Marvel, Netflix reach deal for 4 new superhero series, including ‘Daredevil,’ ‘Luke Cage’

NETFLIX HAS just scored its own fantastic four.

In a deal that could prove extremely fruitful, Netflix and Marvel TV announced this morning that they will join forces on original programming for four new live-action series: “Daredevil,” “Iron Fist,” “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage.”

“Netflix has committed to a minimum of four, thirteen-episodes series and a culminating Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’ mini-series event that reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters,” Marvel says in its statement.

The series — produced by Marvel TV and ABC Television Studios — are scheduled to begin hitting our digital screens in 2015.

This is just the latest big move for Netflix -- which carries the Emmy-winning “House of Cards” — as it charges headlong into the growing competition to provide “Internet TV.”

Marvel’s parent company, Disney, and Netflix reached a deal last year to become “the exclusive U.S. subscription television service for first-run, live-action and animated movies from the Walt Disney Studios,” including titles from Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.

Netflix’s announcement comes against the dramatic backdrop that Blockbuster is shuttering most of its remaining 300 stories, it was announced this week — as the technological shifts in distribution and content creation continue to roil entertainment-industry waters.

“Netflix offers an incredible platform for the kind of rich storytelling that is Marvel’s specialty,” Marvel Entertainment President Alan Fine says in the statement, as he touts the deal’s scope. “This serialized epic expands the narrative possibilities of on-demand television and gives fans the flexibility to immerse themselves how and when they want in what’s sure to be a thrilling and engaging adventure.”