Why are Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist TV shows?

I'm curious why Marvel decided to take these characters and make them into TV shows instead of movies. It seems like in the comics that these guys are some of the upper tier street levelers but in the MCU, Daredevil is clearly several notches below Captain America, who he is supposed to be relatively equal to in the comics. Same with Iron Fist, who I thought was above guys like Cap, Bucky, and Black Panther.

So why are they choosing to nerf these characters by having them on TV shows instead of making them Captain America level characters and putting them alongside the Avengers?

@nfactor1995: Don't want to keep flooding the theathers. Also its wise to corner the market (film and TV) and street level is the easiest to adapt to live action.

There's nothing wrong with them being TV shows. 13 episodes = 13 hours of character development versus a 2 hour movie.

Already Daredevil has had more screen time than any single Avenger.

We get to see more of them, they get to be more developed, shows are cheaper, being only on Netflix is cheaper, they get to last longer than movies do, they aren't big enough to support their own franchises and probably more perfectly valid reasons. It's not about nerfing them. I'd rather have 13 hours of Fisk and Daredevil than 2 hours every few years. Having a Netflix show is way better than having a movie IMO.

@space_coyote: @jayc1324: yeah basically what these guys said

Because my $7.99 subscription to NetFlix is alot cheaper than my $13.50 ticket to go see Avengers: Age of Ultron....... Guess which one I enjoyed more?

This and I also prefer the show ( I don't care about the feats).

Disney/Marvel doesn't do hard pg 13 stuff or above as far as movies are concerned. Netflix lets them use these characters in the mcu without breAking their family friendly dynamic. It also presents these characters with unique advantages that the movie stars don't get.

This.

Also, just because a super hero is in a TV show and not a movie doesn't mean they are/will be weak. Just look at Flash or AoS.

Are they equal in the comics ? There is no regular human tossing motorcycles that hard

Those characters are not very family friendly so I think it's good they stay on the small screen.I'm the opposite of most people.I find Marvel movies overrated but I like their tv shows.

... Cap and Daredevil aren't on the same level. Yes, Daredevil was a bit nerfed (not even badly; it's just his origin story, so it makes sense that he seems weak due to lack of experience), but even if he were not, he still shouldn't be on Cap's level. Iron Fist... varies.

You can do more with a TV series than with a movie. First, you have more room and time to develop characters. Daredevil and his associates were nicely developed throughout the first season, which essentially served as a simple origin. Second, they aren't tied down to a PG-13 rating. It can get away with R-rated themes. It doesn't even have harsh language, which isn't necessarily needed; it just had adult themes that are appropriate to a Daredevil story.

I see great things in the future of Netflix Marvel.

It's cheaper. Plus, you can get away with having a show about street levelers when you are on a budget.

Damn, good point. I just realized that. As violent and graphic as that show was, it barely uttered curse words, if any.

Because these characters, they are really interesting on their own but only if you are a comic book fan, while if you are someone who has never layed hands on a comic book you might not be interested in seeing a movie about. In a TV show you have enough time and room for character development and improvement and this way you will make these characters into more than just interesting ones.

That's why Marvel is making movies about Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and etc. because they know that people will go to see them no matter what.

because they are awesome

Because they don't develop the MCU core story. They're just street level characters with their own story that leads to Defenders.

@space_coyote: Basically this. Netflix gets updated once a year. That's far more content than a possible two hour movie can provide.

Not only that, but TV shows give more chance to develop characters aside from just the hero.

@jedixman: Iron Fist is superior to Cap no?

Sometimes. He has the feats to suggest that he is, but he's often displayed as street level (keep in mind that my Iron Fist knowledge is a bit limited, so... yeah, take that for what you will).

If anything, I'd take a super hero TV Show over a super hero Movie almost any day. I personally enjoy watching shows more than movies because there is actually time to tell stories, and flesh out characters. I haven't finished Daredevil but it's really good. As far as Flash and Arrow go, I've loved watching both of those shows. Nothing felt rushed, and I got to really know the characters

Same here, I thought that they were entertaining but pretty boring. There were a select few that I would say that I'd enjoy watching and thought was pretty good though

@peterparkerjr: it did have cursing but it was hardly/occasionally used so it was unrecognisable

Mainly the Cap movies were the ones I enjoyed.Oh,and the first Avenger movie.Everything else was meh.Iron Man 1 was decent though.

Because a good Daredevil tv or movie can't be cracking 1 liners

Because the characters get more fleshed out and can be more hardcore. Remember Feige has said that they might get onscreen probably infinity war if that makes you feel any better.

IMO only Danny and Matt derseved shows. Cage and Jessica are wasting the spots.

Same. I understand they're building to the Defenders, but I'm really not all that interested in seeing those two.

But where's my Runaways movie? If they got time to make Agents of SHIELD and Defenders a thing, they got time for them too.

@peterparkerjr: Lol, now Runaways is a waste.