Jessica Jones & Punisher Rights Revert to Marvel Studios

by Rebecca Kaplan · February 19, 2021

After a tenure that spanned several years at Netflix, the rights to produce live-action stories about the Marvel Comics characters Jessica Jones and the Punisher have reverted to Marvel Studios.

The rights to both characters, along with the rights to Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, formed the Netflix shared Defenders universe, that is comprised of multiple seasons of most of the shows and a standalone season of The Defenders, a crossover event.

Photo: Netflix

You can still watch all these shows on Netflix, if you happened to miss any of them. And while taste is completely subjective, my personal suggestion is to start with Jessica Jones and The Punisher – two of my favorites – then move on to Luke Cage, and go from there.

Jessica Jones and Punisher Back to Marvel Studios

The agreement between Marvel Studios and Netflix dictated that the rights to the Marvel Comics characters would revert back to Marvel if two years passed without an associated project being produced by Netflix. So far, the rights for Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist had already reverted back to Marvel Studios.

Jessica Jones and The Punisher were the last of the Marvel shows to be cancelled by the streaming platform on February 18th, 2019. That means that now the two year window has passed, meaning Marvel Studios is free to produce live-action stories that include any of the previously introduced Defenders characters.

Photo: Netflix

And considering the fact that Marvel Studios has been leaning into the meta-casting element with WandaVision, which casts sitcom actors as Agents of S.W.O.R.D. and brings in an actor who played Wanda’s brother from another series, it seems possible we might see some of the actors who played the characters on Netflix reprise their roles.

Charlie Cox Already Rumored to Return

In fact, there’s already a rumor Charlie Cox, who played Daredevil on the Netflix Defenders shows, may be returning in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, a movie which is rumored to be building a truly impressive roster of stars.

Charlie Cox as “Loki” and Tom Hiddleston as “Daredevil” pose on Halloween in 2019 in New York City. Photo: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images

Considering how Krysten Ritter owned the role of Jessica Jones, let’s hope that we get a chance to see her step into the battered leather jacket of the hard-drinking detective once again! At Marvel Blog, we have already reported on the rumors that Ritter could be reprising her role as the down on her luck P.I. in the forthcoming series She-Hulk on Disney+.