This comic book geek is ridiculously excited about Marvel’s upcoming Netflix series, Daredevil.
Batman and Spider-Man were largely my favorites as a kid (especially if you look at how much those two occupy my old comic book collection), but I’d always been fascinated by the blind superhero who got through life and fought crime based on hypernatural senses of hearing, smell and touch that effectively compensated for his lack of sight. Then you also have the dichotomy of Matt Murdock, the lawyer by day who goes out to kick criminal ass at night.
Another major factor in Daredevil’s appeal is the talent that worked on his stories. Frank Miller’s comic book work is iconic now, exerting significant influence over how superhero stories are told on movie screens now, especially with Batman. Zack Snyder’s upcoming version of The Dark Knight, played by Ben Affleck, owes much of his sensibility and worldview to Miller’s interpretation of an older, beaten-down Batman in The Dark Knight Returns miniseries from the 1980s. But Miller established himself as an artist and writer with Daredevil.
Mark Steven Johnson’s 2003 film, also starring Affleck as the title character, had Miller’s fingerprints all over the story. Johnson probably tried to fit too much of Miller’s mythology into a 100-minute film, incorporating Murdock’s Catholicism and doomed relationship with the sultry Greek assassin Elektra with his origin story.
Though a big part of me was thrilled to see Daredevil on the big screen and I felt like the filmmakers got many things right — including the hero’s “radar sense” and conveying how difficult his life would be as a blind man — I had my face in my hands as the credits rolled because the movie just didn’t work overall. And I knew that there wouldn’t be a sequel that could result in a better effort.
Yet I still held out hope. With the success of Marvel’s movies featuring Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, comic book superheroes had become big business for the movies. These characters and their stories were taken seriously now. The suspension of disbelief and doubt no longer had to be overcome. Mainstream audiences accepted people getting into costumes and having widescreen adventures now.
So maybe it was only a matter of time before someone took another crack at Daredevil. Yes, he was a darker, grittier, more down-to-earth character than Tony Stark. But if that could be accepted for Batman, it could be accepted for Marvel’s nighttime crusader, right?
A couple of years ago, director David Slade (30 Days of Night, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) was attached to the project. His dark sensibility and preference for horror-type material seemed like a good match. But he opted out to work on NBC’s Hannibal. Then Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The Grey) tried to get the gig. With a filmography of gritty crime stories and bold action, perhaps he was even better suited for a pulp fictionesque comic book character.
Both filmmakers favored a 1970s-style take on Daredevil and the world he occupied. Carnahan demonstrated that vision in a sizzle reel he made for Fox Studios, basically pitching a superhero version of 1979’s The Warriors.
As promising as Carnahan’s idea was — teasing something we’ve never seen with a superhero film — the director and studio just couldn’t get all the pieces together before Fox’s rights to Daredevil expired, meaning that Marvel could take back its creative property. There wouldn’t be another Daredevil movie, but the character is now the centerpiece of a small-screen counterpart to its big-screen endeavors. This would be the beginning of four shows for Netflix, featuring the comic book company’s more street-level crimefighters.
Since then, a few details about the production have been released. Charlie Cox, best known for a role on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, would play Murdock. Vincent D’Onofrio was cast as Daredevil’s arch-nemesis and crime lord, The Kingpin. Rosario Dawson was attached to a then-unknown role. But as with any comic book adaptation, fans were eager to see what this version of Daredevil would look like in costume. Would it be an improvement on the Affleck incarnation? Would this look more like a TV production than a film?
Marvel finally pulled back the curtain this past weekend (Oct. 11) during the New York Comic-Con. The cast was flown in for a Q&A panel and clips from the series were shown to fans. For those not in attendance, Marvel released an image of Cox in costume as Daredevil, one that probably wasn’t expected.
I often wince at the comic-book and sci-fi fanboys immediately proclaiming something sucks at first glance without considering the context of the picture or how a character and costume might look in a still photo compared to a moving image on a TV or movie screen. That reflexive reaction has practically become a caricature of geek culture.
Yet my initial thought upon seeing Cox dressed in all black, rather than Daredevil’s signature oxblood red outfit with horns on the mask and a “DD” logo on the chest was “What the hell is this?” Worst of all, it looked like the all-black costume Rex Smith wore when he played Daredevil in the 1989 TV movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. (The hope was to create enough interest in the character to spin off a new series.)
That’s not really a pleasant memory for Daredevil fans. Even if it wasn’t necessarily a terrible interpretation of the character (though maybe I’m dealing with selective or repressed memories here), it looked like a low-rent TV production. Could a TV movie not afford to make a cool-looking Daredevil costume? Would an attempt with 1989 designs and materials have looked ridiculous? Oh… probably.
But a deep breath was in order for fans who may have panicked at that first image of Netflix’s Daredevil. Marvel quickly reminded diehards that the all-black costume was an early version of the character’s uniform, used when Murdock first decided to go out at night, test his extraordinary abilities and fight crime, as depicted in Miller’s retelling of Daredevil’s origin story with artist John Romita Jr., titled The Man Without Fear.
Oh — well, then. This is faithful to the comics. Or at least it appears to be. Carry on. That’s all comic book fans really want out of live-action adaptations. Of course, they also want those TV shows and movies to be good and not an embarrassing reminder that this material was once widely considered only for kids and stunted adolescents.
While it’s possible that Cox’s all-black suit will be what Daredevil wears throughout the series’ 13-episode run on Netflix, the character will likely evolve until he wears the familiar red, devil-horned costume typically associated with The Man Without Fear. This is where Marvel’s talent for building anticipation toward its properties (especially the movies and TV shows) really shines. See, the studio gets it both ways now, revealing an image and giving the fans some meat to chew on. But not everything was revealed. So there’s more to come, and thus more to anticipate.
Maybe this means we’ll get a look at Daredevil’s updated costume before the series debuts on Netflix in May 2015. That’s another carrot for Marvel to dangle in front of fans and geek bloggers over the next six months. But what would be even better is if this superhero does indeed get a new costume during the show and we don’t see it until it’s naturally revealed during the series as part of the story.
How cool would that be? Keep what the fans really want concealed and drive them mad. But what better way to drive interest in the show even higher? Wouldn’t keeping the final reveal of Daredevil a secret until watching the show be a great reward to fans and viewers?
I realize that’s probably living in a dream world. These sorts of TV shows and movies don’t hold that many surprises anymore, though producers and directors try to keep key details and cool stuff under wraps. It’s likely better business to give people what they want. Filmmakers have learned that audiences actually like having the whole movie explained in trailers, for example. And fanboy geeks want all the information and spoilers they can get.
Until Marvel and Netflix blow the surprise on Daredevil, however, I’ll hold out hope that fans remain much like this hero: Blind with senses highly tuned to everything around them.
Of course, I’ll also hope that the show lives up to everything I want it to be. Just be better than the Affleck version. Come close to the classic Miller comic books and the more recent runs that Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have had with the character over the past 15 years. I know that’s asking a lot. But that’s the expectation being built here.
