Four Reasons You Should Be Excited for the Daredevil Show

Marvel recently announced some new images and clips from their upcoming Daredevil Netflix series. It's just the latest in a string of news that make me nothing but excited for this. Much more so than the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Sure, there are a few things to be a little suspicious of. Daredevil is a dark property, but how dark is Marvel willing to go? This is Disney after all. Yes, Netflix allows for things like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, but I doubt Daredevil will go there. However, I posit that there are much more things to get hyped about. Get hyped! Get hyped public! Hyped! Why? Here's four reasons why:

They're Using the Best Daredevil Stories

From what we've seen so far, it appears that almost everyone involved has got their Daredevil knowledge down. Just like how The Dark Knight took inspiration from the best parts of Batman arcs, Daredevil seems to be doing the same. We're seeing parts of The Man Without Fear story arc and some parts of Born Again. For those unaware, those two among the best written stories in comic history. And I mean we're talking heavy influence. Take a look at Matt Murdock's first costume in the Netflix series: And here's Matt Murdock's first costume in The Man Without Fear: Right? That's pretty awesome. But it's more than just costumes, it's characters...

They're Using Real Comic Book Characters

We're getting The Owl you guys. We're getting The Owl played by the Warden from Shawshank. This is mind-blowing! This is like getting John Malkovich to play Stilt-Man. Unreal. Other than that, they're getting veteran actors to play characters ranging from Wilson Fisk to The Night Nurse. This is extra exciting for me because of my well documented disappointment in Agents of SHIELD's lack of comic book characters. It was an awesome chance to use Marvel's huge cast of characters, something the movie's run times disallow. I mean, we could have had Hydra and AIM fighting over powerful alien tech. A TV show's multiple plot lines would have allowed us to have a dozen comic book villains by now. In the end... we didn't really get that. Fortunately, it appears that Daredevil could be the show we've been waiting for. Shot in New York itself, we could actually see a ground-level MCU. How has New York fared since the attack? How has the new Age of Superheroes changed things? Is Fisk taking advantage of the devastated city? Is he butting heads with The Owl? There are a ton of possibilities. We're not even talking about the advantages of setting a precedent like this. With Daredevil using characters straight from the comics, the other Netflix shows could easily follow suit. Could you imagine having Purple Man in Jessica Jones? Bushmaster in Luke Cage? The Cat in Iron Fist? This could the start of something simply amazing.

The Actors Seem Way into It

Every movie or TV show has its actors talking it up. That's just a fact of the business. However, with Daredevil, I think the complexity of these characters coupled with the freedom of Netflix has made the actors excited. And that's nothing but great. Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk, seems most into it. “Our Fisk, he’s a child and he’s a monster." Vincent said at this year's NYCC, "every move that he makes and everything that he does in our story comes from his foundation of morality inside himself. And meeting Vanessa, the one thing that she does for him so far, is brings him out of the shadows. So we’ve been able to do, like they’ve done with Charlie as well, is you have a feeling of the origin of Wilson, and how he comes this iconic character that everybody seems to dig. We’re playing it real, we’re playing it emotional, and moment to moment, and I’m digging it.” Even Charlie Cox, who plays Daredevil himself, has talked highly of his role, "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."

It's (Most Likely) Going to Fit the Tone of the Comic

Daredevil is unlike anything we've really seen in the MCU. It's a much more grounded, much more violent world than, say, an Iron Man or a Thor. Sure you've still got a few people in costumes, but this is also a world of mobsters and assassins. Daredevil is an honest-to-Galactus street-level hero. No alien invasion, no future cyborgs, no sprawling conspiracy. He's fighting thieves, muggers, a corrupt justice system, and mobsters day after day. And the occasional ninja. Netflix Daredevil should reflect that. And I think it has. Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight has spoken many times on his tone for the show, and adding in the inspiration they're taking, he seems to be right on the mark. I mean, look at what he said at NYCC: “There are no heroes or villains, there are just people making different choices. [Daredevil is] one bad day from becoming Frank Castle instead of Matt Murdock. With Wilson Fisk, when you hear the explanation of what he’s doing and why he’s doing it, you’ll say, ‘You know, that’s not a bad idea. That’s pretty good.’” That's great news! That's much darker than your normal MCU fare -- as a Daredevil story requires -- and it's in keeping with most of the great Daredevil stories. Matt Murdock has always been a murky character. Hell, he's been something a villain before. He's killed people. He gets the job done. At the end of the day, that's the kind of character we need to see. Again from DeKnight, it looks like Netflix is allowing that, "how much freedom will I have? This is a bit of a different scenario because it’s a Marvel property. Once you have an IP like that, there are restrictions that you have to accept. I’m fine with that, I totally understand. I’ll push it as far as I can, of course, but I also respect the fact that this character has been around for decades. Overall I’ve been surprised at how willing everyone is to take a really fresh look and really push what we’re doing." What's more, the descriptions of the scenes shown at NYCC seem like the kind of things a Daredevil show should bring. From Bloody Disgusting: "The fight is incredibly brutal and vicious, very much like the hand-to-hand combat scene in the Bourne films or the recent Bond movies. The sounds of punches, knife slashes, grunts, and damage act as the soundtrack. Matt and Wesley’s brawl leads to them crashing out of the window together and down to the alley below. Matt tries to get up but he passes out face down on the road as the rain drenches him." Yes! Finally, the best part of all: Netflix allows the show to become something of a comic book itself. While a movie has to condense a comic book story's long, complex plot into 2 hours, a Netflix show -- with all episodes aired at once -- acts as a way to tell the same kind of story without relying on the serial format. Allow Charlie Cox to explain: “One thing I noticed when reading the script is that because there’s not a week in between, because you don’t have to remind people what happened and there isn’t the need for a cliff hangers, you can tell real stories. Like nothing else, it’s going to feel like a 13-hour movie.” Sign. Me. Up.