To those who haven’t seen it yet, let me tell you, Daredevil is as good as you’ve heard. Sure, it isn’t perfect (the suit could use a slight redesign, but that’s nitpicking), but it is pretty awesome. It was the first live-action superhero thingy to show that violence truly has consequences, and it oozed a realism that nothing before it could match, while still being very aware that it’s about a blind dude who fights ninjas. That’s a tough balance to manage, and the cast and crew managed it brilliantly. It upped the ante for televised capes and tights, for sure. It was also full of Easter eggs (Stilt-Man!) and fan-wankery in the best way possible, giving me some ideas for next season and beyond should the show continue.
Since the announcement that Daredevil has been renewed for a second helping happened this week, as if that ever wasn’t going to happen even in an alternate universe, here are those ideas that my brainmeats have been stewing in since watching the first season. There may be spoilers ahead, so read accordingly.
Daredevil on Netflix is an interesting character; he’s quite a bit more violent than his comic counterpart, as a vigilante would be, but we’ve seen his reluctance to cross the line into killing. Whether it’s due to his Catholic nature, or something else entirely, it’s an intrinsic part of his character. What if there was another vigilante running around Hell’s Kitchen who didn’t have Matt’s conscience? What if there was a vigilante actively trying to kill Wilson Fisk and his men? How would The Man Without Fear react to that?
Here’s the thing; Marvel not only got the rights back to Daredevil a few years ago, but the Punisher and Blade as well. The structure of the Netflix series model set up by Daredevil would be a perfect fit for either of those characters, the Punisher in specific. Frank Castle’s alter-ego is a perfect fit for the groundwork begun by the atmosphere and ground-level nature of Daredevil. DD’s showrunner, Steven DeKnight, and star, Charlie Cox, have both expressed interest in a hard-R rated TV version of the character, with Cox stating “Steven DeKnight said that Daredevil is one bad day away from being the Punisher.”
There are any number of reasons Castle could show up in New York. It is well established in the comics that the Punisher has clashed with the Kingpin on many occasions. He could be following a lead gleaned from some greasy asshole in South Beach, a lead that with just a few episodes of set-up could show that the Kingpin’s empire has grown substantially since being incarcerated. Which wouldn’t be implausible; criminals, killers especially, are often treated like princes of crime once inside, and many rise through the ranks pretty quickly. Who’s to say that Fisk wasn’t not only protected inside, but maybe through some more killing has gained the respect of other crime lords, enough so that he can run his empire from inside a cell as easily as an office in a highrise, and be left alone to do it?
Maybe through some drug trafficking, or similar nasty business, the Punisher has to deal with the fall out and is not happy about it. The Punisher, through his research (Read: ass kicking of lowlife perps), figures out that Fisk is the major crime head in Hell’s Kitchen, but his influence is extending into other cities, including Castle’s neck of the woods, and he’s using children to carry out his deeds. Being a father who lost his children to criminal violence, Castle would do whatever it took to put a stop to it, including a little road trip to New York. Daredevil would not stand for more violence in his neighborhood, no matter the reasons, and would have to intervene. And it would be brilliant. Bring back Thomas Jane, who would probably do it in a heartbeat if this short film is to be believed. Sure, it’s not a great film, but it does show Jane’s love for the character. Or how about The Walking Dead‘s Shane himself, Jon Bernthal. He’s got the look for sure, and the skills to pull it off.
The way the MCU cherry picks from different comic storylines without creating a straight adaptation would work well in this instance, bringing together plot points from their first meeting in Frank Miller’s Child’s Play storyline, by the author most associated with televised adaptations of DD. After fighting each other, of course, they could reluctantly team-up to take down Fisk and his criminal empire. This could easily be set up early on, a little tease of what’s to come sprinkled in here and there, with the pay off to this plot, and the Punisher’s actual appearance, only happening in the last couple episodes.
