Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix Series: Analyzing the New Trailer

Marvel just gave us our most substantial look at their Daredevil Netflix TV series yet. Often when you get to the second trailer for something like this, there isn’t much new to show off. Well…not this time. Daredevil looks quite different from the rest of the Marvel live-action universe, and it’s wonderful.

Oh, go ahead…watch it one more time. It’s awesome. Then we can talk about all the cool things we found in it:

Ready? Alright. Let’s do this…

More Wilson Fisk to Love

So, of course our first proper look at Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk in action is him brutalizing somebody. Let’s set aside for the moment the fact that Vincent D’Onofrio couldn’t possibly look any more perfect in the role, it’s important to establish that Fisk may not quite be “the Kingpin of Crime” just yet. 

This is a guy who, like Matt Murdock, comes from the streets, and knows how to get his hands dirty. Or in this case, very bloody. His face, too…as long as it’s somebody else’s blood.

D’Onofrio is all over this trailer, and it’s been said that Daredevil is as much Wilson Fisk’s story as Matt Murdock’s. This is crucial. For as much fun as we’ve had in the Marvel Universe across ten movies and two TV series (so far), they’ve produced exactly one memorable, menacing villain. Maybe Wilson Fisk changes that.

On the other hand, it’s a little disappointing to hear them fall back on the old standby of the villain telling the hero that they’re not that different. That stuff should be radioactive by now. 

Alright, enough of Wilson Fisk. We’ve got a different kind of criminal to talk about… 

Don’t Forget, Daredevil is a Lawyer

Speaking of Matt Murdock, this the first genuine lawyering we’ve seen him doing in any of the promotional stuff for this show so far.

Look, not all lawyers are bad. If we can buy that superheroes exist in the Marvel Universe, surely altruistic lawyers aren’t that much more of a stretch. Above we see the most humble beginnings of Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law. 

Don’t worry, they clearly got a better shingle for themselves.

Meet Ben Urich

Finally! Our first look at Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich. Urich doesn’t work for the Daily Bugle, sadly…it’s the equally fictional New York Register. But given all those recent developments regarding Marvel Studios and Spider-Man (have you heard about any of these?), maybe there’s a transfer in his future. Or maybe they can fix it in post!

Oh, and if you’re thinking about complaining that they cast a black man as Ben Urich, please show yourself the door.

Anyway, Ben Urich is a fine investigative reporter, and here he is trying to figure out who is uniting all the mobs in New York City. I’ll bet you good money that we never hear Wilson Fisk directly referred to as “Kingpin” in this, and that’s simply the mysterious criminal that Mr. Urich is chasing. Call me crazy. Maybe it’s the playing card.

The Glorious Stunts and Violence

Daredevil running up walls, Daredevil leaping out windows (more on that in a minute), Daredevil acrobatically beating the living hell out of everyone who gets in his face. Time to renew that gym membership.

This is about as violent a sock to the face as we’ve ever seen Marvel deliver.

Holy moley, these stunts. Look, I love the Dark Knight movies as much as the next guy, but I’m incredibly tired of having Batman look like the Michelin Man. Arrow delivers incredible, acrobatic superheroics on a weekly basis. I bet Daredevil ups the ante.

So, not only is this a cool stunt, it might be my single favorite image from either of these trailers. Never has a man leaping through a window looked quite so artistic.

Are they frakking kidding me with this shot? Holy moley.

It’s Actually Kinda Beautiful

This shot is just here because it’s gorgeous. Not only is this quite a far cry from the wire fu playground fight from the (not as terrible as people say, but still not great) 2003 Daredevil movie, it really looks nothing at all like anything we’ve seen out of Marvel TV so far.

Here’s another one:

Seriously. Agent Carter was a terrific mini-series, but it very much looked like it was shot on the lamest 1940s backlot Disney had to offer. Agents of SHIELD on its very best day looks like an episode of The A-Team from the 1980s. Clearly, Daredevil doesn’t have this problem.

Keep an Eye on Karen Page

Here’s Karen Page looking like a sketchy person about to do some sketchy things. Karen has some issues. Issues that, if the show is smart, it won’t really begin exploring until later seasons. I’m willing to bet they’ll lay a firm bit of groundwork here, though.

Night Nurse!

Okay, so I know we met Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple character in the last trailer, so this shouldn’t be that big of a deal. But this next image…

Paging Night Nurse?

New Villains!

