Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than when a character is done “right”. Daredevil fans are well aware of this feeling thanks to Netflix swooping in and adding a whole new arm to the MCU with a mean and moody retake that added more grit to the world of superhero-ing than a billionaire’s driveway. Previous iterations of the character have seen the likes of Ben Affleck’s take on the character in Mark Steven Johnson’s notoriously divisive 2003 movie (nowhere near as bad as some say, especially if you watch the director’s cut) and even an appearance in a Hulk TV movie back in the late 80s.
However even the ’03 version couldn’t quite deliver the mixture of Catholic guilt, bruising violence, daddy issues and high flying superheroics that such writers such as Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis and many other managed to put into such a complex character – could this new version finally manage to do justice to the man who famously upholds it on multiple fronts?
After a short but informative flashback that spells out how a young Matt Murdock lost his sight thanks to the mix of selfless heroics, a car accident and the introduction to a mysterious toxic chemical to his eyeballs, we pick up with him again as an adult who seems to be spinning a hell of a lot of plates considering that he’s blind as a bat. Of course, by blind as a bat, I mean that by a strange quirk of fate that chemical has enhanced his other senses to the max allowing him to “see” with a sort of super powered sonar which he’s chose to utilise by honing his body into a fighting machine and going out into the streets of Hell’s Kitchen at night yo beat the ever loving fuck out of every criminal he comes across.
However, by day, Matt is a defence lawyer who has recently opened up a new law firm with his partner, Foggy Nelson and the two mansge to snag a hell of a first case once they are introduced to Karen Page.
You see Karen was found by the cops kneeling over the bloody corpse of a co-worker screaming that she is innocent and was drugged the night before and thanks to Murdock’s super sense, he can tell that Karen is unbelievably telling the truth. As they take her case it soon becomes apparent that some heinously shady stuff is going on at the construction company where she was working and after an attempt is made on her life while she is custody, the conspiracy seems far bigger than anyone could have imagined.
A criminal syndicate made up of Leyland “The Owl” Owlsley, the Japanese Nobu, the Chinese Madame Gao and the Ranskahov Brothers all have their fingers in the criminal pie, but they are all kept in line by a shadowy boss figure who moves through his subordinate, James Wesley. Can the partnership of Nelson & Murdock not only prove Karen innocent, but keep her alive with the help of Matt’s black clad alter ego?
There’s something that feels immensely and incredibly right about Netflix’s first episode of Daredevil as it manages to hit and impressive sweet spot when building a world that’s far more hard nosed (Hard? Try broken) than the usual, glossy MCU fare. Realising that the show should probably leave the giant sky battles and car throwing to the movies, showrunner Drew Goddard wisely pares everything back and keeps any utterances to the Avengers defeating the alien Chitauri to vague mentions of “the Incident” which niftily frees it from having to make references to Tony Stark every five seconds. In return, we get a intense hour of work building that not only comprehensively encompasses Daredevil’s universe in a single episode, dealing out all the major points while also including some nice deep cuts along the way despite never even hinting at anything as obvious as a comic accurate costume.
But first things first – Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock is just right and you can tell that he’s relishing plucking all the strings that makes one of Marvel’s most complicated characters tick. The Catholicism is present and correct of course, as is his particular taste in women, but Cox also proves to be as capable as laying out the charismatic laywer shtick as he is the sort of vigilante beatings that rivals Batman in terms of brutal, yet non-fatal ferocity. The realistic and open approach to Matt blindness is also present and correct and it aids immensely when helping whip up the chemistry with Elden Henson’s Foggy who comes with the usual amount of quips and wise cracks that comes with any comic book bromance worth its sort. Adding to the camaraderie is Deborah Ann Woll who doesn’t seem to mind looking legitimately traumatised almost all the way through the episode as her life suddenly nose dives into the toilet and she’s something of a refreshing change from the more typically glamorous female leads you usually find in comic book movies, but she certainly sells the danger her character is in.
On the flip side of the legal divide, the episode also gives us a rundown of Daredevil’s criminal community from the low level hood, Turk, to a collection of crime bosses who no doubt will prove to be multiple thorns in the side of our hero as the season progresses. To be fair, none are particularly fleshed out beyond Bob Gunton’s heavily sarcastic Owl and we’re yet to be introduced to a certain, bald, hulking ring master, but it’s early doors yet and we’ve plenty of time to get to know this cadre of villainy better.
So with the angels and devils all laid out before us, the only thing left to cover is the superheroics themselves and I have to admit that even though Daredevil pulls a superhero trope I personally can’t stand, it actually does it in a way that works for the character. I tend to believe that if you’re adapting a superhero character that comes with a distinct and iconic costume, it’s your absolute duty to put that person in that costume as soon as possible; however rather than keeping the costume at arms length for budget reasons or – worse yet – a sense of embarrassment for its comic book roots, Daredevil keeps the lack of the red horns as a gradual evolution for the character. Of course, I realise that the black sweats and hood is technically a comic accurate costume for anyone familiar with Frank Miller’s The Man Without Fear arc, but it’s still nice to see the Netflix show using the hero’s outfit to help visually show character progression much in the same way Captain American: The First Avenger did for Steve Rogers.
And then there’s the violence – and by God is it glorious. While the action is admittedly not as flashy and stylized as something out of Blade or something, it brings a real down and dirty sense of brawling that feels more Gareth Evans than Joel Schmacher and it adds to the more “real” approach the show is bringing to superhero streaming.
With the first episode doing an impressive job of laying down the basics while establishing a tone that’s more interested in breaking teeth than soaring above the clouds, Daredevil seems to have finally found the home he’s been looking for that will let him fully flex those noir-tinged, broody muscles. Give me more, Netflix, I dare you.
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