Fans Are All Asking This One Important Question About Alexandra On 'The Defenders'

I'd be lying if I didn't say my number one reason for binge watching Marvel's The Defenders on Netflix this weekend is Sigourney Weaver's character, Alexandra Reid. Alexandra is a powerful, fearsome woman who seems to have every resource at her finger tips — except the cure for her mysterious fatal disease. So what disease does Alexandra have in The Defenders?

Well, I don't have a medical degree, but I do have a Netflix account, so let's go back and review what we learned about Alexandra's illness in that first scene. Alexandra goes in to get an MRI scan, and it seems like she's had plenty of tests done before. The doctor informs her, that unfortunately, the results of her last test aren't so good. Alexandra cuts him off before he can say more, to say,

I'm dying. My red blood cell count has dropped and almost every one of my major organs is close to collapse. Is that still the case?

The doctor confirms: Yes, that is still the case. He tells her she only has weeks or months to live. So it definitely sounds like Alexandra has some sort of blood disease, possibly leukemia, which is a common group of cancers that results in a low red blood cell count. Or maybe it's a really extreme form of anemia, though most forms of anemia are usually not fatal.

But here's the thing — maybe its just because she's Sigourney Weaver and she's dignified, but Alexandra really doesn't look like she has cancer or any sort of life-threatening disease.

I mean, cancer or any kind of fatal disease typically makes it hard to look as good as Alexandra does, particularly when you're apparently weeks away from the end. But maybe Alexandra has some mystical beauty routine that The Hand taught her to look great even while you're dying.

That, or it's the Netflix make-up department. One or the other!