Check out Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley, who I bet the guys call “The Owl” behind his back. This show is so committed to keeping things low-key and street level that even a costumed supervillain like The Owl (granted, he never had the most striking appearance) looks like just another high level gangster. This is not a bad thing.

So, this is Toby Leonard Moore as “Wesley,” a guy who showed up during Frank Miller’s legendary run in the Daredevil comics, which this show has clearly taken a ton of inspiration from. I also know that he’s the character who kind of broke my heart in this trailer. Why? I’m glad you asked…

If you’ve been following my Daredevil coverage so far, you’ll know that I was kinda, sorta, in an itsy-bitsy way, holding out a shred of hope that this show would actually be set in the ’70s. Not much we’ve seen has really dispelled this. We haven’t seen a single cell phone or computer in any of the images from the show that I can think of, and the whole thing centers around Hell’s Kitchen being a bad place and not, you know, the ridiculous rich person’s playground that the real Hell’s Kitchen has been for the last decade or more. ANYWAY, there’s a point to this, I promise…

“Wesley” here stomped on my hope with his line referencing Iron Man and Thor. So, I now have to come to terms with the fact that Daredevil takes place in the 21st century. (sigh)

Okay, I’m over it, and this still looks awesome. Back to the article…

The Simple Costume is Kind of Great

See? There’s red in the costume! But seriously, the more we get to see this costume, the more it’s growing on me. The red piping is a nice touch, and it actually makes it look even more like something a little homemade, since it doesn’t extend to the pants. In fact…

…the addition of having his hands taped up like a boxer’s adds some more contrast to this, and increases the low rent appeal of the whole suit. This is a pretty badass shot, but it really does like this costume consists of an athletic top, army pants, combat boots, and a boxer’s hand wraps. It also helps draw out more distinction between this and the primary colored heavy hitters in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

After years of studios trying to sell audiences on the idea that Peter Parker could whip up those rubberized Spider-Man suits in his bedroom on whatever he gets from Aunt May for an allowance, the practicality of this Daredevil suit is kinda refreshing. Here’s hoping that Marvel isn’t afraid to put Spidey in something equally flimsy and homemade (but more colorful, of course).

Sorry. This is just cool.

There Will be Ninjas. Glorious Ninjas.

Daredevil fighting a ninja isn’t just cool, it’s an essential component of the imagery that a fan wants to see in live-action. But this doesn’t appear to just be any ninja. He’s a red ninja. The significance of the color aside, this does make me believe that we’re going to meet evil ninja gang The Hand in this.

Maybe they’re just one of the criminal organizations Wilson Fisk is trying to pull together? I don’t care. I’m going to watch Daredevil fight ninjas.

The Origin

I’m still willing to bet that this show isn’t going to spend too much time on the fine print of Daredevil’s origin. That being said, we’re still seeing the important, iconic stuff…

Including this surprisingly graphic/painful looking shot of a little boy with toxic waste in his eyes.

Our best look at young Matt Murdock.

Our first look at Matt’s Dad, Battlin’ Jack Murdock! That’s a sweet robe. Good to see he likes red. But while we’re talking boxing, there’s one fun bit of info that didn’t come from the trailer. Check out one of his opponents:

Of course, he doesn’t come to a good end.

Our best look at Scott Glenn as Stick, Matt Murdock’s not very nice mentor. He couldn’t possibly look any more like this character, could he?

I’m basing this on nothing in particular, but I don’t think we’re going to get some kind of linear origin story. Marvel are reportedly looking to move away from the need to do these, and Daredevil is the kind of character that allows for moments of introspection to trigger flashbacks. I expect that’s where we’ll spend the majority of time with Matt and Stick, too.

Stuff We Don’t Know What to Make Of

Who does this twitchy soon-to-be-corpse hand belong to? Is it Jack Murdock, Matt’s Dad? Is it one of Wilson Fisk’s unfortunate victims? Somebody that Daredevil has just (in the interest of justice, of course) put into a vigilante-induced coma?

Is this Matt Murdock being dragged around by paramilitary goons? Because if so, that kind of ups the stakes a little bit.

Is this Matt and Karen having their dinner disrupted? If so, it makes me wonder if this is a targeted hit because one of them has come too close to Fisk’s plan, or if Fisk has figured out Matt is Daredevil or…something.

Daredevil premieres on April 10th. It’s really not that far away.

Mike Cecchini will drink all the coffee in order to get that massive Daredevil review to you right after it arrives. Follow him on Twitter.