OR, due to Fisk’s incarceration, blend bits of their first meeting in Child’s Play with a bit of David Lapham’s Means and Ends story which has Daredevil take over after the Kingpin is deposed, and the Punisher feels that DD’s form of billy-club dispensed justice is enough, and steps in to bring his own form of justice-by-shotgun. There have been some great DD/Punisher clashes throughout the years with which to choose plot points to mash together into a story the fans would be not only be excited about, but would be EXCITED about!
Those are somewhat realistic scenarios, things I could actually see happening in, if not season 2, season 3, but this next bit is less so. What about Moon Knight? I have no clue what Marvel’s rights situation on this character is, but Warren Ellis’ recent take on the character in From the Dead would fit right into DD’s little part of the MCU, and it wouldn’t be the first time Marvel Studios has used an Ellis Inspired plot point or two. Ellis deftly combined and cleaned up much of Marc Spector’s troubling and incomprehensible backstory, leading to a hero with a clearer head, and a clearer understanding of who he is.
Ellis had Moon Knight fighting “weird crime”, something of which Daredevil’s comic stories had plenty of back in the day. Maybe, in one of his less lucid moments, Spector is inspired by a news story on Daredevil. Then, in a bit ripped directly from the pages of Ellis’ story, he dons a suit to take on a mysterious sleep experiment that’s driving it’s patients insane as his alternate personality/alter-ego Mr. Knight. It just so happens that this experimental facility is one of Lee Owlsley’s, and Spector’s not the only one who’s concerned. Enter Matt Murdock, the lawyer that’s taken on a case of two of the victims by day, a Tandy Bowen and Tyrone “Ty” Johnson (Yep! Cloak & Dagger!), yet by night he’s decided the justice system works too slow. The two team-up to take break up the racket, and take out the man responsible; The Owl himself.
Moon Knight and Daredevil don’t share as much history as Murdock and Castle, but hey, the MCU’s a different thing entirely. And who wouldn’t love to see Leland Owlsley’s son Lee in full-on Owl mode go up against Moon Knight and Daredevil for a knock-down drag-out alleyway fight? True, the showrunners would have to soften some of Moon Knight’s character quirks a bit for an audience unfamiliar with them, but with the way they distilled the characters’ essence in the first season leaves me feeling confident that they could make it work, and make Moon Knight a household name. And it could set-up more Cloak & Dagger for later episodes or seasons! Sure, it would be a slightly different origin for them, but mainstream audiences wouldn’t know, and it’s close enough to pass for the true fans who would just be excited to see these cult favorites on television.
Which brings me to another unexpected Marvel character to become a household name; Blade. There was a point in time that I never would have believed there was a Blade film coming to the big screen, much less three of them and a TV series. Blade was a small time character in Marvel’s comics, gaining some popularity in the ’70s, but other than the Midnight Sons era of the ’90s, Blade was mostly lost to obscurity to all but the die hard fans in many ways. Yet, if it weren’t for this character getting a shot at the big time on the big screen, we may not even have had this wonderful Daredevil series to talk about.
Blade was a huge hit when it was released in 1998, the first successful comic-based film in many years, and the character enjoyed a resurgence. Well, it’s been long enough for the vampire hunter to be absent from the screen, and what better series to revive him? Plus, we have a Doctor Strange film coming next year, what better way to start unveiling the supernatural section of the MCU than Daredevil? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been seeding elements this past season revealing the nature of the Inhumans, preparing viewers for their feature film in just a few years, and it’s building excitement with every new episode. Blade could do that for Doctor Strange, and he’s not been away too long that he’s become unfamiliar to audiences, so it would ease viewers in gently.
It would be so easy too. There’s a rogue faction of The Hand that has been around for hundreds of years, that seemingly don’t age, and have incredible strength and unnatural senses. Something about them doesn’t smell right to Daredevil, something noxious and unsettling. Seemingly unrelated, bodies have been piling up in the morgue, bodies with what look like scars akin to an animal attack. One night Daredevil hears a fight in an alley a few blocks away, and decides to investigate. What he finds is our undead anti-hero taking on a group of Hand ninjas from this arcane order. The two team-up to fight them off, and afterward Blade explains who, and what, they were, and join to stop them. This storyline could easily be told in an episode or two, appeasing Blade fans who’ve missed seeing him on their television. And there are rumors going around that accuse Black Sky of being a young vampire. Seriously. Steven DeKnight sort of addressed them on Twitter.
