100 Days of Marvel: Road to Infinity War - Day 29: Marvel's Daredevil (S1, E1-7)

For all of the talk that MCU villains are horrible, Daredevil was the first time I can remember thinking that a villain was not only pretty good, but AMAZING. Even though I like Loki as a villain (before Killmonger, I thought he was the best cinematic villain), if we are including ALL of the cinema, Loki doesn't even hold a candle to Fisk. To be fair, we get very little Loki when compared to how much Fisk we get in Daredevil, but a counter point to that is we only get so much of Loki as a villain. He is really only a villain in the first film, and in more recent MCU films Loki has become more of a trickster sidekick, or anti-hero, if you will, though not without his villain tendencies. It is clear that he is more of, in anything, an in-it-for-himself neutral character and not a true-to-form villain.

This is not the case for Fisk. Fisk is true to form, and a damn good villain at that. His energy, the actors acting and the character's presence, really elevate Daredevil as a show. Before we even meet him, folks are scared to say his name, like Voldemort. One guy even kills himself by throwing his own head onto a spike in some sort of headbutt seppuku.

Once again though, as with S.H.I.E.L.D., some scenes are way too long. For example, the scene where Matthew is holed up with the Russian, Fisk calls him, and crooked cops are closing in is way too long. It felt like Matt stood there like a deer in headlights for the whole episode, though in retrospect it wasn't actually that long. Sometimes the slowness works, and helps build up some atmospheric tension, as is the case with Fisk and his dates with Vanessa. It works there, for me, though those scenes move slowly too.

I'm guessing this is where a Netflix break would have occurred. The episode is a perfect end point to the first half of the season, and the parts are all now in play. Matt has "met" Fisk, and they have the verbal declaration that they are enemies. In addition to that, the immediate next episode ups the stakes by introducing the crucial character of Matt's mentor, while simultaneous casting Matt into the trenches as a hero. As a hero who wears a mask, he falls into the Batman character where people ask "is he good or is he not?"

Speaking of "the Russian," Vladimir is a seriously underrated character. His death was also symbolic to the end of the first half of the season. We eliminate smaller villains to introduce new challenges for the characters. However, I have to ask, though Matt chooses not to kill, does allowing a criminal to kill excuse those deaths from his own consciousness?

I would like to formally suggest that all secret superheroes put an end to their familial secrecy. I understand hiding it from the public, and especially from the villains, however whenever heroes hide it from those closest to them, those closest to them ALWAYS find out anyway. Heroes always say they do this to prevent their loved ones from danger, however, if the identity is blown, those loved ones are in danger regardless? I fail to see the reasoning of not telling, say, your best friend, that you are doing secret vigilante justice. Sure, it might not be unlike telling your parents that you are gay, that you didn't choose the gangsta life but the gangsta life chose you, but eventually, all things come to the light. And it is always screen time where the characters have to "move past the lies." I'm sick of it. Just get to it, so that we can see some differing story templates.