'The Defenders' Debuts First Episode in Surprise Comic-Con Screening, Shows Off 'Punisher' Footage

Marvel’s The Defenders dropped an early Christmas present at Comic-Con on Friday evening, debuting the very first episode of the anticipated team-up series to the lucky attendees in Hall H.

But before the surprise reveal, stars Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) and Finn Jones (Iron Fist, whose series was renewed for a second season) teased their mash-up show, along with showrunner and executive producer Marco Ramirez and special guest Sigourney Weaver.

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“It’s a very interesting woman and a woman who has a lot of dealings with this lovely young lady [hugging Elodie Yung, who plays an amnesiac Elektra in Defenders] and their relationship is one of the most unusual and one of the most interesting relationships I’ve had on screen and off,” Weaver said with a laugh.

Of the series as a whole, Ramirez promised that this won’t be a small-screen version of Marvel’s The Avengers.

“This is not the kind of the show where they’re ever going to have a headquarters,” Ramirez said of the summer series, which unites four superhero heads into one show. “No one is going to get fitted for suits. No one gets T-shirts. Jessica’s going to look at Danny and say your fists don’t make any sense.”

“If the superhero fights are happening the sky, these people are fighting in the back alleys and the shitty bars,” he continued.

In the opening minutes of The Defenders, the series re-establishes the four main superheroes, starting with Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Daredevil, and featuring some of your favorite supporting characters played by Deborah Ann Woll, Rachael Taylor, Yung, Jessica Henwick, Rosario Dawson (with a steamy intro scene) and Eldon Henson. Viewers also meet Weaver’s villainous character, Alexandra, and she has quite the entrance.

Watch the full trailer for The Defenders, showing the four heroes teaming up, below.

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And that’s not all. Before The Defenders took the stage, Jon Bernthal took the stage to tease his upcoming series, Marvel’s The Punisher, and his character Frank Castle.

“Frank’s very much in my heart and I’m eternally grateful to get another crack at him,” said Bernthal, who also appears in The Defenders. “We’re going to do our best to get it right and I hope you guys dig it.”

A special sneak peek package was shown on the big screen in Hall H, showcasing Bernthal strumming the guitar in confinement before cutting to his character, Frank shooting several men on motorcycles and running them over in rural Alabama. Then, in Juarez, Mexico, viewers get a glimpse of Punisher in sniper range shooting a man in the forehead while he gets a blowjob. Then, Frank beats a guy in the suit in the men’s bathroom after a hint of the classic Punisher suit comes into the view. Totally badass.

Watch our exclusive interviews in ET’s Comic-Con suite with the cast of The Defenders below. 

Marvel’s The Defenders premieres Friday, Aug. 18 on Netflix.

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