All episodes of the first season premiered on April 10, 2015. They were released to critical acclaim, with critics praising the action sequences, performances, and the darker tone compared to other properties set in the MCU. On April 21, 2015, Marvel and Netflix renewed Daredevil for a second season, due to premiere on March 18, 2016.
Premise
The first season sees lawyer-by-day Matt Murdock use his heightened senses from being blinded as a young boy to fight crime at night on the streets of New York City'sHell’s Kitchen neighborhood as Daredevil.[2] In the second season, Murdock continues to balance life as a lawyer and Daredevil, while crossing paths with Frank Castle / Punisher, a vigilante with far deadlier methods as well as the return of his old girlfriend–Elektra Natchios.[3][4]
Cast and characters
Cast of Daredevil at the 2015 New York Comic Con. (L to R: Cox, Woll, Henson, Bernthal, Yung)
A blind lawyer who becomes the hero Daredevil.[5] Season one showrunner Steven DeKnight stated that "He's not super strong. He's not invulnerable. In every aspect, he's a man that's just pushed himself to the limits, he just has senses that are better than a normal human's. He is human." On the character's "grey" morals, he said, "He's a lawyer by day, and he's taken this oath. But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things. I really liked the flawed heroes, the human heroes."[6] The character's Catholicism plays a large role in the series, with DeKnight calling him "one of the most, if not the most, religious characters in the Marvel Universe".[7] Cox, who was raised Catholic, explained that "You grow up steeped in that. If you’re in church, standing in front of the altar, you sort of automatically know how to respond. It all kicks in – you genuflect, you sit in the pew. I didn’t have to pretend any of that.”[8] Cox worked with blind consultant Joe Strechay,[9] and was conscious of what his eyes were doing at all times, to ensure they would not look at or react to something unlike a blind person.[10] Skylar Gaertner plays a young Matt Murdock.[11]
An enigmatic young woman whose quest for justice sends her crashing into Murdock's life.[12] On creating the character of Karen Page, after portraying Jessica Hamby in True Blood from 2008–14, Woll said, "I'm already starting to notice huge differences between the two characters ... I can feel myself go, 'Oh, if this was Jessica she would do this,' but wanting to kind of steer differently than that. It's always going to be me in some way. I think, as an actor, that's part of it."[13] Woll had not previously read any Daredevil comics, and turned to her boyfriend who is "a huge comic book fan" for guidance. She also added that Page's backstory would be different than the one from the comics, saying, "In the comic books, in the beginning Karen is very innocent, and then towards the end she's really swung a full 180, she's in a lot of trouble, so I wanted to find a way to make her both of those things at the same time. Can she be a really wonderful, kind person who is a little bit attracted to danger? She's not just always getting into trouble because 'Oh, silly woman!' Karen is actually looking for it, and she won't let her fear stop her from finding the truth."[10]
Murdock's close friend and law partner.[14] In April 2015, Henson spoke of his excitement for the character's role in the series, saying "I was really excited as I was getting the scripts and reading that Foggy wasn't just a useless sidekick. He's not just comic relief. I mean, he is some of those things. He does have comic relief, but it was exciting to know that these other characters would have their own path and their own things that they're dealing with."[15]
Fisk's right hand man.[16][17] Moore described Wesley as an "interesting character to play, because in one moment he can be incredibly charming, and in the next, dastardly as all hell, manipulative and Machiavellian, but always loyal to Wilson Fisk."[18]
An art gallery employee and Wilson Fisk's love interest. Unlike the same character from the comics, this version of Vanessa is well aware of Fisk's true dealings and accepts him for it, instead of being horrified and disgusted by it.[16][17] Clinical psychologist Dr. Andrea Letamendi noted that Marianna "allows us to see the compassion Fisk has, and it's genuine that he's so loving and heartfelt and compassionate—he has this sense of connection to humanity. It's so interesting to have that dynamic and that this incredibly intelligent, powerful woman brings it out in him."[20]
