Daredevil (Netflix)

[alive she cried]

[alive she cried]

 

 

Vincent D'Onofrio stars as Wilson Fisk, a New York-born gangster whose methods of cleaning up his city differ greatly from the blind title vigilante of

Marvel's Daredevil

, in a 13-episode season due April 10.

 

This Fisk isn't quite the Kingpin of crime from Marvel Comics lore, in looks or demeanor. Yet executive producer Steven DeKnight says

Daredevil

is as much an origin story of a complex antagonist as it is a portrait of do-gooder lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and his masked secret identity.

 

The underworld won't even speak Fisk's name because of the power he holds, though at first glance he comes off as insecure, especially when he meets the comely art dealer Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer).

But when folks cross or disrespect him, the results often are very bloody.

 

"I just brought in this kind of character who in one sentence could easily go from being a child to a monster, depending on where his emotions take him,"

says D'Onofrio (

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

).

 

The late Michael Clarke Duncan played the Kingpin in the 2003 Ben Affleck

Daredevil

movie, and for his own take on Fisk, D'Onofrio studied the comic books to nail the "whole feeling and mood" of the supervillain.

 

DeKnight knew he couldn't be as super-sized as the comics' Fisk, a 6-foot-7, 450-pound dude who resembles a sumo wrestler in a fashionable suit.

 

The actor shaved his head and added about 30 pounds to his 250-pound, 6-foot-3 frame.

"I wanted him to have an appearance of being super-powerful so that when he throws a punch, it's a major punch," D'Onofrio says. "There's a lot of weight behind it."

 

A fan of D'Onofrio's since 1987's

Full Metal Jacket

, DeKnight also wanted the actor to look outside the comics for character nuance. In the aftermath of one violent scene in which Fisk gets "pretty rough" with another guy, D'Onofrio says, he sees his reflection as being paler than he actually is — a subtle nod to something the actor discovered about serial killers when doing research for a past role.

 

"He had a passion and an understanding of what we were trying to do, of making it a very grounded, gritty, realistic show,"

DeKnight says.

 

"Here is an actor who's really thinking about it on not only a character depth but a visual depth that I really loved."

[alive she cried]

I literally can't get any more excited than I already am, but here's the new trailer anyway.

Edited March 10, 2015 by alive she cried

[The NZA]

not even a month left, yeah? totally gonna not click on this & just stay hyped like

 

[alive she cried]

Oh God the action scenes look incredible. I remain at peak levels of hypeness.

 

[alive she cried]

The first thing that hasn't got me excited.

 

Red suit revealed.

 

 

 

It's not awful, but it's certainly not as perfect as everything else has looked so far. I'll reserve judgement though until I see it in motion. Still excited as fuck, only one more sleep.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2015 by alive she cried

[alive she cried]

Just about made it to the opening titles before I came everywhere.

 

This is going to be a long beautiful day.

[Keth]

Yeah that opening was something else. Excited to watch the rest of it.

[Iambaytor]

That fight scene at the end of episode 2... Goddamn.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Iambaytor

[alive she cried]

Aaaand done.

 

One season, thirteen episodes and a new level has been set for the MCU. Hands down the best film or television show Marvel have produced. This is Marvel's The Dark Knight, in more ways than one.

 

I don't think I've ever looked forward to a show so much and then have it exceed even my highest expectations and hopes. Long live the Marvel and Netflix connection. I cannot fucking wait to see what they do with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist now, and of course surely the inevitable Punisher show.

Edited April 11, 2015 by alive she cried

[Iambaytor]

Yeah, at this point The Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Blade are pretty much a lock. They don't have to be any more explicit than this one, I'm fine with that.

[Da Cap'n 2099]

Yeah, 6 eps into this and, already, the bar has been raised, once again, for anything Marvel Cinematic U to come after. I don't really know how it can get better than this (helps that Avengers 2 is next though). Folks at DC are like, "fuck..."

[Newtype]

The wait for Ironfist is going to suck.

[alive she cried]

Easter eggs.

 

Obviously only for those that have seen the whole season.

 

 

Stan Lee

 

 

Stiltman

 

 

"Cop" sniper appears to be Bullseye.

 

 

In Marvel's Daredevil series, there were four, major organized crime syndicates operating in NYC - the yakuza, the triad, the Russians and the Kingpin's (Vincent D'Onofrio) group. While the Russians and Kingpin's crew are more traditional elements of organized crime, the yakuza and triad only appeared to be. Daredevil definitely left the door open to explore more of the latter two and their more mystical roots in a second season or....in Iron Fist.

Stick looks to be reporting to Stone, a member of The Chaste. In the comics, Stone is actually Stick's pupil.

 

Naturally, the mystic element to Daredevil truly arrives in episode 7, "Stick". In Marvel Comics, Stick is a member of The Chaste, an offshoot of The Hand. The spilt between The Chaste and The Hand occurs in feudal era Japan when The Hand veers away from samurai philosophy and transforms into a ninja cult. Those who kept to the traditional, samurai ideology became The Chaste. As hinted at by Stick (Scott Glenn) in episode 7, each member of The Chaste possesses supernatural ability. It appears that Stick was just about to teach young Matt Murdock (Skylar Gaertner) these abilities when his sentimental gift caused Stick to abandon Matt as he feared he was too soft for what sounds like an impending showdown with The Hand. The leader of The Chaste is Master Izo, an immortal martial artist and original member of The Hand who is also mentioned in The Book of The Iron Fist - a sacred tome that contains every martial arts move ever conceived. In addition, the mystical abilities Stick hinted at just before abandoning young Matt sounds a lot like the Chi-based abilities many of the residents of K'un-Lunposses. Don't be surprised if Marvel's Iron Fist series attempts to combine the mythology of The Hand and theSeven Capital Cities of Heaven. In the comics, the conflict between The Hand and The Chaste is generally something that is separate from the activities of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, the two martial arts linchpins of Marvel have intersected with one another before and led to team-ups between Iron First and Daredevil.

