Marvel's Daredevil Hit Netflix Today, Review of Episode 1: Into the Ring

By Nolan P. Smith

Marvel’s latest foray into the cinematic universe hit the internet today with the release of whole first season of Daredevil. The Netflix exclusive series shines the light on a grittier part of the Marvel U: Hell’s Kitchen, home to blind lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), also known as the crime fighting Daredevil.

This is Marvel’s first of four slated Netflix series, so it carries a lot of weight on its shoulders. Does the Man Without Fear deliver? So far, I only watched the first episode, but from what I saw, we are all in for a treat. Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where New York was attacked by aliens and almost destroyed in The Avengers, we see a more down to Earth side of that world. In the first episode, we are introduced to Murdock, and given a few glimpses into his origin. We see the dark, dangerous world he lives in, and how the battle for New York is used to the advantage of some shady folks. After the first 10 minutes, I knew this would be a series to do the comic book justice.

Deep rooted into the mythos of its comic counterpart, we see the connection to Matt and his dad, boxer Battling Jack Murdock. We also see a familiar location to fans of the book- the Catholic Church. Daredevil has always been steeped into religion, and seeing Murdock in confession brought a huge smile to my face. What brought a much larger smile were the fight scenes. To see the all-black wearing Daredevil (red suit is coming soon! Don’t worry!) take apart thugs with not only a quickness, but a sense of brutality, it really showed the ‘devil’ in Daredevil.

Cox portrays the hero to a T; he’s a great pick for old horn head, and fits the part of blind but in no way helpless Matt Murdock. We see the supporting cast introduced as well: his partner in crime Foggy Nelson (Eldon Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), and so many hints at the mastermind to the underworld, Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. Everyone in this first episode really stepped it up to make a dynamite first outing. The seeds were planted for what’s to come, and what’s to come is clearly going to be dangerous and bloody.

This is rated MA, and it earns that rating for the graphic content seen here. The fights, the end results, all which I could see been deemed too extreme to air on ABC Family, but perfect to stream on Netflix. This is the Daredevil I was hoping to see: something dark, gritty, pulls no punches and exposes the underbelly of the underworld. The production value on this show is amazing- from the score to all the details we see and hear on screen. With episode one done, it’s on track to deliver. Sure, I would have loved to see the red suit already (or the original yellow one!), but nonetheless, this was a knockout episode. I give Daredevil Episode 1 an almost perfect @@@@ and a HALF out of FIVE. Go check it out on Netflix, it’s worth it.