A Talk with Marco Ramirez, showrunner for Marvel ‘The Defenders’
I really like Daredevil on Netflix. The way they decided to tell his origin, and build the universe was amazing. I also really enjoyed the first four episodes of The Defenders. I was given a chance to interview Marco Ramirez, and jumped at the chance to talk to him. He is the showrunner for this new show, and he told me a lot about how this show came to be.
(c) Netflix
Was it more of a challenge to bring Daredevil or The Defenders to Netflix?
Marco Ramirez: Well, each one brought all kinds of different challenges. I was there from day one with Daredevil shooting one, and it was a very good day as a whole taking on that endeavor. So in a way that kind of world building is its own challenge. We didn’t know what the universe was going to look like, and I think Jeph Loeb certainly had an idea of what was going to happen. But that was it’s own thing. Daredevil as you can see has its own kind of interesting, exciting challenges. Which included bringing Frank Castle into the world, bringing Elektra into the world. Dealing with major people and comic book properties that we are going to be re-introducing.
The big challenge with The Defenders has just been making sure that the voices of all four characters are consistent with the series. Everyone is very active and very driven. If you are an audience member who is coming to this show because you love one of the four characters and watched only one of the shows that you kind of feel like you are a person in the fight. It was a really delicate imbalance to make sure it was’t just a few characters coming to visit Matt Murdock’s world or Luke’s world. We had to make sure the tapestry of the show is all about the psychology of the four of them, not just the one of them. That to me is something that is not done very often in television. They are usually about one character moving around in the world and how they change. Doing one about four was rather challenging.
(c) Netflix
How did you become a showrunner for Daredevil and The Defenders?
Marco Ramirez: I was a mid-level writer on Daredevil season 1. I had a great experience. Then in the middle of Daredevil season 2, Jeph Loeb asked me to run that. Then I did The Defenders after that. I really don’t know how or when it even happened other than I made it kind of clear early on my passion for these characters. Also my passion for writing for sophisticated TV drama, comic books or no comic books. I have just been a cable TV guy. I ingest probably an unhealthy amount of cable TV writing and I watch way too many shows. Yet it has been a great job.
(c) Netflix
What do you think is the pivotal moment of Season 1 of The Defenders?
Marco Ramirez: You know when you come to this show. You are probably thinking ‘Wow! These are really single minded people. They all have their own opinions about how the world should and does work’. I don’t know if you have gotten this far yet. There was one moment that was kind of the hardest moment writing wise was getting them to all stay on the same side of the line and say ‘Okay, fuck this. We are fighting together.”
That was really hard to do when you have a character as driven as Jessica Jones. Or someone as morally focused as Luke Cage or as solitary as Matt Murdock is. It was really quite a challenge to get them to that point. It is one of the things that we kind of take for granted sometimes in Superhero team-ups. But in getting to know their inner psyche and what makes them tick it is a lot to get them to stay on the same side of something and work together.
(c) Netflix
Why do you think people should tune in and watch The Defenders?
Marco Ramirez: In general, even if they are not fans I think it might be really refreshing to watch a show about people coming together these days. In this ever divided world I think there will be something really refreshing about watching a show about how powerful you can be when you stand together.
You can watch The Defenders season 1 on Netflix now. You can also follow this show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Mister, your show suck really bad.