Growing up on the 2003 Daredevil film, the character Matt Murdock is a very familiar one. I always found BenAffleck as a great actor to play the character, so seeing this Netflix series cast a completely new actor, I was intrigued at what/he could bring to the character that Affleck didn't...and lemme tell ya, perfect casting! Charlie Cox imbeds the character, playing a much more grounded, complex Matt Murdock. Seriously, Ben Affleck couldn't even outdo Cox's emotional battle he has in what he's doing. The show is near perfect, as evidently shown as soon as season 1, but to really watch this show as it was intended, you must intertwine the other Defenders Marvel shows in the correct order. For people who don't know, watch each season by release date. Yes it's a lot, but totally worth watching in order to get the greatest experience of not just Daredevil, but all of these great characters and storylines. (Forewarning, might be spoilers)
Season 1: I love this grounded reality we have here in the MCU. In Hells Kitchen, we have an entire city alive at night, crimes of all kinds are brewing here, and a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock who has these abnormal abilities that makes him look at his surroundings using an echolocation type process, is fed up with it. While we get this story unfolding of this city being bought off by a rich philanthropist Wilson Fisk, we also get deep character stories, first starting off with Matt Murdock, and following with another named Fisk, played by the great Vincent d'Ofrino. Here, we see a man, not only blinded by his ill-intended promise to make the city better, but also vulnerable because of his new love interest, and his mother, which is a important part of his life, as flashbacks will show you. Now, in 13 episodes, we don't only get these characters, we also get many others, like Foggy Nelson as Murdocks business partner/friend, Deborah Ann Woll as the business partner who brings this conspiracy to their knowledge, Scott Glenn as Matt Murdocks old mentor Stick, Rosario Dawson as a nurse named Claire that is the first to find out the masked man Murdock's real identity, and lastly Bob Gunton as Fisk's right hand man Wesley which I found to be a really great character but was sadly ended too early IMO. There's many other characters that bring depth to this show but I won't list them as the list is already long enough. I just think this was probably one of the best seasons of television that lays out this comic perfectly. One of the better MCU properties I've seen yet
Season 2: Upted the ante to 100%, this time in Hells Kitchen, we got a vigilante on the loose, taking out warehouses full of Irish mobsters and whatnot. Detective Daredevil is on the case! Seriously though, probably 4 or so years ago, I really got into these MCU Netflix shows. I remember rewatching DareDevil season 1 around 3 different times, loving it more and more each time, and I remember watching Jessica Jones season 1, which was a nice change of pace for this gritty Hell's Kitchen, but I remember sitting down, watching this season for the first time, and remember being absolutely astounded. And now, coming back all of these years later, revisiting and reviewing this season of Daredevil is particular, has me feeling so freaking hype! Where do I even begin!?!? First off, The Punisher is the perfect pairing for this show, making this one of the most violent seasons of any MCU show/film as of 2021. Pitting/pairing both of these vigilantes develops a juxtaposition both ideologies they hold; one believes justice through the court system ,while the other believes killing is the only way to stop them for good. The graveyard scene in particular was such an emotional scene, perfectly acted by Jon Berthal, develops a picture of what emotional trauma he's going through. What a great origin for The Punisher! Now, don't let me forget about Elektra. Omfg I can't overstate enough how much better casted/developed this character was compared to Jennifer Garners incarnation. The flashbacks of her and Murdock meeeting for the first time, and eventually to where she leads him to his fathers killer was a bit unexpected, but this showed the kind of relationship they both shared; one that doesn't mind killing, and the other against it. In present time, we see both Murdock and Nachios infiltrate Roxxon corporation to try and stop the corruption the yakuza have done. It's also revealed she is the Black Sky, a supposed mystical being The Hand worships, which I wasn't familiar with at all. Yeah s**t gets real in this. But of course, not as real as her ultimate demise in the end by Nobu. Or is it? Then we have the return of Stick, who reveals to Murdock about The Hand and how he's the leader of The Chaste, a group of warriors who try and stop The Hand from unleashing it's ultimate weapon, while also mentioning that Elektra is part of this Chaste, showing by flashbacks of him training her when she was young, keeping it from her that she's actually a dangerous weapon The Hand wants all this time. Another big-baller in this season was of course the big and bad that is Vincent d'ofreinos Kingpin. It gets us up to speed from what happened after season 1, showing him garner respect from fellow inmates and guards until he basically owns the place. Of course he recruits punisher while he's at it, so there sure is bloodshed to be had. But what was really special with Kingpin this season was the scene with him and Matt Murdock in the prison; one of the best scenes in the show so far, with some hefty promises made that Nelson and Murdock will feel Fisks wrath once he's out of prison. Going about some side characters, a character that returns from DDS1 and even Jessica Jones season 1 is Brett Mahoney, the deputy who was bribed with cigars from Nelson, this time becoming a detective for turning in the punisher. I like this relationship he and Daredevil share; reminds me of the Batman/Gordon relationship a little bit. Another side character that returns in Nobu; except the dude is now dead yet alive, so s**t is complicated. A sweet little cameo from Hogarth from Jessica Jones pops up, with Nelson working for her firm now. And finally of course Claire makes her return, with her dealing with murderous ninjas and quitting her job att the corrupt hospital she works for. This season was definitely a game changer for the lawyer trip tho, as the team breaks up, we're left to wonder if they'll ever reconcile again. Such a complex season of television, and lemme tell ya, one of my favorite seasons of television I've seen yet. Cannot wait to watch the defenders/season 3 of this show, but with all of these other Netflix Marvel shows, it might be a second.
