Some people have already seen all 13 episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil, while others plan to start this weekend.
I’ve already gotten through seven, including seeing the first one just after midnight on April 10th. This is a very intense show about a super hero trying to save New York from falling into darkness.
There are some some mentions of the Battle of New York, Thor and Iron Man, but the show is its own battleground between good and evil, with evil currently owning 98 percent of the city. Not even the cops can be trusted.
***** MILD SPOILERS BELOW *****
Charlie Cox is great as Matt Murdoch, the blind lawyer whose senses have been heightened to become a crime fighter. Here, he’s shown as a brutal vigilante who has a job to do, even if he is as brutal as the crooks he battles. It also shows Matt’s powers in an interesting way. For example, he can tell when a person is lying by listening to their heartbeat. Elden Hansen is also impressive as Foggy Nelson, Matt’s legal partner. He’s a nice comic relief, but can also step up when he has to.
Rosario Dawson is also good as Claire, a nurse that finds herself in Daredevil’s battle after she finds him in a dumpster recovering from a serious fight.
Vincent D’onofrio is quite sinister as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. He literally controls New York, from the cops to almost all of the media.Using them, he can even make Daredevil look like a monster. Yet he thinks blowing up buildings and getting people killed is part of his plan to save the city. For some reason, that also includes human trafficking and the drug trade.
However, his attorney Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore) is even more sinister. In the first episode, we see how he uses a Microsoft Surface 3 to show a guy who owes Fisk money how easy it would be to kill his daughter.
The first episode introduces Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, a girl framed for the murder of a lawyer at Union Allied. She winds up being the secretary for Matt and Foggy, but she soon develops another agenda by asking reporter Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis Hall) to investigate her old firm, which is under new management.
The show also uses flashbacks to show Matt’s origin story. The first two episodes recall the fateful accident that blinded him, and his dad risking his life to help his son. If you look close, there’s a poster where Matt’s dad is set to challenge a boxer named Carl Creel. That’s a familiar name for fans of Agents of SHIELD. We also learn that Matt learned how to fight thanks to a “blind swordsman” named Stick (Scott Glenn).
On Saturday, I’ll see the rest of the episodes, and ponder what a season two will be like.
Marvel’s Daredevil is currently available exclusively on Netflix.
