Marvel’s Daredevil is a 13 hour exploration into the dark underside of the MCU. This is not the kind of fare that fans are probably expecting to take place in the same playground as The Avengers. As Marvel continue to make their universe bigger, does The Man Without Fear rise up to the challenge of being the First Defender?
This is going to be hard to review, since I have to cover 13 hours’ worth of Marvel goodness, so I’ll try and keep things detailed but concise, if that is entirely possible. Daredevil seems like a no-brainer to introduce into the vast world of the MCU, but all things considered, Marvel took some huge risks with the tonal shift that Daredevil presents when put alongside The Avengers. Seriously, this stuff really isn't for the kids, as much as I know they’ll end up watching it. When I say this series is dark, gritty and bloody, that is no exaggeration. So, let’s dissect this bloody box-set of vigilante justice and see what worked and what didn't.
Murdock, She Wrote
Charlie Cox absolutely killed this role. Not that his competition was all that, but he easily puts Ben Affleck’s turn as the character to shame. Cox is able to embody the storm of a man that is Matt Murdock, simultaneously portraying the dutiful attorney and the morally grey vigilante that we've come to know and love. In every scene, you can see that his composure is masking the inner cogs that are turning and working things out. Cox has given us a Daredevil that is more Batman than Batman has been since the 1980’s. He actually does his detective work! How about that! I really do think that Chris Nolan (Read: The worst thing happening in Hollywood right now) could have learnt a lot from Cox and the writing team, headed by show-runner Drew Goddard.
Image Credit: marvel.com
I know it’s such a small thing as well, but I truly believed Cox could have been blind through his performance. You can really see the effort that has gone into Cox’s portrayal of Murdock as well as his physical prowess that we see demonstrated countless times over in the series many, many fistfights.
Kingpin Of Crime
I knew I’d love Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk from the second I saw him promoting the series at Comic-Con. I was not mistaken. For quite a lot of the series, we don’t see everything that Fisk is truly capable of. Once the gloves are off though, this series belongs as much to D’Onofrio as it does to Cox. This is helped in part to the multiple episodes we get that explore what makes Fisk turn into the Kingpin. The guy gets the only concrete love story, for God’s sake.
Image Credit: marvel.com
Outside of when Daredevil is delivering the smack down, Fisk has easily some of the more stand-out moments from the series, which we will get to late when we hit spoiler territory. What you need to know is that Fisk is no joke. The Kingpin, by the end of the series, is a very real entity, and the descent into the role of the villain is by far the best we have in the MCU so far. Thought you loved Loki? I'm willing to bet that The Kingpin is poised to overtake that top-spot on peoples lists.
Life Support
It’s pretty far to say that we knew that our hero and villain were going to illicit some good responses. I was actually shocked then at how much I cared about the supporting cast. Firstly, Elden Henson actually made me care about Foggy Nelson, which is a task within itself. This version of Foggy, whilst retaining the comic relief we expected, showed surprising depth during the low notes of the saga. Similarly, Deborah Ann Woll didn't do too shabbily as a Karen Page that needed saving less and less as the series went on. As Page met Murdoch and reported Ben Ulrich, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall, we saw her fear get replaced with inquisitive confidence that really pays off as the story enters its final few chapters. Oh, and Scott Glenn as Stick: Probably the shining star of the supporting cast. His episode was incredible to watch and I sincerely hope that is not the last time that we see him or his interactions with Murdock.
To me, someone who does get lost in the shuffle a little is Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple. Sure, she gets her time patching up Matt and getting to know him quite personally, but come the final hour, she essentially works as a talking health potion. After a good few episodes getting to know her and how she will come to be an ally to the heroes of Hell’s Kitchen, it is kind of disappointing that the focus is just as quickly taken away from her. I have a feeling that this has something to do with her on-going role in the MCU in the comings years, so luckily this will not be her last hurrah.
To me, someone who does get lost in the shuffle a little is Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple. Sure, she gets her time patching up Matt and getting to know him quite personally, but come the final hour, she essentially works as a talking health potion. After a good few episodes getting to know her and how she will come to be an ally to the heroes of Hell’s Kitchen, it is kind of disappointing that the focus is just as quickly taken away from her. I have a feeling that this has something to do with her on-going role in the MCU in the comings years, so luckily this will not be her last hurrah.
