The Walt Disney Co. will spend $200 million over three years filming four series based on Marvel’s street heroes characters in New York City for Netflix — the biggest TV or film production commitment in the history of New York State, officials said.

Disney chief Bob Iger and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, at a joint press conference today, announced that Marvel’s landmark live-action television series will film principally in the Big Apple. The production is skedded to yield 60 one-hour episodes, resulting in 400 full-time jobs and 3,000 part-time production jobs.

Filming the Marvel Defenders project in NYC was important to Disney to ensure it was “authentic,” Iger said: “To us, it’s very, very important for us to be in New York.” The state also was “aggressive” in wooing the Mouse House’s business, and New York State one among several localities in the running, he added.

New York State is granting Disney tax credits worth approximately $4 million for the new Marvel series, a source confirmed. Since Cuomo took office in 2011, the administration has undertaken a concerted effort to win business from Hollywood productions.

The Marvel Defenders production will begin filming in NYC in July 2014 starting with the series based on Daredevil, followed by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Each of those characters — less well known than those in Marvel’s Avengers franchise — is set in Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The series is being produced by Marvel Television, in association with ABC Television Studios, exclusively for Netflix. The deal encompasses 15 hours per series for each character, plus a miniseries with all four of the Defenders heroes.

Disney’s Netflix deal for the Marvel series, announced last fall, followed a larger output deal the companies struck in late 2012, which includes exclusive pay-TV window rights for films starting in 2016. Under that pact Netflix will be the exclusive U.S. subscription TV service for first-run movies from Walt Disney Studios, including titles from Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Disneynature and Lucasfilm.

In a statement, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said, “The Defenders are classic New York characters; smart, resourceful and tough enough to always stand up for what’s right. We’re delighted they’re coming to life on their home turf thanks to Governor Cuomo and his team.”

According to Cuomo, over the past three years, New York State’s film development efforts have produced $6 billion in economic activity and 400,000 jobs. “It’s an entirely new business line for the state, if you will,” he said.

Iger — a native of Oceanside, N.Y., on Long Island, who started out in the biz at ABC’s Upper West Side studios in 1974 — noted that the Mouse House has contributed some $500 billion to New York’s economy since 2008 along with 9,000 jobs.

"Dexter" star Michael C. Hall is rumored to be under consideration to play Matt Murdock in Marvel's upcoming "Daredevil" TV series for Netflix.

The report comes from both the Marvel Cinematic Universe Facebook fan page and the Comic Book Cast podcast who say 43-year-old Hall is about the right age to play the blind Hell's Kitchen lawyer-turned crime-fighting vigilante.

The report has not been confirmed by Marvel. The thirteen-episode series is one of four shows Marvel will produce for Netflix, culminating in "The Defenders" mini-series.

Hall stated earlier this year that he's in no hurry to commit to another series right away after eight seasons of "Dexter". Production on "Daredevil" is expected to begin in July for a 2015 airing.

Michael C. Hall would like to make the leap from anti-hero to hero.

Although talk of Netflix and writer-director Drew Goddard courting Hall to play the titular hero in the upcoming “Daredevil” series may be nothing but a rumor, Hall is still interested in portraying the man without fear.

“I would definitely consider it … but I can’t tell you any inside information because I think they’re nothing but rumors,” Hall told Vulture on Sunday at the premiere of his new Broadway play, “The Realistic Joneses.”

After eight seasons on Showtime’s dark drama “Dexter,” Hall said he’s seeking projects with short-term commitments.

“I really am enjoying mixing it up a little bit and I’m committing to things that have a foreseeable end in sight when I start them, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of [a new series] happening at some point,” he told the site. “But I’d have to read the script!”

During the premiere of the “Dexter’s” final season last summer, the actor told Variety that he’s interested in upbeat roles.

“I would love to do something a little more light-hearted and to find a way to not be surrounded by dead bodies,” he said.

Daredevil will definitely see his share of corpses, but will not be nearly as maniacal as Dexter Morgan.

Ben Affleck last donned the Daredevil suit for Fox’s critically panned “Daredevil” movie in 2003. The pic grossed $179 million worldwide.

Filming for the Netflix-Marvel Studios series is set to begin this summer in New York and premiere on the streaming site in 2015. Goddard will both write and direct “Daredevil’s” first episode, and serve as showrunner and exec producer for the 13-ep series.

The deal between Netflix and Marvel also includes three other original comic book adaptations: “Jessica Jones,” “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage.”

In a recent chat with Kevin Smith on the Fat Man On Batman podcast, Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada revealed some scoop on the upcoming Marvel Netflix shows, which will initially include four separate shows for Daredevil, Power Man, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones. Quesada praised the New York setting for the shows, confirmed that the shows are definitely a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and indicated that viewers would be able to binge watch the shows all at once.

“We’re shooting in New York. That’s the fantastic thing about it is that we’re shooting at home. We’re shooting where these characters belong,” said Quesada. “These stories take place in Hell’s Kitchen.”

Quesada indicated that the shows would be filming in areas of Brooklyn and Long Island City that still look like the old Hell’s Kitchen. He also added that some things they would probably build inside of a studio.

“It thrills me to no end to have these things happening in New York. That alone is going to give it an incredible vibe,” said Quesada. “It’s just once again…it’s like Marvel taking ownership of New York, saying this is where we’re from, this is our universe, this is where it started.”

In describing the setting for Daredevil, Quesada said, “It smells of dark alley, vomit, and piss.”
While there has been some question as to whether the Marvel Netflix shows would be released in serialized format like traditional network shows or all at once as Netflix has done in the past, Quesada seemed to suggest that it would be the latter. Quesada said, “You’re going to get all these episodes, and you can binge watch them however you want, and then binge watch them again.”

Quesada also confirmed interconnectivity not only between the different Netflix series themselves, but also with the other Marvel movies and TV shows.

“There will be some interconnectivity, much like the movies,” revealed Quesada. “They will exist within the cinematic universe again, so this is all the same world as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.”
Despite existing in the same universe, Quesada also stressed that the Marvel Netflix series would be different from anything Marvel (or anyone else for that matter) has done before.

“Although these are superhero stories, this is different now. This is the street level…this is the street level noir side of the Marvel Universe. Something that you haven’t really, really seen in any of our Marvel movies,” said Quesada. “And probably more ground level, than I think you’ve seen. This is not like us doing Batman, Dark Knight or any of that stuff. This is very Marvel doing street level superheroes.”
Quesada added, “The scripts are coming in. They are pretty fantastic. They’re really emotional. They’re very, very original. But at the same time, it is Daredevil. It is Matt Murdock. We will eventually, hopefully start casting really, really soon, but I’m very, very excited about it.”

When Smith asked whether Kingpin would be part of the Daredevil or Spider-Man universe, Quesada remained coy about the villain.

“I’m not going to say who the villain is in our story,” answered Quesada.