Marvel brought its street-level heroes to Netflix and created some great television for several years. In the end, they brought these heroes together and helped form a new superhero team called The Defenders. While this was not the same Defenders as the comics, the group had the same purpose, with several characters working together in an unofficial manner.
When Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones teamed up as the Defenders, they had to rely on each other and their allies to battle the evil forces of the Hand, which had started in Daredevil and then rose to become a city-wide threat. On both sides of the battle were some of Marvel's most powerful players, both in a fight and behind the scenes.
Bakuto
There were countless fighters in the Hand, and they were all powerful warriors, although most of them couldn't stop the combined might of the Defenders. Out of all these footsoldiers, the one that stands out as the most powerful was Bakuto. He was one of the founding and leaders of the Hand who tried to manipulate Iron Fist.
After he died at the hands of Davos, the Hand resurrected him and he was stronger than ever as he battled the Defenders. Bakuto is a master martial artist and was powerful enough to go head-to-head with Iron Fist. He also was able to outmatch Colleen Wing for a time, but she was able to finally best him in combat.
Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing was always a capable fighter in Iron Fist, and there was always something special about her. This was because she learned over time that her fighting style originated with the Hand, explaining why she could beat almost anyone in a fight, often taking out people twice her size.
What makes Colleen Wing most impressive is that, unlike many of the exceptional characters in the Defenders world, she has no superpowers and is not enhanced in any way until she took on the power of the Iron Fist, at which point she gained immense powers.
Madame Gao
Being powerful does not always mean someone is the strongest physically. In the case of Madame Gao, her power comes from her status. Madame Gao was one of the five leading founders of the Hand, and her control of that group made her one of the most important people in New York City.
Madame Gao proved how powerful she was when she stood up to Wilson Fisk in Daredevil and he acknowledged her position. She even outlasted Alexandra Reid and ended up surviving to the final fight, where it took an explosion bringing down Midland Circle to finally stop her.
Alexandra Reid
Alexandra Reid was the most dominant of the Hand leaders, the one true leader of the five founders. At this position, there was no one more powerful than her in the Hand, which made her the biggest villain in all of The Defenders series.
She had an advantage over many of the Hand, including artificially enhanced physiology that allowed her to live for over 400 years with decelerated aging. She was also a master martial artist and a master spy. However, she wasn't unbeatable, and when she brought Elektra back from the dead, she sealed her own fate and proved her own mortality.
Elektra
Elektra was one of the strongest of the Marvel Netflix world when she first appeared in the Daredevil series. However, she became even mightier when the Hand and Alexandra Reid resurrected her and brought her back from the dead to aid them in their attempt at world domination.
Daredevil's mentor Stick trained Elektra initially, and she was a master assassin until she fell in love with Daredevil. She helped him battle the Hand and died, but when she returned in The Defenders, she added Hand training and became even more powerful before finally killing Reid and sacrificing herself to end the Hand.
Misty Knight
Misty Knight was a ing character in the Luke Cage series as an NYPD police officer who worked with him while they were both going after Cottonmouth. She ended up playing a large role in the battle with the Hand in The Defenders and proved her mettle by fighting on level ground with the street-level heroes.
What makes her stronger than someone like Elektra is the aftermath of the battle with the Hand. Misty lost her arm and had a new Rand Enterprises-made prosthetic. This new arm was forceful and allowed her to crush steel with it, making her a superhero in her own right.
Daredevil
Daredevil grew up without his sight but as a side effect, he mastered his other senses. With his super senses and martial arts training from a master named Stick, Daredevil became one of Hell's Kitchen's biggest heroes. His ability to hear hearts and breathing patterns only added to his skill in a fight.
If one thing keeps him on the lower tier of the main four Defenders, it is the fact that he has no real superpowers and is often the one who takes the most severe beatings. With that said, Daredevil never gives up and will fight to the end regardless of the odds.
Jessica Jones
Unlike Daredevil, in the Jessica Jones comics, she can leap great distances like Hulk.
What holds her below men like Iron Fist and Luke Cage is that Jessica Jones' might is limited by the fact that she is not a very skilled fighter. She relies often on brute strength, which puts her at a disadvantage when facing more skilled enhanced heroes and villains.
Iron Fist
Iron Fist has the most powerful superhuman ability of any member of the Defenders. He has the power of the Iron Fist, a mystical gift that Danny Rand controls through his Chi and through his fist. Even without this strength, Danny is one of the most skilled martial artists in the entire Marvel Netflix world.
With the power of the Iron Fist, Danny can level an entire building floor and he can hit the ground and take down anyone standing around him. This is the most dominant superpower of anyone in The Defenders universe.
Luke Cage
The most powerful member of the Defenders is Luke Cage. He doesn't have the powers of Iron Fist, but he is the one member of the team that is not only super strong but also invulnerable to almost anything. He can rip the doors off cars and bust through brick walls.
He can take bullet shots to his chest and not even flinch. When Luke Cage battles someone without extraordinary abilities, they have no chance against him and he wins every time. When he fights someone with superpowers, he is still powerful enough to stand toe-to-toe with anyone. In any fight, Luke Cage is the most unassailable character introduced in The Defenders world.