Image Credit: marvel.com
Weirdly enough, I wound up really digging those on the other side of the coin. Toby Leonard Moore made an impact from the very first scene he is in as Wesley, and only grew to be a more interestingly loyal companion to D’Onofrio’s more violent Fisk. And no, whilst Bob Gunton didn’t turn into a giant owl supervillain as Leland Owlsley, he certainly did deliver when it came to fulfilling the role of ‘The Owl of Wall Street’, or rather ‘The Owl of The Underworld’. And as things started to spiral toward the explosive end, the effect that had on Wesley and Owlsley was excellently portrayed right up to the last second when motives and drives were made true.
That being said, I did find it hard to care about Wai Ching Ho’s Madame Gao. As much as the villains surrounding Fisk were all pretty scared of Gao’s influence, I found it really difficult to stay invested in her as a villain when her one trait was ‘say something in Chinese that sounds ominous, then fuck off somewhere whilst the other characters do the cool stuff’. To a certain extent, Nobu, played by Peter Shinkoda suffers the same fate, but does at least get to face off quite satisfyingly with Daredevil.
That being said, I did find it hard to care about Wai Ching Ho’s Madame Gao. As much as the villains surrounding Fisk were all pretty scared of Gao’s influence, I found it really difficult to stay invested in her as a villain when her one trait was ‘say something in Chinese that sounds ominous, then fuck off somewhere whilst the other characters do the cool stuff’. To a certain extent, Nobu, played by Peter Shinkoda suffers the same fate, but does at least get to face off quite satisfyingly with Daredevil.
Baptism Of Blood
From here on out, there will be spoilers. If you needed to know whether to watch this show, I can give you a resounding ‘yes’. This series absolutely got things right from minute one to the final showdown. Go check it out now.
Anyway, last chance before Spoilers.
Still here? Alright. I'm hoping you've marathoned your way through all 13 hours of goodness, cause from here on out, it’s a discussion of specific moments from the series.
Daredevil is not cagey about its bloodshed. It’s actually quite shocking to see the extents that the series goes to in order to highlight its body count and gore. The end of episode 3 (“Rabbit In A Snowstorm”) was the first nail in the coffin, with Fisk’s goon opting to force his own head onto a rusty fence post than face the wrath of the Kingpin. Then of course, episode 4 (“In The Blood”) shows us just what the Kingpin is capable of as he decapitates Anatoly with the door of his car in an equal parts blood-curdling and exhilarating display of power. In fact, Fisk getting his hands dirty is the theme for probably one of the best episodes in the series in episodes 8 and 9 (“Shadows In The Glass” and “Speak Of The Devil”). Watching how the macabre follows Fisk throughout his life and serves to stack a tower of cards that come tumbling down in the final episode (“Daredevil”) was immensely satisfying.
Anyway, last chance before Spoilers.
Still here? Alright. I'm hoping you've marathoned your way through all 13 hours of goodness, cause from here on out, it’s a discussion of specific moments from the series.
Daredevil is not cagey about its bloodshed. It’s actually quite shocking to see the extents that the series goes to in order to highlight its body count and gore. The end of episode 3 (“Rabbit In A Snowstorm”) was the first nail in the coffin, with Fisk’s goon opting to force his own head onto a rusty fence post than face the wrath of the Kingpin. Then of course, episode 4 (“In The Blood”) shows us just what the Kingpin is capable of as he decapitates Anatoly with the door of his car in an equal parts blood-curdling and exhilarating display of power. In fact, Fisk getting his hands dirty is the theme for probably one of the best episodes in the series in episodes 8 and 9 (“Shadows In The Glass” and “Speak Of The Devil”). Watching how the macabre follows Fisk throughout his life and serves to stack a tower of cards that come tumbling down in the final episode (“Daredevil”) was immensely satisfying.
