Created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez for Netflix, "The Defenders" is a Marvel superhero mash-up series that features The Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and the Daredevil.
The show is set a few months after the second season of "Daredevil" and a month after the first season of "The Iron Fist" where all the superheroes come together in an alliance to defeat "The Hand." The first episode begins with Danny Rand (The Iron Fist) and Colleen Wing fighting agents of "The Hand" in Cambodia. After a short but intense fight where "The Hand" agent escapes Danny goes to the fatally injured person who he just saved.
With his dying breath, the man tells them that the organization they are looking for is active in New York.
Daredevil Retired: Matt Murdock, a lawyer of the people
In New York, we see that Matt Murdock has retired from his nocturnal vigilante activities as Daredevil and is working as a pro-bono lawyer. We can see that even though Murdock is trying his best and winning cases for the people, the temptation to go back to the life of a vigilante is strong. Around the same time, Murdock's ex-partner, Foggy clears Luke Cage's name, allowing Cage to go back to Harlem a free man. On reaching Harlem, Cage meets a police detective, Misty Knight who informs him about mysterious deaths of kids in the area.
She suspects that they are involved in some late night shady business and asks Cage to guide a youth she suspects is involved in these late night jobs. On his way back to New York, Danny suffers from another nightmare where he thinks he has let the Hand win.
Re-emergence of the Hand
We are introduced to a mysterious woman visiting a hospital.
Upon meeting the doctor, she hears that she is dying from organ failure. He asks how long she has to live. We later see the same woman sitting in a park and talking to Madame Gao of The Hand, she tells Gao to speed up their plans. Through the interaction, it becomes clear that this woman is Madame Gao's superior and The Hand is hatching a sinister plan in New York.
Around the same time, Jessica Jones is visited by a woman and her daughter who request Jessica to find her husband. After refusing to take the case, Jessica walks into her office/apartment where she receives a mysterious call from someone who asks her not to take the case. With her curiosity piqued, Jessica decides to investigate into the missing architect. Meanwhile, Luke Cage visits the youth Misty informed him about and offers to help him. After the boy continuously refuses his help, Luke realizes he is too scared to talk and decides to get to the bottom of the issue on his own.
Jessica, after searching for the missing architect, ends up in a room where she finds a pile of C4 explosives. Danny Rand and Colleen Wing return to New York just as an earthquake hits the city.
Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock also witness the earthquake in their own respective areas. The final scene shows the mysterious woman standing with (who we can only assume is a resurrected) Elektra Natchios as Murdock listens to a slew of police sirens and calls for help in the aftermath of the earthquake.
