Every Easter Egg & Marvel Connection. WARNING: The following article contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s The Defenders–If there was any doubt that Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist were all building towards one major story, then The Defenders shows it was the producers’ plan for Netflix all along. Now that the team- up series has arrived, and Phase One of the Netflix road map has been completed (with the next series being teased) fans can enjoy not only the action, the dialogue, and the conflicts… but the Marvel Comics Easter Eggs, too.

It would have been enough of a victory for The Defenders to be one of Netflix’s biggest premieres, but the series did so much more: showing the way forward in Phase Two of Marvel’s Netflix storytelling. Assuming that viewers know their Marvel Comics history well enough to spot the clues…Needless to say there will be SPOILERS in our list of Marvel’s The Defenders: Easter Eggs & Marvel Connections. The Renaissance Lives On. The first season of Luke Cage took an unexpected turn for a Marvel property by putting its hero in prison by the season’s close – and leaving the two masterminds of some nasty social manipulation to keep up their cause. As the new leaders of Harlem’s Paradise and the crime community that flows through it, Shades (Theo Rossi) and Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) are left to expand their empire beyond that of Cottonmouth. And when Luke Cage returns home in the first episode of The Defenders, it seems they’re still using an old marketing campaign. Turk later suggests that the villains disappeared after Luke’s arrest, but when Luke exits the bus taking him into Manhattan (past Pops’s old barber shop), an advertisement for the ‘New Harlem Renaissance’ can be seen plastered on its side.

Fans of Luke Cage will remember the phrase as the slogan of Mariah’s double dealings: promoting advancement, but working to milk Harlem for all it was worth. Apparently, they’re not softening their stance, either.

That’s Madam C. J. Walker, the famous African American activist visible on the ad. Throwback To Jidenna.

The series does its best to keep each character’s own visual style intact, soaking the interiors of Luke Cage’s scenes with yellow light. Watch Blessed And Cursed Online Hollywoodreporter. But the visual Easter Eggs are also linked to ones viewers have only heard in Luke’s own season. We’re referring to the wall art when Luke goes digging into the late night employment of Cole (J. Mallor Mc. Cree).

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Cole may be too young to frequent Harlem’s Paradise, but he would obviously have been a fan of their musical appearances. The artwork for Jidenna’s “Long Live The Chief” can be seen on Cole’s wall, and even if viewers don’t know the artist, they know the song. Jidenna actually appeared in the first season of Luke Cage performing that very song on the Paradise stage in Episode 5. Return To The Roof… Again. The first meeting between Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) and Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) helps establish the real evil forces at work, but fans may have missed one inversion of power made explicit in shooting locations. In Daredevil Season 1 Madame Gao became the obvious figure of mystical importance when Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) put on his best skills of charming subservience, honoring Gao by meeting her in a quiet rooftop garden. In The Defenders, it is Gao who is brought to meet Alexandra in almost the exact same spot.

The Power Fist trope as used in popular culture. There's just something primal and gratifying about the image of bare hands beating swords. However, it gets.

This time around, fans can see for themselves the even greater connection to Sam Raimi’s first Spider- Man movie. All of the scenes were set in the same location, but in The Defenders, the shot placement from Spider- Man is almost identical.

Tsukamoto Sword. When Danny and Colleen go searching for the operations of The Hand in New York, they quickly stumble across a samurai blade – one Colleen quickly refers to as “a Tsukamoto.” She can barely bring herself to touch it, simply observing it… and noting that the one before them has been sharpened. And you don’t sharpen a Tsukamoto unless you plan on using it. But the reference here has little to do with martial arts, at all. The line is almost certainly a reference to Shinya Tsukamoto, a Japanese cult film director who earned his place in cinema history with Tetsuo: The Iron Man  (1. Sharing a name with Marvel’s movie poster boy, the film helped ensure that Tsukamoto would be seen as the true master of not Japanese martial arts films, but Japanese cyberpunk. Callback Punch. Marvel fans got the chance to see just how strong and compelling a character Luke Cage was when he debuted in Jessica Jones, helping break up a bar fight without breaking a sweat.

But it wasn’t until his solo series that he demonstrated his true durability. It was there that he walked into a group of Cottonmouth’s men shaking down a local business, with the camera zooming in on a slow- motion look at one gangster’s punch. In that first scene, his fist smashed into an unbreakable human, barely moving Luke’s jaw an inch as the bones in his hand snapped. When Luke faces off against Danny he thinks the same will happen.

Fortunately, the exact shot is repeated, with Danny’s glowing impact and the shock on Luke’s face caught in super slow motion. Eye- Catching Sai. The structure of The Defenders throws audiences through a bit of a loop, when Elektra is shown resurrected by The Hand to battle other members of the team – and then her origin story is explained in Episode 3. And we do mean origin story: Elektra may have appeared in a season of Daredevil, but she’s been returned to the mind of a child when brought back to life. A deadly, superstrong child. The first sign that the person Elektra used to be remains somewhere in her mind comes early on, when Alexandra lead her into a wide selection of weaponry.

Elektra ends up choosing a pair of wakizashi (short- swords), but the presence of a pair of sai – her traditional signature weapon and the ones used in Daredevil – gives her obvious pause. Stan Lee Cameo. It wouldn’t be a Marvel release without a cameo from comic book legend Stan Lee, and he continues his trend of appearances as a spokesperson for the NYPD of Marvel’s Netflix universe here. Having previously shown up in a framed photo in Daredevil, and later as part of an NYPD awareness campaign, he’s now even more visible on the streets of the city. When Jessica realizes she’s being tailed and turns the tables on Matt, keep your eyes off of the action at hand. Shortly before Jessica pulls her reversal on Matt, Lee’s face can be seen on a large poster. Once the camera switches to follow Matt instead, the same advertisement can be seen from the reverse angle. Ironclad”When the four heroes finally join forces to take on The Hand, they’re thrown into intense combat immediately.

They eventually get the chance to talk about the plan in greater detail, and fill eachother in on their personalities and powers. Jessica, it turns out, isn’t that big 0n mysticism or magic… or the moniker of ‘the Imoortal Iron Fist.’ Instead, she refers to Danny Rand as “Ironclad.”The line may seem like a demonstration of how little attention Jessica has paid to Danny’s origin story or ‘destiny,’ but Ironclad is a Marvel Comics villain. You can guess his power set, but we doubt there’s anything more to this reference than a small wink to the fans. Protect Ya Neck. There’s no question that Luke Cage elevated the musical game of the Marvel Defenders universe, so it’s no surprise to see the final showdown get some audio accents. When Danny unleashes his Iron Fist on Madame Gao, the action is immediately accompanied by the Wu Tang Clan’s “Protect Ya Neck.” It’s a perfect choice of song for the four heroes beating their enemies one after another, but it’s also a fun inside joke for fans who know the song, and group. It’s hard to overlook the fact that when Iron Fist was announced, many had to clarify that it wasn’t the same as the film The Man With The Iron Fists starring RZA, a Wu Tang member.

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