“I’m not a villain. I’m an adversary.” Those are the words of Sigourney Weaver when talking about her new role in Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’, which comes to Netflix a little later this year and brings together the four heroes that have enjoyed solo series on the streaming service.
Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra / Cr: Sarah Shatz
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist are those heroes, all intent on bringing Weaver’s character Alexandra down when she poses a huge threat to their homes in ‘The Defenders’, but exactly how much damage can somebody do who’s simply all about self-preservation?
It’s within this that we’ll get to explore and really go to the root of what Alexandra’s ambitions are. As somebody with different goals to those of the Defenders, and with a huge status, she’s clearly going to come across the four heroes at some point, with her and the group splitting off in different, moral directions. But does that make her a villain? Not according to Weaver.
Opening up more about why she stays away from the term “villain”, the actress explained in a chat with Entertainment Weekly: “With my work in general, I try to avoid terms like ‘ice queen’ that are often thrown at women who aren’t completely sympathetic. I encouraged [the writers] to not think in those terms, because I find them completely meaningless, and to help me understand who I was from a really un-cliché-ed point of view. I think we succeeded in that.”
She also went on to explain that the show being all about New York is something she cared about right away. “Making that block that much better for the people who live on it, that really spoke to me,” she continued.
“There are certain things that to her are expendable, and that’s a really dangerous worldview,” Weaver concludes. Exactly what those things may be remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure; the Defenders are going to have their hands full with this cold and calculating adversary.
More: Netflix Reveal Action-Packed First Trailer For Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’
‘The Defenders’ debuts on Netflix in all territories where the service is available on August 18.
