Imagine: it’s 2018. You’ve just walked out of the movie theater. Half of your favorite superheroes just disintegrated to dust before your eyes. After the release of Avengers: Infinity War, the internet is scrambling to theorize how the Avengers will best Thanos. Marvel has the world in a chokehold, waiting desperately for Avengers: Endgame (2019) to resolve all of their cliffhangers. It is the peak for superheroes in film and TV.

While all eyes were focused on an epic battle across the galaxies, one lone vigilante was concluding the fight of his life in Marvel’s Daredevil (2015-2018). One of four shows produced by Marvel and Netflix, these shows told the stories of street-level heroes fighting crime in the dark corners of New York City. While the collection, in my opinion, is a mixed bag as a whole, Daredevil stands out as a gem in superhero media. Although the beloved hero’s story seemed to be complete, he is now returning to television screens on March 5 on Disney+ in sequel series Daredevil: Born Again.

On the big screen, lives were lost, mantles were passed, and a golden era was coming to a close. Who would have thought that the superhero to outlast them all would be a man with nothing but some billy clubs and really good pain tolerance? More than ever, there’s something to be said for the street-level vigilante.

Daredevil stars Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer starting up his own rickety law firm with best friend Franklin “Foggy” Nelson (Elden Henson). The duo, fresh out of law school with no clients to their name, take up the case of  Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), who’s been accused of murder. But all is not as it seems. Pulling on this thread reveals a convoluted scheme tied to all of the city, from the gangs to the cops to the courts. Someone is controlling Hell’s Kitchen behind the scenes.

While Nelson and Murdock work on the legal side, Matt is tackling criminals in the dark of night as Daredevil, or “the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen”, as the press has named  him. In a freak accident from childhood, Matt was splashed with chemicals that stole his eyesight but enhanced all other senses exponentially. He can smell cologne from three stories down, or hear the grinding of a hairline fracture. As he, Foggy, and Karen (who becomes their secretary) look into the crime syndicate taking over Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil does the same on the streets.

Daredevil is gritty, dark, and marvellously exciting. As Daredevil uncovers money laundering, assassinations, and drug and human trafficking, he soon comes face to face with some unsavory characters, all controlled by powerful businessman Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), or “Kingpin”. Kingpin acts in the shadows, collaborating with crime organizations aiding his efforts to gentrify and control Hell’s Kitchen, terrorizing and killing innocents in the process.

Though not having quite the scale of the fantastical threats in Marvel movies, Kingpin is equally menacing in his own right as a seemingly invulnerable villain looming over the city. His crime is bloody and violent, adding to the great stakes of Daredevil’s fight. Hundreds go missing without a trace, people die of mysterious circumstances, and Fisk’s own men would rather die than utter his name. The story is deliberate and masterful, carefully teasing information to build up the mystery of the secretive crime lord who continues to escape justice. As a lawyer, Matt is forced to come to terms with the failure of the very system he has dedicated his craft to. It seems that no one is safe from suspicion in this corrupt city; using Matt’s ability to hear heartbeats, the writers spike chilling dread in the audience’s heart when characters who were supposedly trustworthy have secrets of their own.

Although the show is partly crime-drama, it wouldn’t be a superhero show without some action. It is not a new statement to say that Daredevil has some fantastic fight scenes; trained by a member of an ancient secret organization, Daredevil fights with an acrobatic, martial-arts style brilliantly crafted by stunt/fight choreographer Philip J. Silvera. The show has earned great acclaim for scenes like the fan-favorite “Hallway Fight”, a three-minute sequence down a hallway filmed in one shot with skillful camera direction and clever stunt-double swapping. However, Daredevil lacks any superhuman powers, meaning his battles rely on mere skill, strength, and incredible endurance. When he gets beat down and broken, he stands back up with heaving breaths. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Silvera said, “When people get hit, they get rocked for a second [...] There has to be a level of, ‘Okay, that got me.’”[1] It gives Daredevil’s fights real groundedness; he is not an otherworldly god or super soldier. Sometimes, it feels like his body may just give up.  Of course, it never does. Matt is a stubborn but noble hero, if also a bit self-sacrificial. But this recklessness isn’t his only dimension: his devout faith (a result of being raised in a Catholic orphanage) and legal education conflicts with his strong sense of justice and the violent nature of his nighttime activities, making for a deliciously compelling character. Figures from his past returning to haunt the present push him to intriguing limits. And in the face of someone like Fisk, who seems to be an utter force of evil, Matt must confront his refusal to kill. His inner turmoil adds a level of depth to even the simplest of scenes.

Beyond Matt, the supporting cast of Daredevil is equally complex. Though she seems harmless, Karen Page is a force to be reckoned with in her own right, weaponing the press with investigative journalist Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall) to expose Kingpin in a way even the police can’t prevent. She, too, has a dark past that must catch up eventually. Daredevil’s opponents, including Fisk but also the Punisher (Frank Castle played by Jon Bernthal) are also afforded complex backstories that motivate their actions. And of course, my personal favorite, Foggy Nelson is the grounding constant in Matt Murdock’s life. He lacks the brooding angst of many other characters, and instead is the humorous and witty support that Matt needs. Their chemistry, brewing since their college days at Columbia, is a constant source of warmth against the crimes and atrocities the characters fight. The tumultuous rifts that come between them are nothing short of heartbreaking.

Daredevil ended in 2018 with a resolute conclusion and an optimistic look for the future of the firm. But it didn’t end up being a conclusion on these characters’ lives; in fact, Matt and Fisk have made new appearances such as in Hawkeye (2021), Spiderman: No Way Home (2021), She-Hulk (2022), and Echo (2024). The MCU has been gearing up for a return of the beloved  vigilante for years, and audiences’ patience will be rewarded very soon.

Sources of the Daredevil: Born Again’s development report that the show underwent an entire creative overhaul to be more like the action-packed original rather than the legal procedural it was going to be. [2] Much of the original crew is set to return, including not only Nelson, Murdock, and Page, but also Punisher and fight choreographer Philip Silvera. The TV-MA rating[3] also hints at a return of the original dark tone. I personally have high hopes for the future of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil: Born Again has much to live up to, but it is set to be a gritty, thrilling ride.

Sources:

• Rolling Stone. Daredevil: Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Fight Footage [Internet]. YouTube. 2016 [cited 2025 Feb 9]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVJ-32mT8k
• ‌Kit B. “Daredevil” Hits Reset Button as Marvel Overhauls Its TV Business [Internet]. The Hollywood Reporter. 2023. Available from: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/daredevil-marvel-disney-1235614518/
• Tassi P. New Rating Says The MCU’s “Daredevil: Born Again” Is Punisher-Level Brutal. Forbes [Internet]. 2025 Jan 28; Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/01/28/new-rating-says-the-mcus-daredevil-born-again-is-punisher-level-brutal/