A nurse who helps Murdock.[16][19] The character is an amalgam of Temple and Night Nurse.[21] DeKnight noted that the character was originally "going to be the actual Night Nurse from the comics...we had her name in a script and it came back that it was possible [the feature side] were going to use her" and "had plans for her down the road," necessitating the team to use the more obscure comics character Claire Temple as her name.[22] Dawson explained that "[her] character is a normal person and she becomes more heroic in a way that she maybe didn't expect",[15] and went on to state that "She’s not a love interest – she’s this skeptical eye looking at this strange situation. She’s the one who can be like, “You’re not really good at this.” That makes it feel more real."[21] On her character's relationship to Murdock, Dawson said that "The show explores how necessary it is for two people to finally have their masks off with each other. For Matt Murdock, this is the first person he has that’s going to be able to see that transition for him. For her, she’s someone who also throws herself into the fray and had made it her life mission to help, even if that means risking her own life. But she gets confronted with the question: How far will you go? What does it mean if you’re helping someone who is maybe going to hurt other people?"[21]
A powerful businessman whose interests in the future of Hell's Kitchen will bring him into conflict with Murdock and Daredevil.[23][24] D'Onofrio stated that he hoped his portrayal of Fisk was a new way to look at the character, and that it would be the definitive portrayal of the character.[25] "Our Fisk, he's a child and he's a monster," D'Onofrio said. "Every move that he makes and everything that he does in our story comes from his foundation of morality inside himself."[26] In December 2014, DeKnight detailed that "Fisk has very many different aspects so it’s not all, "I want to conquer the city and make a lot of money". In our story, we tell the story of how he met his wife Vanessa and how they fell in love – our antagonist actually has a love story. That's the love story you're following, the one you’re invested in, and seeing how that affects him and changes him." He also said that "if you’re looking for a juicy, multi-faceted crime drama, Wilson Fisk was the obvious choice to play the antagonist ... [he] really felt like the right yin to the yang for Matt, and for what we wanted to do this season."[27] Cole Jensen plays a young Wilson Fisk.[28]
A vigilante who aims to clean up Hell’s Kitchen by any means necessary, no matter how lethal the results.[29][30] DeKnight said this version of Punisher would be "completely the Marvel version," as previous portrayals did not appear under the Marvel Studios / Marvel Television banner. He also felt Bernthal's Punisher would not be as "graphically violent" as in Punisher: War Zone.[31] Season two showrunner Doug Petrie stated that Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver was an influence on the character, as well as current events, saying, "Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky shit. We have not shied away from the rich complicated reality of Now. If you've got a gun and you're not the police you're going to incite strong feelings." Bernthal added that "This character has resonated with law enforcement and military....and the best thing about him is that if he offends you, he just doesn't care."[32]
A mysterious and dangerous woman from Murdock's past. The character was referred to in the first season, before Yung was cast in the role.[30][33][34] Describing Elektra's effect on Murdock, Petrie called her "the best bad girlfriend you can possibly have. She does everything wrong and attractive, she's [Matt's] id, the wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side. Elektra just lets it out. He's both repulsed and deeply drawn to that."[32]
Stephen Rider as Blake Tower: A New York district attorney who assists Daredevil "with information to help track down and capture criminals."[35]
On April 23, 2013, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that the Daredevil film rights reverted to Marvel from 20th Century Fox in October 2012, allowing the character to be used within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[37] As explained by head of Marvel TelevisionJeph Loeb in April 2015, Marvel Studios had "first dibs" on the character once the rights had reverted, but it was soon decided that the character could be a television property.[38] In October 2013, Deadline reported that Marvel was preparing four drama series and a miniseries, totaling 60 episodes, to present to video on demand services and cable providers, with Netflix, Amazon and WGN America expressing interest.[39] A few weeks later, Marvel and Disney announced that they would provide Netflix with live action series centered around Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries based on the Defenders.[40] This format was chosen due to the success of Marvel's The Avengers, for which the characters of Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and Thor were all introduced separately before being teamed up in that film.[38]
In December 2013, Drew Goddard was hired to serve as executive producer and showrunner for Daredevil.[41] Goddard had originally pitched Daredevil to Marvel as a film, but decided to make it a television series instead, as Marvel was not looking to create an R-rated film, which would have resulted in a "watered down version" of the character appearing in the film. Goddard said, "I went into Marvel and talked to them about making it as a movie a couple of years ago, long after the Affleck movie. But what we all sort of realised is that, this movie doesn’t want to cost $200 million. The thing about Matt Murdock is, he’s not saving the world. He’s just keeping his corner clean. So it would feel wrong to have spaceships crashing in the middle of the city. But because of that, Marvel on the movie side is not in the business of making $25 million movies. They’re going big, as they should."[42] In May 2014 Marvel announced that Goddard had stepped down as showrunner in order to focus on directing a feature film based on Marvel's Sinister Six for Sony Pictures Entertainment. He was succeeded by Steven S. DeKnight. Goddard, who wrote the first two episodes, remained with the show as a consultant and executive producer. Marvel also revealed that the series would be titled Marvel's Daredevil.[43] DeKnight, Goddard, Loeb, Jim Chory, Dan Buckley, Joe Quesada, Stan Lee, Alan Fine, Cindy Holland, Kris Henigman, Allie Goss and Peter Friedlander serve as executive producers.[1] On April 21, 2015, Marvel and Netflix announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, set for release in 2016, with Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez replacing DeKnight as showrunners as well as acting as executive producers; both served as writers in the first season and worked closely with DeKnight and Goddard.[36]
Writing
On choosing to write the character and develop the series initially, Goddard said, "With Matt Murdock I just had such a personal connection to that character it was just like, 'I have to do this.' I don’t want to... be a guy that just takes the comics and then shoots them onscreen. I think it's our job to treat it as if it's our run. If I'm the writer of a comic book, you wouldn't just retell someone else's story, you would just take that ball and move it forward."[44] In August 2014, when talking about the series in comparison to the 2003 film, Netflix COO Ted Sarandos said, "The series will not be afraid to go darker than the film did. What we love about this particular set of heroes is that they’re a little more down to Earth. Costume wise and also in that these are gritty crime stories, more in the streets than in the clouds."[45] Elaborating on this, DeKnight said, "It is a little grittier and edgier than Marvel has gone before, but we’re not looking to push it to extreme graphic violence, gratuitous nudity or anything like that. The story does not require that and I think [it] would suffer if you pushed it that far."[27] Marvel Television head and executive producer Loeb later stated that, "There aren't going to be people flying through the sky; there are no magic hammers. We've always approached this as a crime drama first, superhero show second."[46] DeKnight took inspiration from The French Connection, Dog Day Afternoon, and Taxi Driver, and stated that "we would rather lean toward The Wire than what’s considered a classic superhero television show."[27]
On the casting process, DeKnight stated that "You just have to hope you find the right way. Luckily our cast came together, and I couldn’t have been happier. No one will ever perfectly fit what’s in your head. For me, the more important thing is not whether or not they look the part, but if they feel the part."[6] Laray Mayfield and Julie Schubert served as casting directors on the series.[38]
Design
Costumes
Costume designer Stephanie Maslansky, talking about the inspiration and vision for the series, said "Daredevil is rooted in the authentically gritty New York City neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen where Matt Murdock grew up. In the comics—particularly those of the Frank Miller era in the early 1990s—there were detailed illustrations we endeavored to bring to life in a grounded, gritty, and updated way, with respect and a strong nod to the original characters. We wanted to pick up where the comics version left off. I studied the illustrations from The Man Without Fear, Daredevil Yellow, and the issues of the 1960s, to which the newer collections pay homage. I wanted the costume design to reflect the illustrations of those volumes through a modern lens while maintaining a retro sensibility."[50] Joshua Shaw, who has also done design work on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., helped design costumes for several characters on Daredevil.[51][52]
For Daredevil's red suit, introduced at the end of the first season, Marvel Comics' Chief Creative Officer Quesada contacted Ryan Meinerding and the costume artists and design team at Marvel Studios, who all contributed design ideas, with one of Meinerding's ultimately being picked. Quesada, who previously worked as an artist on Daredevil comics, gave several suggestions, including the incorporation of some of how New York was created into the suit, which lead to the use of rivets and "architectural" shapes. The suit is intended to look like a Kevlar vest, and the black sections are an homage to comic panels where the artists higlighted certain areas with red, with "deeper portions" in shadow. On the mask, Meinerding noted the difficulty in designing the entire top half of a face that is intended to match the bottom half of an actor's face, "because half of his face has to be covered and has its own expression and the actor’s face is going to be doing something else". For the billy clubs used by Daredevil in the series, which were designed by Andy Park, "There was a discussion early in the process, because Charlie Cox [and his stunt double] Chris Brewster are both right handed, of having the billy clubs holster on the right leg. But Daredevil wears those billy clubs on the left hand side. So while it would have been easier to place the holster on the right we all felt that we had to keep to the classic profile and keep them on the left."[53]
The opening title sequence was created by Elastic. The company previously created the title sequence for True Detective, which had stood out to the creators in terms of "imagination and delivering on what the show was about". DeKnight explained that multiple companies had made pitches to the creative team involving "variations of the same idea, where you zoom in on an eye and you see a sonar map of the city." However, one of Elastic's pitches had "fluid-like blood dripping over everything ... as if paint were covering something invisible and revealing it", which both DeKnight and Loeb wanted to use immediately.[38]
Elastic's Creative Director Patrick Clair "came up with the idea of making a red world that was revealed by liquid." Simulating the CG liquid, which was meant to be an ambiguous reference to poison and blood that behaved like "something in between liquid chocolate and tar", was difficult, with Clair saying "It’s hard to make an algorithm act “insidious”". CG Lead Andrew Romatz elaborated that "Developing the right consistency and behavior of the fluids was definitely a tricky process. Getting the scale to feel right was something that we had to play with quite a bit in simulation and also in lighting and texturing. Patrick wanted the sculptures we were forming to feel like miniatures, so we did a lot of experimenting with scene scale and with camera settings, simulating depth of field to achieve that look." Fluids Lead Miguel A. Salek stated that "Each shot required custom flow maps to be painted on the sculptures, along with small attraction fields and thousands of tiny adjustments to achieve the shapes and behavior Patrick was looking for. In the end I simulated hundreds of tests and thousands of frames of fluids to achieve just the right balance for each shot." Due to time constraints, references to Murdock's boxing history such as a punching bag and boxing ring were cut from the final sequence. The final sequence was animated to a temp track—"an old piece of 90s trip hop"—before John Paesano's music for the sequence was completed.[54]
Filming
Filming for the series takes place in New York City, in areas of Brooklyn and Long Island City that still look like the old Hell's Kitchen, in addition to sound stage work.[55][56] On the feel of the show, DeKnight stated, "We're going for a gritty, 1970s' New York feel for the show. We love the idea of beauty and the decay of the city, and Hell's Kitchen being a place that's both beautiful and gritty at the same time. And that's why Matt Murdock loves it and wants to protect it."[57] The series' action sequences take inspiration from The Raid films.[58]
Visual effects
Visual effects for the series were completed by the New York studio Shade VFX. Bryan Goswin serves as visual effects supervisor.[59]
Music
It was revealed that John Paesano would be composing the music for the series in October 2014.[60] The main theme of the series, which was co-composed by Braden Kimball,[61] is derived from Paesano's original demo for the series, which he submitted during the auditioning process. Paesano noted that it is rare for such material to be incorporated into a final score like this.[62] A soundtrack album for the first season was released on iTunes on April 27, 2015.[61]
Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins
If you live in New York, there are things that are going on all the time. I would never make light of the tragedy of 9/11, but 9/11 affected different neighborhoods in very different ways. They were all aware that this had happened, but the further down you got towards that area, the more affected you were by it. So we started with that sort of idea, that if the sky opened up and Chitauri were raining down with giant whales, and the Hulk and the Avengers were there to save the day, that's really exciting, but how did that affect the people who were six blocks over and three avenues down? That's the richness of the Marvel Universe. You can have that sort of thing happen and refer to it, but not have it be – we're not the world of the comics where you look up in the sky and Thor flies by all the time.This is a world where people do refer to Tony Stark as a billionaire in a tin suit, or the idea that they think there's a Thor out there with a magic hammer. But the truth of the matter is, 'I've never seen him. Have you ever seen him?' It's that kind of world that we exist in. For us, it makes Marvel what Marvel has always been, which is grounded.
Jeph Loeb on the opportunities that Daredevil existing within the Marvel Cinematic Universe presents.[15]
Daredevil is the first of the ordered Netflix series, and is followed by Marvel's Jessica Jones, which will be followed by Marvel's Luke Cage and Marvel's Iron Fist, before leading into the miniseries, Marvel's The Defenders.[63][64] In November 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that, if the characters prove popular on Netflix, “It’s quite possible that they could become feature films,"[65] which Sarandos echoed in July 2015.[66] In August 2014, D'Onofrio stated that after the "series stuff with Netflix", Marvel has "a bigger plan to branch out".[25] In December 2014, Loeb explained that "Within the Marvel universe there are thousands of heroes of all shapes and sizes, but the Avengers are here to save the universe and Daredevil is here to save the neighborhood ... It does take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s all connected. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we would look up in the sky and see [Iron Man]. It’s just a different part of New York that we have not yet seen in the Marvel movies."[27] Dawson later elaborated that "When you've got that level of superpowers, the fighting is different, the stakes are different, and it has a grander feel. In that world, they exist in it, so they know it and it's normal to them. But in reality when people are fighting and doing really bad, elicit [sic] crimes on the ground and there are guns and drugs—bones are going to break. People aren't hitting each other and nothing's going to happen because they're indestructible. These are people. They're vulnerable and you get to experience that."[15]
In March 2015, Loeb spoke on the ability for the series to crossover with the MCU films and the ABC television series, saying, "As it is now, in the same way that our films started out as self-contained and then by the time we got to The Avengers, it became more practical for Captain America to do a little crossover into Thor 2 and for Bruce Banner to appear at the end of Iron Man 3. We have to earn that. The audience needs to understand who all of these characters are and what the world is before you then start co-mingling in terms of where it's going."[67] In April, Cox stated that crossing over with the films is "possible. I think there's a way that the worlds can merge. I think our show feels tonally and thematically a bit different from The Avengers movies, but it's all one universe and I feel like there's a way for Daredevil—and other characters, Luke Cage and street level crime characters—to fit into that universe. I think there has to be a way, and I think it's about finding an autonomous tone for that [crossover] film".[15] Cox also said that he is contractually obligated to appear in films if asked by Marvel.[68]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10 based on 51 reviews for the first season. The website's critical consensus reads, "With tight adherence to its source material's history, high production quality, and a no-nonsense dramatic flair, Daredevil excels as an effective superhero origin story, a gritty procedural, and an exciting action adventure."[71]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[72]
Accolades
In December 2015, IGN named Daredevil the second best Netflix original programming series released to date.[73]
In November 2015, an update for the mobile fighting game, Marvel: Contest of Champions, was released featuring a six-part story quest involving Daredevil and Jessica Jones, along with a level based on Hell's Kitchen.[79]
^Perkins, Will (August 25, 2015). "Marvel's Daredevil (2015)". Art of the Title. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2015. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^Weedon, Paul (April 28, 2015). "Interview: John Paesano". Films on Wax. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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