The Defenders have met their match: Contracts. Photo : Netflix

Each time Netflix has cancelled one of its Marvel shows, the network teases that the characters will live on. That may be true, but it’s sounding less and less likely that it’ll be in their current iterations.


Variety is reporting that the initial deal between Marvel and Netflix for their first four shows—Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist—included a clause that doesn’t allow those characters to appear in any non-Netflix shows or movies for a full two years after the shows are cancelled .

That means the earliest that Iron Fist, Luke Cage, or Daredevil, each of which have been cancelled this year, could come back to a service like Disney+ would be sometime in 2020, two years after each’s cancellation . And even if that happened, it would be without Jessica Jones, whose third season is coming next year. If it’s cancelled right after that, add two years, and now we’re looking at 2021.


This doesn’t mean Charlie Cox, Finn Jones, or Mike Colter will never play Daredevil, Iron Fist or Luke Cage again—it’s just that this contractual layoff makes it that much more unlikely.

As for The Punisher, whose second season is coming to Netflix in January, Variety says it’s unclear if that show is under the same restrictions.

Sorry to be the bearers of bad news, Marvel fans. But Netflix may have just put the final nail in the coffin of these shows .

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