UPDATE: First Wave Of Reviews For Netflix's DAREDEVIL Are Here

Grade: (A–): Netflix only provided me access to the first five episodes of “Daredevil.” After plowing through them in one sitting, I was ready for more. I’m looking forward to seeing where this fun series, which nicely balances drama and action, goes from here. If you’re a Netflix subscriber and a Marvel fan, you’ll certainly get a kick out of this new franchise.

Compared to Marvel's experience with "Agents of SHIELD" for ABC, operating in Netflix's pay-to-view world is clearly liberating, in much the way animated direct-to-DVD titles enable the comics companies to cater to knowledgeable fans without needing to worry too much about luring the uninitiated into the tent. And the binge prospect should be helpful in getting people hooked on the overarching adventure, complete with Russian mobsters and feuding crime factions building toward the inevitable Daredevil-Kingpin showdown. By that measure, Marvel has shrewdly expanded its portfolio, and Netflix has upped its must-have quotient with a fiercely loyal segment of consumers. Viewed that way, costume or no costume, "Daredevil" looks dressed for success.

I can’t sing Marvel’s Daredevil’s praises enough. Visually the series is beautiful. The writing is smart, sharp, and leaves you on the edge of your seat. Fans looking for action will find the best choreographed sequences the MCU has seen to date – as well as the most ferocious. By capturing the human element. Marvel’s Daredevil proves you don’t need to be super-powered to be a superhero.

In earnest, I’ve never had to collect as many thoughts on a series in only 5 of 13 episodes, but fear not, citizens of superhero fatigue. Daredevil was well-worth the wait, and breaks the Marvel movie mold with bone-crunching delight. It’s everything Nolan’s Batman never had time to explore, everything Arrow wants to be without network boundaries, and exactly the street-level drama Marvel needs to complete its superhero world.

I cannot applaud “Marvel’s Daredevil” enough. From its succinct telling of the origin, to the dynamic character drama, to the stellar fluid action, and the underlying through narrative, the show is another home run for Marvel. Drew Goddard’s script for the first two episodes is flawlessly put together with the same melding of reverence and new flavors that make the other Marvel products work. Executive Producer Steven DeKnight has developed a world within the Marvel Universe that is both unique and lived-in but also now integral to the scope of the MCU. If the rest of the Netflix shows are done with the same amount of heart, guts, and edge that “Marvel’s Daredevil” has, then there is nothing at all to worry about.

Daredevil is hardboiled and undercooked, another gamble from The Studio Without Fear that could pay off over time. Luckily, what works—Cox's intensity and the sucker punching to match—prevails over what doesn't (we wanted to like you, Foggy) and that's enough to demand attention. If Daredevil goes on to a second season, it could evolve into a great cable drama. If it doesn't… well, that's the beauty of Marvel. Once in the MCU, always in the MCU. With Netflix's A.K.A. