Things are about to get hot in Hell’s Kitchen. The cover art for issue #3 of Marvel’s Defenders, written by Brian Michael Bendis, shows the Punisher opening fire on four street-level superheroes who resemble their Netflix counterparts. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will have to square off against the unhinged vigilante.
The cover comes from artist David Marquez, who has been showing early drafts of the cover on Twitter since March. (The full color version hit Reddit on Thursday.) The cover shows Daredevil and Luke Cage getting the brunt of the Punisher’s bullet storm, while Iron Fist and Jessica Jones attempt to make a sneak attack from the rear.
It was just a few months ago when Marvel formally announced a comic book revival of The Defenders that will closely model its popular Netflix TV shows (except Iron Fist is actually wearing his dope outfit). Bendis, best known for Ultimate Spider-Man and, I guess, Civil War II, is the series’ head writer, with Marquez and Christian Ponsor on illustration duties. Bendis described the book as a sprawling, gritty crime comic, calling it a “Godfather-like” epic. He also described it as “a modern, elaborate organized crime story that is different than what has gone before” while “putting them in the hardest battle for the street that anyone can imagine.”
Cover of 'The Defenders' #3.
The first issue of The Defenders will go on sale on May 24. The third issue, which has the Punisher cover, is expected to hit the streets in July.