Image Credit: marvel.com
But can I just take a second out of being professional to say HOLY SHIT THE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY IN THIS SHOW IS AMAZING. Seriously, there isn't one bad fight amongst them, across all 13 episodes. Let that set in. We've seen Matt Murdock fight more than any other Marvel hero so far, in terms of screen time, and not a single one of those fights has been disappointing. Thor has only been in three movies and most of the fights from a third of his films are a bit crap. That’s some serious effort on behalf of the show runners. If you asked me to pick my favourite fight of the series, though, it has to be the sequence that feels like an homage to Oldboy in episode 2 (“Cut Man”). Yes, I did squee hard when Murdock suited up at the end of the finale and billy-club Kingpin to defeat. Yes, it’s sloppy compared to what we see later. But it is essentially Daredevil wiping a warehouse clean of Russian mobsters and saving a child in what appears to be a single take. Holy shit, how can you not love that? It’s fucking awesome.
Suiting Up
I totally didn't expect to love the Man Without Fear outfit as much as I did. As much as it did rile me that for the entire series apart from the final moment, Murdock was referred to ask ‘The Black Mask’, I’ll be damned if the black mask get-up didn't totally work for this version of Murdock’s origin. By the end, when Daredevil came to life in the red armour, it was satisfying, but also kind of surreal. I’d kind of grown oddly accustomed to Ninja Matt, mainly because the characters more defining moments all happened whilst being bruised and bloodied in a blindfold.
Image Credit: marvel.com
It was really cool how the work up to the costume was set up in the series, introducing Melvin Potter (Who some nerds might know as Gladiator) as a tailor/armour specialist in Fisk’s employ before being beaten and redeemed by Matt. We did also get a little nod toward Owlsley’s comic book counterpart in the green coat that Potter was working on, which was a nice little nod for those who knew what that symbolised. Sadly, D’Onofrio didn't ever get into the gleaming white suit we all know him for, but I’ll be damned if his final moments in those white prison garbs wasn't a build up for future plans for Fisk.
Plan Without Fear
So where does this leave us on our path toward the future of Matt Murdock and his crazy new world of the MCU. Here’s a short list of what I think we can come to expect from here on out:
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, you can expect someone to say “There’s a guy down in Hell’s Kitchen dressing as a devil who’s kick ass and taking names” or words to that effect. Given the global scale of AoU, I reckon it’s a good shout that someone will talk about New York’s Blind Guardian even just in passing.
- Claire Temple will more than likely end up playing a part in both AKA Jessica Jones and the Luke Cage series, given her ties to Cage. Gotta love that her mysterious ex ‘Mike’ is the first name of the guy playing Luke Cage. Nice one, Marvel.
- Stick may or may not return, but The Hand is a presence that it well and truly set up in episode 7 (“Stick”). Expect them to be impacting Matt Murdock’s life in series 2 of Daredevil, when a lady who goes by the name Elektra will undoubtedly make her appearance.
Image Credit: marvel.com
- Did you see how Madame Gao managed to floor matt in one hit before she magically fucked of out the story? I’m guessing this has something to do with chi and with K’un L’un, which of course you might associate with the final piece of our Defender’s puzzle, Iron Fist.
- Matt didn’t go public at the end of the series, not even dubbing himself Daredevil and leaving the speculation in the hands of the residents of Hell’s Kitchen. Given that, I think it’s safe to say that he may side with Captain America in the events of Civil War and even get to share a little time with a certain Peter Parker as a result.
The Verdict
All in all, Daredevil does something that most series find hard; maintaining audience engagement even in its quieter moments, thanks in part to the excellent performances of the cast, who can make even a simple dinner conversation a scintillating watch. And when the noise needs to be brought, Daredevil delivers in spades. Whilst not being entirely kid friendly with its plentiful blood and gore, you won’t find better fights on the small screen right now, rivalling even the stakes and action found in Arrow. Between the influence of the Marvel Movies, the rise of the Inhumans in Agents of SHIELD and this excellent first foray into the Netflix heroes, if you aren't excited for the years to come of Marvel TV, I really don’t know what will whet that appetite.
Marvel's Daredevil is one of the best re-telling’s of Matt Murdock’s story to date. The MCU has finally been expanded in a way that delivers a feedback effect of the world around it with a satisfying, bone-crunching punch, and I can’t wait to see more.
And for those who missed it…
Marvel's Daredevil is one of the best re-telling’s of Matt Murdock’s story to date. The MCU has finally been expanded in a way that delivers a feedback effect of the world around it with a satisfying, bone-crunching punch, and I can’t wait to see more.
And for those who missed it…
Image Credit: netflix.com
Image Credit: netflix.com
You didn't think they’d leave Stan out, did you?
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.