Relationship Spotlight: Colleen Wing & Claire Temple (The Defenders)

*Note: While I will spend some time specifically talking about The Defenders here, I’m also using it as a shorthand for the Marvel Netflix universe of shows in general.*

I’ve been gradually rewatching the Marvel Netflix shows, which of course have now all migrated to Disney+. Chronologically, I’m now up to season 1 of The Punisher, which means I’ve revisited at least one season of each of the series in this sub-universe. After watching season 1 of Iron Fist and The Defenders lately, I’m reminded of how much I appreciate the friendship between Claire and Colleen.

Claire, of course, is the glue that holds The Defenders verse together. But while she first meets Matt, Jessica, and Luke by happenstance, encountering these powered people at times when they’re badly injured and in need of a discreet nurse, she doesn’t enter Iron Fist via a random meeting with Danny. Instead, we first see her as a student of Colleen’s, taking private self-defense lessons at the dojo.

First of all, this is just a smart thing for Claire to be doing. She’s very much not-super and knows it, but at this point, she’s decided that “helping special people” is her purpose in life, and that inevitably means winding up in dangerous situations. She has no illusions that she’s going to rival Matt in hand-to-hand combat or throw somebody across a bar like Jessica, but she wants to do what she can to keep herself safe when the shit goes down.

So, as Danny repeatedly attempts to insert himself into Colleen’s life, Claire is there to witness it and slowly finds herself getting involved as well, sometimes in her capacity as a nurse and sometimes as a level head amid all the ancient sects and mystical wildness. She’s there for Danny, lending a hand when someone needs patching up and trying to talk sense into him when he’s going off half-cocked, but she’s there for Colleen, too.

As we move from Iron Fist into The Defenders, we see the bond between them as two non-powered women who’ve gotten tangled up in the lives of these powered vigilantes. To me, it takes on an extra dimension beyond, say, Foggy and Karen or Malcolm and Trish. Colleen is someone who’s frequently on the frontlines, fighting alongside Danny with only her skills to keep her alive, no powers to protect her or give her an edge. That places her more in the thick of things than most of the non-powered friends/lovers in this universe, and as all the heroes bring their loved ones to the Harlem precinct to keep them safe from the Hand, Colleen does not think she should be counted as one of them.

This leads to what’s honestly one of my favorite scenes in The Defenders, Claire and Colleen discussing the wild superhero shenanigans they’ve gotten mixed up in, and what it’s like to care about and help these heroes while knowing they can’t fully be in that league. As Colleen gets down on herself, upset at being relegated to the sidelines, Claire reminds her how incredible she is and how much Danny relies on her blade. In turn, Colleen champions Claire for her serious guerilla nursing skills, saving the lives of these heroes (along with Colleen herself) more than once. Claire may think of herself as a cut below, but Colleen points out that none of the others can do what she can.

I love that, this commiseration between non-powered people who are trying to keep up and do their part, worrying about their people and wishing they could do more to help. Sometimes, to recognize the extraordinary within the ordinary, it takes someone else who doesn’t have powers, a costume, or a moniker, and Claire and Colleen are that for each other. Their support for one another is beautiful here, and it’s great to see them do their vital part to help take down Midland Circle while the actual Defenders are doing battle with the Hand. Never to be counted out, these two.

Favorite Characters: Colleen Wing (Iron Fist)

I’ve spent a few Wednesdays now complaining about Iron Fist, but as I’ve said, the series does have its bright points.  Some came from elsewhere in Marvel’s Netflix show universe – like the always-awesome Claire Temple, who I’ve already written about – while others made their debut appearance in this show.  Today is my first post discussing what I do like about Iron Fist (a few Colleen-related spoilers.)

Within moments of meeting Colleen, you can tell she’s probably destined to be “the long-suffering Colleen,” since her first meeting with Danny involves what appears to be a shoeless homeless guy with boundary issues presuming she speaks Mandarin and asking for a job at her dojo.  As she begins getting to know him and his actual identity as Danny Rand, long-lost heir-apparent of Rand Industries, their interactions are marked with him repeatedly doing what she’s told him not to do.  “Don’t come back to my dojo.”  “Don’t mess with my students.”  “Don’t pay my rent for me.”  “Don’t dive headlong into dangerous situations without a game plan.”  And yet, though this dynamic plays out numerous times, Colleen and Danny continue to grow closer – needless to say, it’s a frustrating relationship.

Which is a shame, because Colleen, by and large, is pretty great.  She runs her own (struggling) dojo in Chinatown, dedicated to her craft but regrettably light on funds since she’s focused on finding students who are serious about martial arts instead of disinterested hobbyists looking for a fad.  She also works mostly with teens and young adults from low-income families and rough neighborhoods, looking to give them training that betters their lives.  Not just a physical activity to burn off energy and keep them out of trouble, but a philosophy to ground and guide them.

Colleen’s ideals are important to her, but her devotion to them isn’t as absolute as she’d like it to be.  One of the most interesting threads of the season for me is the minor plot of her beginning to take part in cagematch fights for money.  Though she chastises one of her students early on for cage fighting, telling him that fighting for profit and personal glory is against the Bushido Code, she finds herself at the cages one night, where she starts the evening with everyone assuming she’s roadkill waiting to happen and ends it with a new badass title:  Daughter of the Dragon.  It’s hard to say for sure what draws her to the fights and what makes her stay.  At first, the money is at least somewhat a factor, a last-ditch means of keeping the lights on at the dojo, but it’s more than that.  An outlet for her frustrations?  An ego boost?  A way to feel powerful and dangerous when she doesn’t like being made to feel defenseless?  The show unfortunately drops the plot soon after it begins, so we don’t delve into it as much as I would like, but I enjoy this storyline and the questions it makes Colleen have about herself.

It also just makes for good TV watching, because Colleen is pretty legit.  It’s cool to watch her in these brutal cage matches, taking on guys much bigger than her in a way that feels realistic – rather than the tiny women easily wailing on them, she fights hard for every victory she gets and relies on superior skill and smart tactics instead of pure strength.  And once she starts getting involved in Danny’s extracurricular superhero activities, she’s no slouch there, either.  Her hand-to-hand martial arts game is fairly on point, but for me, she’s probably most entertaining when she’s got a katana in her hands.  Is she Sunny or the Widow from Into the Badlands?  No, but I still love watching her swordfight.