‘Marvel’s Daredevil’ is spectacular. Lemme just start by putting that out there. The show (for most fans at least) lived up to the its extreme hype-so great was the hyperbole surrounding ‘Daredevil’ prior to release that not only did many fans actually binge-watch the entire 13 hour movie (I stayed up till 5 in the morning to finish it) but it also, on hype and name alone, garnered Netflix a multitude of new subscribes that knew they just HAD to see it (like me-came for ‘Daredevil’, stayed for ‘The Thick Of It’ and ‘Bojack Horseman’).
It was no surprise when a second season of the acclaimed show was greenlit, and it is expected to appear on Netflix sometime early 2016 (with ‘Marvel’s Luke Cage’ probably arriving either shortly before or after it). Now currently we know only general details about the next season, however recent (and utterly ridiculous) rumours of Jason Statham joining as Daredevil’s titular nemesis Bullseye have resurrected my interest in the series enough to write this. So, get ready readers-here are the top ten (wwweeeelllllll… eleven) things I want from ‘Daredevil: Season 2’. Oh, and if you hadn’t already figured it out, SPOILERS for Season 1 follow.
**As of right now the involvement of both Elektra and Bullseye in the series is a foregone conclusion, so neither of them shall appear on this list**
Honourable Mention-Phil Urich
Anyone who tells me that the relatively young-looking black guy featured in several shots in the opening of the finale-carrying Ben Urich’s casket no less-isn’t Ben’s nephew (ha…another ‘Uncle Ben’ that died in the name of justice) Phil Urich is a dirty rotten scoundrel. I feel like the camera was just too focused on him for him not to be relevant in some way. Do I want to see young Phil following in his uncle’s footsteps to help Daredevil fight injustice? No, but some acknowledgement of him going into journalism or something would serve as a nice bit of world building. Also, though I highly doubt it will happen in the MCU, Phil adopted the identities of the Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin and the Goblin Knight in the comics-he’s not an entirely irrelevant character.
10. Gang Warfare
So by the end of Season 1, Leland, the Russian brothers and Nobu are dead, Madame Gao has fled (back to one of the Seven Cities of Heaven by all accounts…), Turk Barret (presumably) and Wilson Fisk are locked up and the newly engaged Vanessa has been sent into hiding in Switzerland. So basically, all of Hell’s Kitchen is ripe for the picking by new gangs trying to control it; Daredevil needs something to do in the year until Fisk goes to trial and fighting against rival gangsters trying to take advantage of the power vacuum left in his wake is perfect. I also feel like this is the perfect opportunity to do more world-building-and Marvel’s agreement with Sony makes this opportunity all the sweeter with some Spidey-specific characters now up for grabs. Silvermane, Hammerhead, Crime Master, Big Man, Don Fortunato, Count Nefaria-the opportunities are endless. I personally would find Mister Negative/Martin Li interesting-obviously he wouldn’t draw too much from his comic book roots, but simply making him the ruler of Chinatown and a Snakehead (people smuggler) interested in Hell’s Kitchen would service him well enough I think. Maybe there could also be a shadowy ‘Schemer’ trying to establish control from Switzerland (wink wink Vanessa). There’s also the possibility of doing another Owl (more on him later)…as well as a truly fearsome new drug distributor…
9. Mister Fear
Mister Fear, in whatever incarnation, has been a staple villain of Daredevil’s for years-I think it’s only right that he be introduced. Also, given the title of the Season 1 finale was ‘Daredevil’, I think it would be cool if the first episode of Season 2 was ‘The Man Without Fear’, and began with Daredevil already investigating the villain for a takedown. Anyway. I can see the character work two ways: 1) Make Zoltan Drago into the Scarecrow/Count Vertigo drug lord trope we’ve seen before, pushing a drug that rids people of their fears in such a way they do things that end up killing them (like jumping off roofs, driving over the side of a bridge etc.) or 2) Bring in Larry Cranston, a corrupt defence attorney and former rival of Nelson & Murdock’s extorting Drago, a drug cooker and Cranston’s client, into creating a drug that makes people hallucinate their worst fears-Cranston gives this to the witnesses of his defendants, and their psychosis prevents them from being reliable witnesses. I think either way could work brilliantly and could even follow one another (though in either case Drago is basically a drug cook/lord instead of the whole wax museum thing). Perhaps Mr. Fear’s drugs could even cause the creation of…
8. Typhoid Mary
So…this one’s interesting. Between Mister Fear, Bullseye, Elektra and countless other storylines that need to play out in Season 2, Mary doesn’t need to have a big role at all. Perhaps she is a hooker (in that leather-and-fishnet outfit of course) hooked on the ‘Fear’ drug (whichever variant) who develops psychosis and ultimately schizophrenia from its usage. Perhaps Daredevil discovers her while high on ‘Fear’ and, as Matt, tries to use her as a witness or something to ultimately get to Mr. Fear. Whichever way she is used, I think it’d be great to interlink her eventual schizophrenia with Mr. Fear-just introduce her for, as I’ve previously mentioned, a world-building purpose. She doesn’t need to be the love interest/assassin playing Matt and Daredevil with her different personalities-this season is too chock-full of stories already.