That's definitely the symbol for Iron Fist villain Steel Serpent.

 

The next hint comes in the form of Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) and the heroin she manufactures in Hell's Kitchen. According to Ben Ulrich (Vondie Curtis-Hall) the drug is known on the street as the Still Serpent. This is definitely an allusion to "Steel Serpent" an Iron Fist villain with ties to K'un Lun. This symbol on the drug packet is also a dead on match to the symbol on the Steel Serpent's chest. There's also Gao's cryptic hint that her home is "a considerable distance" farther than China. Many fans are speculating that Gao is really Crane Mother , the ruler of a different Capital City of Heaven and adversary of Iron First. There's definitely more to Gao than meets the eye, given that she dismantled Daredevil with one palm-thrust.

 

Is Madame Gao really Crane Mother?

 

[Keth]

Man episode 3 should shut anybody's mouth on doubting Disney buying out Marvel. That was grisly.

[The NZA]

watching the finale later today (ep before was a mean one) but...this was totally worth having my boy buried after the affleck mess for over a decade. i went in with high expectations, and this exceeded them as my new favorite show.

 

was talking to bishopcruz about how so many flashbacks in big movies/CW shows fall flat for me, trying to be too iconic/generic and i don't buy anyone. with very few exceptions, this piece not only balanced out almost subtlety telling an origin, but making me care about the pieces coming together - and yeah its a show vs a movie but so many ive seen could've had forever and still not managed that feeling. moreover, the questions constantly being asked of Matt (foggy, priest, etc) actually cover important ground at times:

 

 

i.e., yeah the story about the girl being molested is great as a starter, but foggy quickly points that he'd have to have maintained his training this whole time, just looking for a reason. he's also one o the only people Matt admits to that he doesn't want to stop; most others he still tries to wrap this destructive behavior in something more noble

 

 

anyway just one random thing that stood out for me, amongst great fights/etc. loving everything here.

[The NZA]

let's talk easter eggs!

 

 

...totally didn't catch this one

 

 

also FUCK didn't see this with the sniper either, should've called that one

 

 

another obvious one that slid right by @ melvin's (which was a great shoutout when he threw the buzz saw blade at matt)

 

 

 

 

...oh, and good call on newt's part, pointing out the logo on the drugs:

 

 

but man if this (and the hit she gave matt) weren't dead-on Kun Lun references:

 

 

 

...and finally, in case anyone wasn't aware of the strong ties to Miller's classic Man Without Fear:

 

 

 

[Maldron]

Great, great show. Didn't want to stop until it was done.

 

I think it hits the "Great origin story for the uninitiated" in the same way that Iron Man did for me back in the day. Coming from not really knowing anything except Spider-man animated's Kingpin, everything was pretty great.

[Da Cap'n 2099]

Just finished this. Wow.

[Keth]

Going it slow here. Just finished episode 8. Goddamn I love this show.

[Keth]

Episode 11

 

 

Hey Marvel, give us some of that sweet sweet Moon Knight will you

[The NZA]

totally need more impressions as you guys go! i actually made space for like 20 gigs or whatever the series was in HD, i just had to have it somewhere netlfix coudln't hide it if worse came to worse, haha

[alive she cried]

Ha ha, I'm only just coming out of my digital hoarding phase. Once I found something rare (more accurately, what I thought was rare) online, I was keeping that shit forever. Every episode of the Gargoyles tv show? Every scanned comic I've ever read? Although saying that I still have every episode of Gargoyles and every comic I've ever downloaded.

Edited December 29, 2015 by alive she cried

[Iambaytor]

Just finished this last night, largely supportive but a few gripes:

-People don't have long conversations while standing in the rain

-Can we stop doing the "We're not so different, you and I" conversation between the hero and villain?

-It's apparent that they didn't have a lot of faith in the more fantastical elements as nothing particularly "Marvelous" happened, with the exception of that episode with Stick.

-Somebody needs to check New York's water supply, because there's apparently something in it that makes old women only remember what they're talking about for one poignant scene only to restart the conversation exactly as if the person had just entered the room and elicit a sad look from Steve Rogers/Ben Urich/Wilson Fisk.

-Front-light that suit. Actually maybe don't, it kind of looks really bad. Might wanna tool around on that before season 2/The Defenders.

-They're not going to have anybody left to kill for season 2!

-Everybody speaks every language but pretends they don't to be sneaky.

-Slingblade Kingpin, I didn't hate him but I also found him a bit underwhelming. Mm-hmm.

[Da Cap'n 2099]

I was talking to Jon and I mentioned possible adaptable story lines from the comic for season 2 and he stopped me, saying he was under the impression that there wouldn't be a season 2. Instead he thought AKA Jessica Jones would be the "second season" continuing on through Luke Cage and Iron Fist, all ending in a Defenders "movie." And after ALL THAT, MAYBE a season 2 proper. What does everyone else think?

Edited April 19, 2015 by Da Cap'n 2099