‘Defenders’ Spoilers: Sigourney Weaver Teases ‘Nice’ Villain, Calls Netflix’s Marvel Series A ‘Love Letter To New York’

Sigourney Weaver is happy to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even if the heroes aren’t thrilled to meet her. The veteran actress will play the villain in “Marvel’s The Defenders,” the superhero team up set to debut in 2017. The eight-episode season is currently filming in New York, and Weaver raved about her time on the show.

“Basically the four heroes come up against this really nice woman, who I'm playing,” Weaver joked to Movies.com. “It’s been a blast and I really love my character. I love the shows, too, which I wasn't familiar with before doing this. A real love letter to New York.”

Weaver is still working on big screen projects too. She has a role in James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels, all four of which are filming simultaneously. While the film franchise is much larger than Netflix’s Marvel shows, Weaver is enjoying working on a smaller project. “To me they’re not superheroes; they’re people with a gift. It's just a different scale, and I’m really enjoying the scale of it. The apocalyptic thing is a little harder for me to understand,” she said.

So does Weaver’s character have “a gift”? It seems likely. After all, she causes Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) to team up. However, fans still don’t know who she is playing. There are several fan theories that she could be playing The Beast of the Hand, Mephisto or Viper, but there really isn’t any evidence to indicate a specific character.

When the “Alien” actress was announced in the role at New York Comic Con in October, Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb wouldn’t name her character or even say if her character was from the comics (though refusing to say her name hints that she likely is an existing character). Instead he simply praised her talent.

“Marvel is honored to have an actress of her caliber and status join what is already our biggest show ever! She is by definition a class act,” Loeb said in a press release.

While we don’t know much about the villain, we do know a little about the heroes. Luke Cage’s relationship with Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) will be moving forward. Set photos show the two in a steamy liplock. That’s surely just the beginning of the spoilers that will come out as the drama continues shooting.

“The Defenders” is set to hit Netfix in 2017.