No matter how many shows come and go, Marvel’s Daredevil is just one of a kind. It is a stacked show that must be watched at least once. The wild, off-the-rails storyline of a blind man who is a lawyer by day and a vigilante at night will stick with you long after you're done with the story.
Every character has a rich story to tell, and those stories won’t let you take your eyes off the screen. The show is considered one of the finest Marvel productions ever, and no doubt it continues to be among the most high-rated shows of the production house. If you haven't seen it yet, there are plenty of reasons why you should dive in.
The Great Acting
What truly elevates Daredevil is the fantastic, grounded performances. All the characters in the show are not in some hypothetical cinematic scenario; they are all extremely close to reality. The characters, especially Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, have done an outstanding job taking the material to heart.
Whether it's Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), or Stick (Scott Glen), there’s not even a single character in the show that feels phony when it comes to acting. Every character has their own life that has its problems and depth.
The Amazing Storytelling
What elevates great acting is equally great storytelling. Daredevil not only carries a compelling story from season to season, but every character has a unique arc that serves to elevate.
The storytelling is done on an intimate level so the audience can relate to it: they can understand and look inside the characters' lives. Towards the end of the show, you will not only have a favorite character, but you'll also have a genuine emotional investment.
It Has a Relatable Storyline
The storytelling lets the show stand out, but why does that happen? It happens because the entire storyline of the show is relatable to the audience. This Marvel show doesn’t revolve around radically fantastic scenarios, like hopping from different planets or dimensions: it's more grounded than that.
Here, the show is at the street level, making it all relatable and authentic. The overall show revolves around the life of a vigilante who protects his city at night while being an attorney during the day.
The Show's Grit and Darkness
Marvel’s Daredevil is one of those shows that are just one of a kind. Though there are a lot of violent scenes in Marvel Cinematic Universe, they are nowhere close to Daredevil. The show features dark visuals accompanied by brutality and well-choreographed action scenes.
The show portrays a life of a blind boy who learns to live two lives as he grows up. He studies and trains to be a lawyer during the day and a vigilante at night. He is on his mission to save Hell’s Kitchen from the tyranny of the Kingpin across the city while wrestling with the darker, violent side within him.
The Blood-Pumping Action
Daredevil is Marvel’s first street-level show. The action scenes don't feature fancy technology or (mostly) physics-defying superpowers. All those fight scenes are ice-cold slabs of brutality, all of which are amazingly performed.
The best fights of the series are the lengthy, expertly planned sequences: these aren't just fights that are made to look cool either; there's almost always an emotional struggle at their core. One such amazing fight sequence is in Daredevil season 1, episode 2, which is shot in a single cut for over five minutes in a hallway.
The Cinematography
The show's cinematography is such that it won’t let the audience bat their eyes and makes the show truly bingeable, especially the well-shot action scenes. The theme of "darkness" is represented visually as the show plays with shadows and colors.
Out of all the seasons, the cinematography of the first season is exceptional. The way this season uses the lighting and colors for different characters and their lives helps establish the show's overall theme.
The Antagonist
Charlie Cox and everybody else in the show is practically living their roles. Then there’s the show's antagonist, who deserves a separate shoutout: D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk (better known by his moniker, Kingpin).
The cold and calculating Kingpin is behind all the crimes in Hell’s Kitchen, but he takes a Machiavellian approach to his rule: the ends justify the means to make a better city. If you haven’t watched Daredevil, but have seen Hawkeye, then you probably know what you have missed.
Better Than Ben Affleck’s 'Daredevil'
The critically panned Daredevil of 2003 is nowhere close to the show released in 2015. If you are someone who believes that the show will be the same, you are mistaken. The show goes well beyond a simple IP revival. Also, it must be taken into account that the show has much more time to explore several characters due to the longer runtime.
Charlie Cox’s performance is commendable in the show and leagues above Affleck's. Significant strides have been made in TV and film from 2003 to 2015, leading to a sharp contrast in both Daredevils: the cinematography, the costuming, and the tackling of mature themes have all been improved.
The Female Characters
It would be a crime not to highlight the female characters. There are four major women in the show who have lives that don’t revolve around men. They have their complicated lives and ways of dealing with them and contributing to society.
Whether it is Karen Page, Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer), or Elektra (Elodie Young), no matter who was their love interest, they had their identity. They contributed to the show in their specific way.
Daredevil and Kingpin Have Come to the MCU
The most important reason to watch Daredevil at the earliest is that now the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and Kingpin has come to the MCU. Cox made his MCU debut in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) lawyer, Matt Murdock, while D'Onofrio appeared in Hawkeye as Wilson Fisk.
Daredevil is set to appear in many MCU projects: he's already had special guest appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. That’s not just it; he will be returning along with Vincent D'Onofrio for his TV show, Daredevil: Born Again.