The man without fear is back, but this time he’s headed to the increasingly popular streaming media powerhouse, Netflix.
English actor Charlie Cox, although relatively unknown, is not totally new to the small screen having made appearances in the ever so popular “Downton Abbey” and “Boardwalk Empire.”
“Daredevil” is yet another one of Stan Lee’s comic-born creations. With the aid of artist Bill Everett and some alleged input from Jack Kirby, “Daredevil #1” hit shelves in April of 1964.
It tells the story of Matt Murdock who is blinded when a radioactive substance falls from an oncoming vehicle. Although visually impaired, the encounter leaves Murdock with heightened senses and seemingly superhuman agility. Murdock is initially driven to crime-fighting to gain retribution for the death of his blue-collar boxer father, Jack, who is killed by gangsters after refusing to throw a fight. Moving forward “the man without fear” dons the double-D emblem as a protector of his City’s streets.
After the unanimously agreed upon failure that was Mark Steven Johnson’s “Dardevil” was released in 2003, Marvel fans had some sense of certainty that it would be the last time we would would see Matt Murdock on the big screen. Although the film boasted an all-star cast with Ben Affleck (Matt Murdock/ Dardevil), Jennifer Garner (Elektra Natchios), Michael Clark Duncan (Wilson Fisk/ KingPin), and Colin Farrell (Bullseye), costume design and story-line fell victim to a painfully novice attempt at adapting the long-standing Marvel series.
11 years later, Marvel has honed it’s film adaptation process and how. With countless consecutive hits including “X-Men,” “Iron Man,” “Amazing Spider-Man,” “Captain America,” “Thor,” “Avengers,” and the recent “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchises, Marvel has proven themselves more than capable.
Another name that has proven to be more than capable is Netflix. The streaming media platform has gained considerable momentum in the past few years. With their continued growth in presence amongst the list of nominees at the Emmy awards, Netflix stands to be a serious competitor for network television in the coming decade.
Marvel seems to have dropped the ball at San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H panel this year, giving comic hungry fans very little detail on their upcoming Phase 3 projects as well as the new Netflix series. Aside from a bit of “Ant-Man” and disclosing the green-lit “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” they really didn’t say much. This is unfortunate, as I feel DC made their fans swoon over the teaser clip of the upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” alone.
As of right now, we don’t know much about the story line nor have we seen the visually impaired hero in costume. What we do know is that “Daredevil” is set to stream in May 2015 and will also star a few big names such as Vincent D’Onofrio (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent“), Deborah Ann Woll (“True Blood”) and Rosario Dawson (“Sin City”).
Also, “Daredevil” is currently filming in Brooklyn under the alias “Bluff.” SO, if you see a blind guy in a grey suit caning about the NY cityscape, DEFINITELY run up to him and ask what he intends to do about Wilson Fisk.