Disney and Governor Cuomo Strike Major Deal Bringing Marvel's Netflix Shows to NYC

Unlike DC Comics which use fictional places such as Gotham City and Metropolis as locations for their stories, Marvel sets the bulk of their action smack dab in the heart of New York City. So it makes sense that they'd want to set their upcoming Netflix series' there, and now they've struck a major deal with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to make that happen.

Disney, Marvel, and Cuomo have announced that all of Marvel's upcoming Netflix shows featuring Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Daredevil will filmed in New York City as part of a major $4M tax incentive. The Wrap adds that these will be 60 one-hour episodes, 13 for each individual character, followed by a four-to-eight episode miniseries titled The Defenders. Drew Goddard's Daredevil will be the first to take advantage of this deal with filming to being this summer. That means we should be learning soon who will be playing the "Man without Fear".

Daredevil will be followed by Melissa Rosenberg's long-developing Jessica Jones series, leading into Luke Cage and a solo series for his kung-fu partner, Iron Fist. We're even starting to get some promotional art thanks Marvel's Agent M, who released the above image on Tumblr.

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Marvel's 'Jessica Jones' Netflix Series Lands 'Twilight' Writer Melissa Rosenberg

Joss Whedon's been talking about it for a few months, but Marvel has been trying to develop new female-centric projects for years. The most prominent of those was AKA Jessica Jones, which was to be Marvel's first drama series at ABC, based around the popular superhero character created by Brian Michael Bendis. The series never came together, but its architect screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is about to pick up where she left off.

Deadline reports Rosenberg will pen the new adventures of Jessica Jones in one of Marvel's upcoming Netflix series. Rosenberg is best known for writing the Twilight franchise, and now she'll move on to a considerably more complicated heroine than Bella Swan. Jessica Jones first appeared in the pages of Alias (one of my favorite comics ever, by the way), and was a troubled former Avenger who gave up superheroics to become a private eye. She had an off/on relationship with Luke Cage, and a supervillain stalker in the form of the Purple Man. The series was cancelled after a couple of years but Jessica is still a prominent character, marrying Cage and keeping close ties to the Avengers.

Jessica Jones is one of a handful of new Marvel shows in the works, with others centered on Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. The 13-hour series' will lead up to a new miniseries titled The Defenders. Marvel is also planning a spinoff series based on Hayley Atwell's Agent Carter character from Captain America: The First Avenger.

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Twilight writer to pen Highlander relaunch

I almost forgot Summit Entertainment was prepping a reboot of the once popular Highlander franchise, which featured Christopher Lambert(and occasionally Sean Connery) as a member of an immortal race of beings destined to fight and kill eachother until only one remains. One of the reasons it slipped my mind is that it was way back in September of 2009 when we last heard anything about it, and that was when Justin Lin(Fast and Furious) was confirmed to direct.  At the time the script was being drafted by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway(Iron Man), but now that's changed, with Melissa Rosenberg reportedly close to signing a deal that would see her pen the adventures of the Clan MacLeod.

Rosenberg has been busy the last few years as the sole writer of all of the Twilight movies, and she'll be expected to help usher in a new franchise for Highlander as well. Justin Lin remains attached, with the plan to expand the Highlander mythos for a different audience. 

To be honest, the script for the majority of the Twilight flicks has been a major stumbling block, so I don't know if this is a good thing or not.  The only other movie she's written was Step Up, and that was....well...Step Up.  I'm sure a few of my Highlander lovin' buddies are not going to be pleased with these developments.

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