with one another. We still have yet to learn who exactly Alexandra is and what her goals are when it comes to New York and The Defenders, but it’s clear she doesn’t believe her motives to be that villainous.

“She’s exactly what you want Sigourney Weaver to be,” Loeb says. “A class act all the way from top to bottom.”

Weaver did give us a hint, though. Her character seems to be intrinsically tied to New York City.

“I’m a New Yorker. I love that New York City is one of the five Defenders and they offered me a part I couldn’t refuse. A very interesting woman, a woman who has a lot of dealings with Elektra and their relationship is certainly one of the most unusual and interesting relationships I've ever had on screen or off,” she said during the panel.

Moving on to Iron Fist, Loeb described Season 1 as Finn Jones’ “coming out party,” and adds he’s able to take his responsibilities with more purpose and drive in The Defenders. In part, that’s due to Luke Cage.

“All of these people have seen you get socked in the face by Danny Rand and they know the two of you are eventually going to become friends,” Loeb told Luke Cage actor Mike Colter.

“By the way, that didn’t even hurt,” Colter interjects. “The most interesting part of The Defenders is the relationships between the people. The fight scenes are cool but since we have such clear points of view once we start to bounce ideas off one another it's great. Those to me are the best parts of the series.”

Looking at Jessica Jones, Colter says, “We have a long history obviously.”

“Jessica doesn't want to play with others, but at the end of the day what we love about Jessica is that underneath it all she has a gooey inside and will rise to the occasion and help the little guy,” said Krysten Ritter. “She reluctantly goes on a journey with these guys because she know shes valuable because she’s super strong but she takes every opportunity to make fun of everything they are doing. I think JJ in The Defenders brings attitude, sass and the funny.”

And with that, Finn Jones interrupts Loeb and says it’s about time he shows the audience some footage. Turns out, it’s the entire first episode of the series. Check out our recap.

Unfortunately, The Defenders cast did not come back on stage. But Loeb did treat fans to the second Defenders trailer ahead of the series August 18 Netflix release. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments!