Marvel’s Daredevil (Netflix)

The quality of television shows based on comic books is rising at an outstanding rate. In April alone we had a solid handful of programs that millions enjoyed on a weekly basis. I’m one of those people, and my favorite show in April really boiled down to three programs. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a very strong contender with its current focus on the Inhumans. It’s an exceptional risk to set up a movie that won’t come until several years later, but right now S.H.I.E.L.D. is proving to be up to the task. CW’s The Flash was right there too. This show does have its flaws with some aggressive campiness and forced love triangles, but I can’t remember that last time I was so obsessed with a villain as I am with the Reverse Flash. I’m a massive fan of this story involving time travel and I can’t wait to see how it ends.

Then there’s the third, which I’ve ultimately chosen as my number one: Daredevil. As Marvel’s first original Netflix program and the official beginning of a Defenders miniseries that will culminate after three other shows, Daredevil is one incredible step forward. It’s a completely different program than anything that has come before it. Since it’s on a platform that isn’t relegated by the FCC, it has an enormous level of freedom. This leniency is used to create a superhero show that’s hardly reminiscent of a superhero program, nonetheless something by the joke happy Marvel. We’ll never watch a S.H.I.E.L.D. member smash a man’s head with a car door until blood pours onto the ground with a soggy thump. When was the last time a DC character was kidnapped on television, only to straight up murder their captor and become engulfed with fear? This is all fair game on Daredevil, which is filled with these moments and more in only one season.

Daredevil’s aggressively dark in visuals and tone. Matt Murdock does his absolute best to make his city better as the titular blind superhero, but he is essentially the Sisyphus of New York. No matter how many fights he can win, the overall war is so relenting in beating him down. It’s a regular occurrence to watch Daredevil get his ass kicked and you grow to admire him through his nearly unbreakable tenacity. Even when he was at his lowest, Murdock was always able to find a reason to get back out there. His inability to see also provides us with some wonderfully unique set pieces that are almost entirely shrouded in darkness. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that this a superhero who thrives in the shadows, the very places where villains like to turn other lives into hell.

Acting was top notch across the board, which isn’t a surprise for a Netflix program. Charlie Cox was the perfect pick to play Murdock as he can effortlessly convey the wildly diverse emotional states that are required for his character. Elden Henson was always available for a laugh, playing up Foggy Nelson as the ultimate foil to the intensely foul characters around him. After witnessing all the insanity Karen Page had to go through since the premiere, I can’t imagine any other actress in the role than Deborah Ann Woll. As for the big bad himself, Wilson Fisk, whoever brought on Vincent D’Onofrio deserves some kind of medal. That man is terrifying.

Production is obviously off the charts too. That amazing hallway fight scene from episode 2, “Cut Man,”,made massive waves on the internet once someone put it online. Yet that moment only scratches the surface of what Daredevil has to offer. This is an entire show filled with expert camera work, cinematography, use of light and shadow, and choreography. The world truly comes alive on the screen, and I can’t imagine a better way to introduce an entirely new focus on ground level heroes that Marvel is well known for.

If Daredevil is a sign of things to come, it’s no wonder why Marvel was so willingly to put four of their heroes on Netflix. – Luke Kalamar, TV Editor

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