Season 3: So after about a year or 2, I've finally gotten around to finishing season 3 of this show after a small hiatus. While I won't be as descriptive in this season review, I still think it's one of the best the MCU has. With this season taking place after the Defenders miniseries, we see a damaged and inflicted Matt Murdock who is now suffering from injuries relating to his hearing. This season almost seemed like it wanted Murdock to go back to square one again, with him basically retiring his red devil suit and going back to the original black outfit he wore in season 1. With this season, we see Fisk make a deal with federal agents so he can be released out of prison. In doing so, we get introduced to a new character that becomes a very important character throughout the season; Dex Poindexter. He's a damaged man, and Fisk brings him under his wing as one of his fbi henchmen, occasionally dressing up as Daredevil to kill/cause crime to discredit the Daredevil alias. The season also expertly continues Vanessa Fisks story, revealing she isn't as innocent as she may seem. I think my favorite part of the show was showing Nadeem, a fbi agent that is forced into this crime conspiracy, and the conflicts he had with becoming a dirty cop. His entire arc was nerve wracking and albeit sad, rounded out amazingly. Of course all the recurring characters such as foggy and Karen are integral to this season too, with Karen even becoming a huge asset to the plot. This season definitely concludes amazingly well, but obviously from the cliffhangers, some of these characters were just getting started.
In all, this show is probably my favorite superhero show and definitely one of my favorites in general. The gritty, expertly crafted world that's shown in this show was top tier comic book material that any fan of the genre should check out. The characters all matter to the story, the plot lines are seriously so good. And of course, Charlie Cox's portrayal of Matt Murdock/Daredevil is some of the best casting I've ever seen. 100% recommend this.
Season 1: I love this grounded reality we have here in the MCU. In Hells Kitchen, we have an entire city alive at night, crimes of all kinds are brewing here, and a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock who has these abnormal abilities that makes him look at his surroundings using an echolocation type process, is fed up with it. While we get this story unfolding of this city being bought off by a rich philanthropist Wilson Fisk, we also get deep character stories, first starting off with Matt Murdock, and following with another named Fisk, played by the great Vincent d'Ofrino. Here, we see a man, not only blinded by his ill-intended promise to make the city better, but also vulnerable because of his new love interest, and his mother, which is a important part of his life, as flashbacks will show you. Now, in 13 episodes, we don't only get these characters, we also get many others, like Foggy Nelson as Murdocks business partner/friend, Deborah Ann Woll as the business partner who brings this conspiracy to their knowledge, Scott Glenn as Matt Murdocks old mentor Stick, Rosario Dawson as a nurse named Claire that is the first to find out the masked man Murdock's real identity, and lastly Bob Gunton as Fisk's right hand man Wesley which I found to be a really great character but was sadly ended too early IMO. There's many other characters that bring depth to this show but I won't list them as the list is already long enough. I just think this was probably one of the best seasons of television that lays out this comic perfectly. One of the better MCU properties I've seen yet
Season 2: Upted the ante to 100%, this time in Hells Kitchen, we got a vigilante on the loose, taking out warehouses full of Irish mobsters and whatnot. Detective Daredevil is on the case! Seriously though, probably 4 or so years ago, I really got into these MCU Netflix shows. I remember rewatching DareDevil season 1 around 3 different times, loving it more and more each time, and I remember watching Jessica Jones season 1, which was a nice change of pace for this gritty Hell's Kitchen, but I remember sitting down, watching this season for the first time, and remember being absolutely astounded. And now, coming back all of these years later, revisiting and reviewing this season of Daredevil is particular, has me feeling so freaking hype! Where do I even begin!?!? First off, The Punisher is the perfect pairing for this show, making this one of the most violent seasons of any MCU show/film as of 2021. Pitting/pairing both of these vigilantes develops a juxtaposition both ideologies they hold; one believes justice through the court system ,while the other believes killing is the only way to stop them for good. The graveyard scene in particular was such an emotional scene, perfectly acted by Jon Berthal, develops a picture of what emotional trauma he's going through. What