7. The Owl II
Another villain that could give Daredevil would be the Owl-the REAL Owl. Well, the semi-real Owl. Ever since Bob Gunton’s Leland Owlsley mentioned about his ‘son Lee’ I’ve been pondering the highly probably idea that Lee is in fact ‘Leland Owlsley Jr.’-hopefully complete with ginger hair. It’s likely Leland Jr. could follow in the footsteps of his late father as the finance man for one of Hell’s Kitchen’s resident mobsters, waiting and watching patiently (like an…OWL) for his chance to gain revenge upon Wilson Fisk for murdering his father. Now, am I saying this rendition of the Owl actually needs to fly? No, but it’d be ironic if Leland tried the first variant of the ‘Fear’ drug I mentioned previously (the one that strips away fear) and, thinking that he could fly, jumps off of a roof…to go ker-splat. Including the character just to kill him off that way would be a bit of a waste though.
6. Fisk Remains Imprisoned-For Now
Vincent D’Onofrio’s performance as Wilson Fisk was masterful, taking traditionally a somewhat bland villain and making him compelling and interesting for the audience. However, Fisk needs to sit on the back bench for this season in order to give not only Bullseye, but also Vanessa, their times to shine as true villains. First, let’s think logically-with all his corrupt allies being indicted with him and the mountains of evidence against them, Fisk was never going to walk out of the court room a free man. Logically, he’d go to prison. Fisk sitting in prison allows his desire for vengeance against Daredevil to swell up, though he can still influence events through Vanessa-I think it’d be important to build up how much Vanessa has transformed due to her love for Wilson, even hiring assassins such as Bullseye and Elektra to exact revenge for him. It also builds up tension for when Fisk does eventually get out of prison him getting back on the streets so soon deprives Daredevil of his victory somewhat-their next meeting needs to be furious and rage-filled. Their rivalry needs to be…’born again’.
5. The Fall Of Karen Page
Karen Page needs to learn that Matt is Daredevil this season-she isn’t like Laurel and won’t flip-flop between hating and loving Daredevil, so why not? She was an intriguing character during Season 1, working with Ben Urich to bring down Fisk and ultimately shooting James Wesley after he kidnapped and underestimated her. She definitely has a past she isn’t letting on about. I think it would be really interesting to tie Bullseye into that past this season-he did start as an extortionist after all, so who says he doesn’t come to Hell’s Kitchen to torment and extort her into revealing Daredevil’s identity? That would be a fantastic way to make things immediately personal between Daredevil and Bullseye as well as possibly push her over the brink. I’m not saying make her a heroin addict and a porn star (yet…I mean we ALL enjoyed her on ‘True Blood’ right?) but start giving her an edge-her past has come back to haunt her, and she seems to like a drink, so turn her into an alcoholic. Show us how her depressed alcoholism, as well as the truth about Matt, affect her relationship with he and Foggy. Jon Favreau may have been afraid to do ‘Demon in a Bottle’ but ‘Daredevil’ is a whole different animal to the rest of the MCU.
