This Clue In 'The Defenders' May Reveal What "The Substance" Is

The first season of Marvel's The Defenders premiered on Netflix on Friday, which means there's no need to make plans this weekend. The Defenders is the culmination of Iron Fist, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, who come together in order to defend New York City against the evil order of The Hand. Unfortunately, that's sort of hard to do, because the members of The Hand have figured out a way to cheat death with something they call "the substance." So what is the substance on The Defenders?

Well, we know that it has some kind of reviving ability. And we also know that it's scarce.  From the one time we saw what it looked it, it kinda looked like baking powder. Or cocaine. Maybe it's cocaine?

In Episode 3, members of The Hand mixed "the substance" with some kind of blood-like liquid. They placed the body of Elektra (played by actress Élodie Yung, who is reviving her role after Elektra died in Daredevil) into a coffin filled with the blood-substance mixture, and then a few minutes later Elektra is roaring back to life. So clearly whatever the substance is, it's very powerful stuff.

Now, apparently the substance that Sigourney Weaver's character used on Elektra was the Hand's last supply. Now Alexandra is desperate to find some more of it before she kicks the bucket (again) due to some mysterious fatal disease.

So what is the substance? It seems like it's the bones of dragons.

In Episode 8, Madame Gao explains how there used to be dragons in K'un-Lun, and apparently the dragon bones are right there under Midtown Manhattan. She makes it sound like "the substance" is dragon bones. (Is anyone else getting major Game of Thrones vibes right now?)

Unfortunately (spoilers!) the Defenders blow up the building that the dragon bones are on top of at the end of Episode 8. So for now, it seems like bye-bye to the substance.

At least until the unconfirmed Season 2!