a great origin for The Punisher! Now, don't let me forget about Elektra. Omfg I can't overstate enough how much better casted/developed this character was compared to Jennifer Garners incarnation. The flashbacks of her and Murdock meeeting for the first time, and eventually to where she leads him to his fathers killer was a bit unexpected, but this showed the kind of relationship they both shared; one that doesn't mind killing, and the other against it. In present time, we see both Murdock and Nachios infiltrate Roxxon corporation to try and stop the corruption the yakuza have done. It's also revealed she is the Black Sky, a supposed mystical being The Hand worships, which I wasn't familiar with at all. Yeah s**t gets real in this. But of course, not as real as her ultimate demise in the end by Nobu. Or is it? Then we have the return of Stick, who reveals to Murdock about The Hand and how he's the leader of The Chaste, a group of warriors who try and stop The Hand from unleashing it's ultimate weapon, while also mentioning that Elektra is part of this Chaste, showing by flashbacks of him training her when she was young, keeping it from her that she's actually a dangerous weapon The Hand wants all this time. Another big-baller in this season was of course the big and bad that is Vincent d'ofreinos Kingpin. It gets us up to speed from what happened after season 1, showing him garner respect from fellow inmates and guards until he basically owns the place. Of course he recruits punisher while he's at it, so there sure is bloodshed to be had. But what was really special with Kingpin this season was the scene with him and Matt Murdock in the prison; one of the best scenes in the show so far, with some hefty promises made that Nelson and Murdock will feel Fisks wrath once he's out of prison. Going about some side characters, a character that returns from DDS1 and even Jessica Jones season 1 is Brett Mahoney, the deputy who was bribed with cigars from Nelson, this time becoming a detective for turning in the punisher. I like this relationship he and Daredevil share; reminds me of the Batman/Gordon relationship a little bit. Another side character that returns in Nobu; except the dude is now dead yet alive, so s**t is complicated. A sweet little cameo from Hogarth from Jessica Jones pops up, with Nelson working for her firm now. And finally of course Claire makes her return, with her dealing with murderous ninjas and quitting her job att the corrupt hospital she works for. This season was definitely a game changer for the lawyer trip tho, as the team breaks up, we're left to wonder if they'll ever reconcile again. Such a complex season of television, and lemme tell ya, one of my favorite seasons of television I've seen yet. Cannot wait to watch the defenders/season 3 of this show, but with all of these other Netflix Marvel shows, it might be a second.
Season 3: So after about a year or 2, I've finally gotten around to finishing season 3 of this show after a small hiatus. While I won't be as descriptive in this season review, I still think it's one of the best the MCU has. With this season taking place after the Defenders miniseries, we see a damaged and inflicted Matt Murdock who is now suffering from injuries relating to his hearing. This season almost seemed like it wanted Murdock to go back to square one again, with him basically retiring his red devil suit and going back to the original black outfit he wore in season 1. With this season, we see Fisk make a deal with federal agents so he can be released out of prison. In doing so, we get introduced to a new character that becomes a very important character throughout the season; Dex Poindexter. He's a damaged man, and Fisk brings him under his wing as one of his fbi henchmen, occasionally dressing up as Daredevil to kill/cause crime to discredit the Daredevil alias. The season also expertly continues Vanessa Fisks story, revealing she isn't as innocent as she may seem. I think my favorite part of the show was showing Nadeem, a fbi agent that is forced into this crime conspiracy, and the conflicts he had with becoming a dirty cop. His entire arc was nerve wracking and albeit sad, rounded out amazingly. Of course all the recurring characters such as foggy and Karen are integral to this season too, with Karen even becoming a huge asset to the plot. This season definitely concludes amazingly well, but obviously from the cliffhangers, some of these characters were just getting started.
In all, this show is probably my favorite superhero show and definitely one of my favorites in general. The gritty, expertly crafted world that's shown in this show was top tier comic book material that any fan of the genre should check out. The characters all matter to the story, the plot lines are seriously so good. And of course, Charlie Cox's portrayal of Matt Murdock/Daredevil is some of the best casting I've ever seen. 100% recommend this.