Hell, they could even bring in Ghost Rider, another character Marvel now retains the rights to, or at least Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch, or Robbie Reyes as an Easter egg setting up Ghost Rider in a subsequent season. Again, this is a character known by both the fans AND mainstream viewers who could help set-up the supernatural corner of the MCU before Doctor Strange hits our screen late next year. Reyes would be my guess due to a car with flames shooting out from under the hood is a much cheaper cgi alternative to a flaming motorcycle, as well as his skull helmet being slightly less out there than an actual flaming skull. Just my two cents on the matter. They could explain away his demonic possession with mystical mumbo-jumbo just like they’ll do with Iron Fist and Doctor Strange, maybe tying it in to the Hand or its offshoot I mentioned/made up earlier. A meeting between Daredevil and Ghost Rider isn’t unheard of, as the Kingpin and Lady Bullseye used GR against DD in the Shadowland storyline just a couple of years ago.
I’m pretty sure I don’t have to write about Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, or Iron Fist, as I’m sure they’ll at least be semi-regular guest stars throughout the rest of the series, but one thing I’m pretty sure of is Melvin Potter will be suiting up as Gladiator. One, he makes suits of armor, and two, there were circular blades all throughout his workshop, along with a few items I’ll be mentioning in the next installment of this series. When Daredevil invariably can’t keep his deal with Potter, the Gladiator goes on the defensive before DD proves it’s not his fault and they team-up to take on the Kingpin. Show him as a confused man just wanting to do the right thing and the good to bad to good again arc could be an interesting one.
Hell, might we even be introduced to Maya Lopez/Echo? That could be another interesting thread, eventually bringing another ally to Daredevil’s fight against the Kingpin as Echo/Ronin, and even briefly as a love interest as Maya Lopez. I know it’s another character that wants to fight DD, before realizing he’s not her enemy, but she’s awesome. And honestly, it would be cool to see a portrayal of such a kick ass Native American character in a superhero show that isn’t the stereotype that Apache Chief was. Also, the character is so visually striking I just think she would look cool fighting ninjas. She’s a rather new addition to the Daredevil mythos, albeit one with a vocal fan following that would be ecstatic to have her appear even as an Easter egg in the background; a shadowy figure stalking Matt from the shadows, with just a glimpse of the white hand print adorning her face until the full reveal in season three.
And that isn’t even bringing up Silver Sable, Paladin, Shang-Chi, White Tiger, Black Tarantula, and the legion of more obscure street-level heroes that live in the Marvel comic universe. Depending on the film rights surrounding these heroes, many of them would work well within the framework established by Daredevil’s showrunners, and a few could even be seeded in through Netflix’s other Marvel shows. White Tiger and Shang-Chi are perfect fits for the Iron Fist or Luke Cage series’.
I could understand it if Netflix didn’t want to bog down their shows with too many recurring characters, so many of these could guest star in an episode or two, especially with Daredevil‘s done-in-one approach with a bigger over-arching story tying it all together. The great thing is, most non-comic reading fans of the show aren’t familiar with many of these heroes, so they could easily be tweaked enough to make them work, with comic fans just being excited to see them on their televisions. And that’s really what we want. Now that the floodgates have opened, let those heroes and villains flow out into the ether. The more the merrier, I say.
These are just a few of my guesses/speculations/hopes for the next season of Daredevil when it returns to Netflix next year. Even if none of these characters make it, that’s okay. I’m just having a little late night fun here, and I’m sure whatever the showrunners have planned will be as amazing as the first season. But, man, I hope I’m right about at least a few of these. (Moon Knight, Cloak & Dagger)
And have no fear, I’ll be back later with the villains I can see making an appearance when Daredevil returns next year.
