In a surprise announcement, Marvel revealed at New York Comic Con that none other than Sigourney Weaver will play the villain in Marvel’s The Defenders.
At the tail end of the panel for Marvel’s Iron Fist, presenter (and head of Marvel Television) Jeph Loeb was interrupted by actor Finn Jones, who insisted on bringing a few friends out on stage with him. To raucous cheer, Jones (Danny Rand/Iron Fist) was joined by Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), and Mike Colter (Luke Cage). It was the first time the four shared space.
Not to be outdone, Loeb revealed one final surprise, introducing Weaver as the yet unnamed and unknown villain. Weaver — herself no stranger to geek fan love for films like the Alien quadrilogy, Avatar, and Ghostbusters — was deluged with applause and ovation as she assembled with the others onstage.
Speaking with Wired a couple of weeks ago, Weaver hinted at potentially joining a Marvel project.
[…] “I have been watching, for whatever reason, some Marvel movies, and they cast really good actors.” That’s true. Brie Larson just got cast as Captain Marvel and she’s got an Oscar, and… Wait, why is Sigourney Weaver binge-watching Marvel movies? “I can’t tell you!” she says. […]
Filming on the eight-episode Defenders miniseries begins in November.
Also during the panel, Loeb and actor Jon Bernthal made it official that filming on Marvel’s The Punisher began this past week. Bernthal also had the pleasure to officially announce that Deborah Ann Woll was joining him on the series as her Daredevil character Karen Page.
UPDATED: Now with vidja below.
#TheDefenders in the same place for the very first time. But they’re not alone… #MarvelNYCC pic.twitter.com/yZzptqAQel
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) October 9, 2016