4. Build Towards ‘Born Again’
So the last two points have really pointed to one inevitable outcome-visiting the ‘Born Again’ storyline in which Kingpin learns that Daredevil is Matt Murdock from a desperate, addicted Karen Page, and decides to make his life absolute hell for months. Matt falls far and is taken in by his mother-a nun at a local church-ultimately rising again to battle the Kingpin…and a psychotic super soldier. With the exception of the last bit, I think this would be the perfect storyline for the final 13 hour movie in the ‘Daredevil’ trilogy-but Season 2 needs to build to it properly. Karen has fallen off the wagon, Elektra is dead (highly likely) and Wilson Fisk is back on the streets (somehow)-Matt has one final hurdle to jump. However instead of involving Captain America, Nuke (the aforementioned psychotic super soldier) and the U.S. Government, have Fisk call in the help of a different…organization. A ninja organization that’s a bit more…’handy’.
3. Build Up The Hand-Chaste War
‘Stick’, the seventh episode of Season 1, went a great way to not only intrigue us further about Nobu’s motives and the mysterious ‘Black Sky’, but establish a clear thread that will run through ‘Daredevil’-the ‘war’ between the Hand (Nobu’s clan) and the Chaste (Stick’s clan). I get the feeling that despite pretty much being villains solely to Daredevil, the Hand and their machinations may ultimately be reserved for ‘The Defenders’-given that they likely pose more than simply a street-level threat-which means they will have to be dripped through the remaining Netflix series’. Perhaps Elektra merely mentions that she went to train with the Hand after she and Matt broke up, maybe Stick returns to town to try to convince Matt how ‘dangerous’ Elektra really is. Ultimately the Hand should mainly be reserved for Season 3 and ‘The Defenders’ in my opinion, but with intrigue built in them something will need to be addressed next season.
2. Jessica Jones
Currently…we don’t know where this is going to end up. I severely doubt it will be high in scale, as anyone who knows the story of Jessica Jones and the Purple Man (Zebediah Kilgrave) knows that it is a small-scale, intensely personal story. However I do believe it will be important for Season 2-premiering likely at roughly the same time as ‘Marvel’s Luke Cage’-to touch on whatever consequences the show has for this small corner of the MCU. Whether this includes Jessica cameoing briefly, investigating a case Matt and Foggy are involved with, to featuring the (hopefully not dead) Purple Man, who is a classic Daredevil villain in addition to being Jessica Jones’ sadistic nemesis. They are building towards ‘The Defenders’ and will need to move beyond mere references soon enough.
1. The Punisher
Initially, I didn’t fall into this hype. I didn’t understand the ‘need’ for the Punisher to show up that other fans seemed to display. Now I not only understand why he needs to appear in Season 2 of ‘Daredevil’, but also why he needs his own Netflix show-I mean Marvel seems to have no issue using that MA rating to it’s advantage, so why not? The way I see it, Episode 7 of Season 2 could, like ‘Stick’ in Season 1, function as a rather standalone episode focusing on Matt’s struggles with a new major character-that character being Frank Castle, the Punisher. You see the Punisher is a twisted reflection of Daredevil who not only beats criminals mercilessly but also murders them for their crimes-he crossed the same line that Stick urged Matt that he needs to cross in order to truly make a difference. Their ideological differences, in addition to this connection to Stick’s teachings of morality and ‘dirtying your hands to deliver true justice’, would make for a compelling episode. Both of them can learn from each other, as I still don’t quite think Matt understands Stick’s perspective on justice and vengeance and-despite coming from totally different backgrounds-I think Frank Castle and Stick are relatable in their endeavours. Make Jigsaw/Billy Russo the villain of the episode-the mob enforcer (did I not say there should be mobsters vying for control?) that killed Castle’s family, who has become his quarry as the Punisher ever since. Use this single episode to redeem the Punisher in the eyes of the fans, and then greenlight him a series to drop around the same time as ‘Iron Fist’ (or even Season 3 if necessary) to continue his adventures. Make him a Defender. Do it RIGHT and Marvel TV will own the game.
Thankyou all for reading and putting up with the terrible puns used to relate one point to the next. Salut!