‘Avengers: Infinity War’ And Netflix’s ‘Defenders’, ‘It’s All Connected’? ‘It’s Complicated’

Avengers: Infinity War is next in phase three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and there seems to be a complication entailing if whether not Netflix fans will even see the Defenders from Hell’s Kitchen mash-up with the Avengers on the big screen. Of course, there are references made to the Battle of New York (but not by name).Also mentioned is the “green guy” and “the flag waver” per the words uttered by Jessica Jones which keep open an awareness of the small and big screen’s characters. Fans are hopeful of Infinity War having some kind of crossover.

ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’s Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson made his appearance in both, so why not the raven-haired gum shoe Jessica Jones played by Krysten Ritter?

One of the Infinity War directors, Anthony Russo, explains that “it’s complicated” and according to the folks at Collider, it was found out that at the Brazilian Comic-Con in Sao Paulo, Russo described the complexities of this kind of set-up of an Avengers crossover. One group is put together by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Other components are formed by others and thus controlled by them. Anthony even got into who holds rights to what, i.e. Sony’s Spider-Man. A crossover would even further complicate things, according to Russo.

“It is a smaller scale version of the problem that exists when remembering that Fox holds the rights to some of Marvel’s most popular characters, as does Sony and others. As storytellers, we only have control over what happens in Marvel movies, but everything is possible, Spider-Man became possible!”

Collider responded.

“That’s definitely not a no, but it doesn’t inspire a lot of optimism either.”

Maybe Avenger’s Captain America can inspire such optimism as he did with his team during the Battle of New York? That’s figuratively speaking.

That being said, there’s seems to be a widening of the Marvel TV, headed by Joseph Loeb and Marvel movies, headed by Feige. Loeb reports currently to head of Marvel Ike Pulmutter, whereas this is what Feige used to do. Now, the Marvel Studios president reports to Disney which has allowed more creativity on his part. Thus, the separation between TV and movies.

So now with this widened gap between the two as described by the Russo brothers as a rights issue, but MTV reported an idea of a possibility that it could be a scheduling situation. Infinity War begins filming in Fall/Winter of 2016 which is said to be around the same time Netflix’s Defenders begins its filming as well, but release early. Then there’s the situation of continuing the Defenders series with additional seasons.

For instance, if the crew decides the fate of a character in the story happens a certain way, then it wouldn’t be able to line-up its own timeline with that of Avengers: Infinity War 1 and 2, which are both scheduled for 2018 and 2019. It would likely have an impact on the story telling.

Rumors of the Avengers crossing over with the Defenders in Infinity War have been running amuck, and via an interview reported by io9, the Russos said it to be that it may be possible, but not something that can be ensured.

“When we start to serialize the telling of stories it’s difficult. You have to have a lot of control and focus on the course of history. The films are controlled by a group led by Kevin Feige, so they function as a unit. Other products, even if they are from Marvel, are controlled by others.”

The Avengers aren’t mentioned by name in Jessica Jones, but yet their actions are. Also, with Spider-Man being taken on by Marvel Studios on the big screen now and exists in the Big Apple like the Defenders, one wouldn’t be entirely unsurpised by mentioned made of him in Hell’s Kitchen. In the comic books, Peter Parker even has his encounter with the Daredevil arch-rival, Kingpin.

If the Russo Brothers were to pull this off, who of Netflix’s Defenders team members would amuse you to see some interesting banter? Think Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist could provide an assist against the Mad Titan himself, Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War?

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment]