In 2003, 20th Century Fox released Daredevil, based on the popular comic book series featuring a blind crime fighter with extremely honed senses in the streets of Hell's Kitchen, New York City. The movie wasn't that great, but it did well enough and spawned a psuedo-sequel based on Elektra two years later. And that film was even worse. So after sitting on the rights for several years, Fox gave the film and TV rights back to Marvel, unsure what else they could do to the character.
That was when Drew Goddard, writer of Cloverfield and director/writer of The Cabin in the Woods pitched a Daredevil movie to Marvel Studios. After being turned down, the two parties decided the best format for a more gritty adaptation of Daredevil was cable or streaming television. And in 2013, Marvel Television and Netflix announced a new slate of interconnected shows featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Much like The Avengers, all four shows would eventually lead up into an epic crossover event: The Defenders. And this time, the most widely known character would lead the charge.
Daredevil premiered in April 2015 with Drew Goddard writing the first two episodes and Steven S. DeKnight overseeing the rest of the first season. All 13 episodes launched simultaneously to capitalize on Netflix's binge-watching model that has made it so extremely successful. Much like Iron Man opened to rave reviews and big numbers, Daredevil blew away critics and audiences alike. Marvel's future on Netflix was secure, thanks to the best season of any superhero series ever.
Seriously, I absolutely love the first season of Daredevil. I mentioned that I was only rewatching the pilots for this retrospective, but I came dangerously close to starting up episode 2 immediately after finishing the first episode again. There is just so much to love here: the brilliant acting, the incredibly deep story, the insane fight choreography, the amazing cinematography, and so on. I could gush about it for hours, and I will certainly gush more in a bit.
Season 2 starts off incredibly strong with a fantastic arc introducing the MCU's version of Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, to Hell's Kitchen. However, it derails incredibly quickly thanks to uncharacteristic motivations, a weak character in Elektra, and far too much ground laying for The Defenders; an issue that plagued Iron Man 2 as you may recall. But before we get to that, let's go over why season 1 is so goddamned awesome.
For starters, the pilot is just about the perfect pilot. We begin the story with a flashback to Matt Murdock losing his eyesight in a freak car accident that led to toxic chemicals getting splashed into his eyes, as his father helplessly watches his son suffer. In a wonderful transition that gave me goosebumps, we hear "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned" and we find Matt Murdock, now grown and accustomed to his blindness, confessing to a priest. Boom, just like that, we establish Matt's inner turmoil as his faith clashes with his duty to save the neighborhood he hates yet loves. He remembers his father and how he would erupt into a rage in the boxing ring, and we immediately know he's also talking about himself, even quoting his grandma saying "Watch out for those Murdock boys. They've got the devil in them". UGH. GOOD STUFF.
The story transitions to our first action sequence as Murdock, now disguised as a yet-unnamed masked vigilante, handily takes down human traffickers in just the first of many exquisitely shot and choreographed fight scenes in this series. These fights blow 95% of the fights in the MCU movies out of the water, lemme tell you. I have yet to see a fight scene in the MCU even come close to topping the brilliance of the hallway fight seen in episode 2, which officially cemented Daredevil as must-watch television. It has all of the elements you look for in a good fight scene: sharp choreography with plenty of surprises, the underdog coming out on top, and camerawork/editing that allows you to actually see the action.
Sorry, getting ahead of myself there. Anyways, we quickly introduce that Matt is also a defense attorney partnered with long-time buddy Foggy Nelson. After some quick exposition and character introductions that firmly set this in a post-Avengers New York City (there are many references to "the incident" in this and all Netflix shows thanks to the shared location), we introduce our heroes' first client: Karen Page, who has been framed for murder. The two attorneys eventually realize that Karen has accidentally found herself embroiled in a major corruption scheme, with Matt using his keen senses in his favor to determine the truth. When Karen is targeted again by an assassin, Matt suits up and takes action to save her. Meanwhile, dark forces led by a mysterious crime lord set their plans in motion to aggressively take over Hell's Kitchen.
The episode caps off with a fantastic montage of Matt laying it all into a punching bag while the fallout of the events of this episode play out, culminating in a child being kidnapped and Daredevil rushing to his rescue. After that montage, I just can't comprehend how anyone couldn't immediately start watching the rest of the season. Yet I somehow persevered, all for you guys. You're welcome.
That episode kicks off what is simply a breathtaking season. After a couple of episodes, Vincent D'Onofrio makes his grand appearance as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in one of the most intimidating performances I've ever seen in a TV show. Even though he gives the character a terrifyingly violent edge, the writing illustrates that Fisk and Murdock are not that dissimilar. The show plays with the concept that they're two sides of the same coin through the entire season, all hearkening back to their love/hate relationship with Hell's Kitchen and what they'll do to "save" it. While the show never makes an attempt to have us root for Fisk, it is nevertheless fascinating to watch him realize he is a villain, not the hero.
Meanwhile, Matt Murdock's inner turmoil comes from his faith clashing with his actions, and the lingering regrets about losing his father. Charlie Cox absolutely destroys the role; not only is he a convincing blind man, he also capably demonstrates a wide range of intense emotions like rage, pain, and conviction. He handles many of the fights himself too (including a good chunk of the hallway fight), which only makes his performance that much more impressive. We see Daredevil take many heavy beatings throughout the series, which only makes it that much easier for the audience to root on him to prevail. But it is that dedication that makes him such an effective foil to Kingpin, in one of the best hero-villain dynamics of the entire MCU.
The first season is by far the best paced season of any of the Marvel Netflix shows, thanks to its large cast of interesting characters, the elaborate hunt for Kingpin, numerous amazing action sequences, and a hero's origin that's worth watching from beginning to end. Daredevil, unlike most MCU heroes, refuses to kill because of his faith, and it is that faith and ideal that is tested time and time again through both seasons.
The ultimate test comes in season 2 with the introduction of Frank Castle/the Punisher. In those first four episodes, which I believe work as the best story arc of the entire series, Daredevil faces off against the Punisher as he wipes out criminals left and right in Hell's Kitchen. The best scene, lifted directly from the same arc in the comics, has Daredevil tied up helplessly as the Punisher forces him to choose between either killing him or a hostage that the Punisher has taken. It's intense, it pushes how far our heroes are willing to go, and it ends with Daredevil questioning whether he chooses not to kill for his own sake and not for the sake of others. Jon Bernthal absolutely nails the Frank Castle character in easily the best version of him seen in live action yet, and it is no wonder that Marvel and Netflix felt he deserved a spin-off of his own.
Unfortunately, season 2 gets hampered down immediately at the end of the arc with the introduction of another key Daredevil character: Elektra. Matt's long-time lover is just not a very interesting character. Elodie Yung does just fine in the role, but she's just not sympathetic. Her existence winds up turning Matt into a selfish prick, undoing much of the growth we've seen him go through in the first two seasons.
Season 2 was handled by new showrunners after DeKnight left to work on Pacific Rim: Uprising (so really, everyone here lost). These two new showrunners, Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez, just do not seem to understand why we liked Matt Murdock/Daredevil and instead handcuff him to a romance that's uninteresting and melodramatic. They also allow themselves to weigh the narrative of season 2 with set-ups for both The Punisher and The Defenders, as well as laying down some groundwork for season 3 by reintroducing Wilson Fisk into the picture for a couple of episodes (though to be fair, this leads to an amazing showdown between Murdock and Fisk where Fisk comes out on top). Season 3 will have yet another showrunner, so we'll see if he can create a more captivating narrative sometime later this year.
Still, despite season 2's weaknesses, there are still so many reasons to keep watching. The supporting cast remains strong, namely Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, and Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page. They're Matt's closest allies, though they don't know about his identity for a long time, and they actually become more fun to watch than Matt after Elektra turns him into a colossal prick. Elden Henson takes a character which should be a face-punch worthy douche into a lovable guy with some mildly douchey quaities, and Deborah Ann Woll does a great job as a person who will never allow herself to be a victim. Her story arc with Frank Castle in season 2 is captivating because both people have experience with murder, and this will later carry on into The Punisher series.
After a breathtaking first season and a wildly uneven second season, Daredevil is still the flagship of the Marvel Netflix shows. This series paved the way for many more shows to follow, and proved that Marvel could have the potential to tell deep, dark stories set within the mostly colorful Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though the Netflix shows are mostly divorced from the rest of the universe, it's shows like Daredevil that give the universe the scope needed to make it feel bigger than any sort of interconnected multimedia franchise before it. And even though season 2 disappointed me, I'm still waiting impatiently for that third season coming soon.
Join us again next time as the Avengers reassemble on the big screen in a film that doesn't quite live up to the standard of the first. What a bummer.
Next time: Avengers: Age of Ultron
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