On April 10, 2015, something changed. We might not have known it at the time, but the first 13 episodes of Daredevil's first season caused ripples that would soon turn into a seismic paradigm shift for fans of superhero shows.
Daredevil wasted no time in showing everyone what it was missing. Armed with a mature tone that felt like a breath of fresh air even next to an MCU movie universe that was firing on all cylinders, the Netflix series came out swinging. Led by Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer soon tried his hand at vigilantism – to thrilling effect.
If the pilot episode was a confident start, its second episode was proof that Daredevil was already operating at the peak of its powers. Often imitated since but never bettered, Daredevil's iconic corridor fight scene rips the violent style and swagger of Oldboy and The Raid and supplants it into a comic book world that was already feeling closer to the street-level masterpieces fans could find in the comics from the likes of Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker.
From there, it continued to soar. Better yet, the first season made no bones about wanting to pit its two leading lights – Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio's terrifying Kingpin – on an inevitable collision course.
The devil you know
That approach contains something that feels forgotten in superhero media now: the power of pitting two people together and you can't imagine either losing. In this case, The Man Without Fear was perched across from Kingpin, a physical powerhouse of a crime lord and a character bolstered by a fearsome, best-in-class performance from D'Onofrio.
I know everyone (rightfully) holds the likes of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson as an example of pitch-perfect casting, but perhaps D'Onofrio's Kingpin should be held in the same regard too.
It may have culminated in a bloodbath in the third season, but violent acts such as Kingpin caving someone's head in and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen finally coming to blows with the immovable object of Wilson Fisk felt both shocking and earned. It also shows the value in keeping a villain around for the long haul instead of the one-and-done baddies that litter today's landscape, seemingly only there as a brief speed bump rather than as a roadmap for a hero's growth.
That casting quality is also present in Daredevil's hidden weapon: the beating heart of fellow avocado-at-law Foggy Nelson and paralegal Karen Page. Where some superhero shows are all CGI, explosions, and spectacle, Daredevil made sure to put emotions first. For once, a cutting remark or an emotional falling-out hurt just as much as a punch or a swift kick. Daredevil realized that, and realized it quickly: to care about Matt Murdock, you need to care about his friends too.
Punching above its weight
The first season, though, was just the appetizer. The (more divisive) second season brought in Jon Bernthal's The Punisher and the third season was, similarly, a bloodbath but with a more refined storytelling palate. Namely, in how it presents Daredevil as a fallible superhero. The 13-episode structure was criticized at the time as being overly long. Now with six-episode runs the norm, it resembles a space where characters can be built up – and broken down – across a full season of television. That's a rare thing in 2025.
Throughout its run, Daredevil legitimized superhero shows in the way Christopher Nolan's work on The Dark Knight legitimized superhero movies. It was a great show that happened to involve superheroes, not merely a great superhero show.
Its biggest legacy, however, is how it became a white whale that couldn't be caught and replicated. Many – from the brutally bad Secret Invasion to Moon Knight, Invincible, and even Netflix's own cottage industry of Defenders shows – have tried to match its tone and writing since. Most have failed.
Even Daredevil: Born Again was caught in the long, long shadow of its Netflix predecessor. The initial attempt to reboot the character for the MCU on Disney Plus meant it wanted to shake off many of the elements that brought it so much success.
That proved so unpopular that its writers and directors were removed in an unprecedented creative overhaul. The attempt to shoot new material that, crucially, felt more in line with the Daredevil we know and love was welcome – but it was ultimately a course correction that felt like Daredevil-lite.
It goes to show, then, that not even The Man Without Fear himself could beat Daredevil.
Of course, Daredevil isn't peerless. But nothing since has quite scratched the itch of superhero drama meshed with prestige shows. Loki and WandaVision were great, but felt too slight. The Boys can sometimes play too safe with its status quo and the latest contender, Invincible, has been plagued by a stop-start production.
Across three years, Daredevil raised the bar for superhero shows with its potent blend of hard-hitting action and emotional gut-punches. The second of Born Again might prove a return to form but, hand on heart, I'm not sure it will ever come close to that first rodeo in Hell's Kitchen.
For more on Daredevil's immediate future, take a look at the latest on Daredevil: Born Again season 2. Then dive into the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows headed your way very soon.
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