Marvel is going big on the TV show front. Really big. The company has signed a deal with Netflix to produce four separate new live-action TV series – Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones . The four shows will then lead into a team-up miniseries, The Defenders.

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Meet Your New TV Defenders: Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Iron Fist

Daredevil will come first in 2015, followed by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Netflix notes “the epic will unfold over multiple years of original programming,” and that it will "take Netflix members deep into the gritty world of heroes and villains of Hell's Kitchen, New York,” indicating the shows will be very interconnected (Hell’s Kitchen is of course the traditional home to Daredevil in the comics). Each series has a minimum commitment of 13 episodes each. The Defenders is described as “a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters.”Marvel Television in association with ABC Television Studios will produce the series."This deal is unparalleled in its scope and size, and reinforces our commitment to deliver Marvel's brand, content and characters across all platforms of storytelling. Netflix offers an incredible platform for the kind of rich storytelling that is Marvel's specialty," said Alan Fine, President of Marvel Entertainment. "This serialized epic expands the narrative possibilities of on-demand television and gives fans the flexibility to immerse themselves how and when they want in what's sure to be a thrilling and engaging adventure.""Marvel's movies, such as Iron Man and Marvel's The Avengers, are huge favorites on our service around the world. Like Disney, Marvel is a known and loved brand that travels," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "With House of Cards and our other original series, we have pioneered new approaches to storytelling and to global distribution and we're thrilled to be working with Disney and Marvel to take our brand of television to new levels with a creative project of this magnitude."Talk about Marvel seeking such a deal, for four series and a miniseries, surfaced last month . Among the characters being used, Daredevil is notable as the second live-action interpretation of the character, after the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck. [Update: Whoops! As pointed out by KaineMorrison in the comments, this will be the third Daredevil, including the version played by Rex Smith in The Trial of The Incredible Hulk.] Marvel got the film and TV rights back to the character in 2012, after 20th Century Fox was unable to begin production on a new movie in time to stop the rights from lapsing. Marvel previously had developed a never-filmed Jessica Jones project for ABC, written by Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, Twilight). No writers or producers have been announced as yet for the new Marvel TV shows.On the heels of the launch of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, there has also been talk of a possible Agent Carter TV show for ABC , starring Hayley Atwell as her Captain America character.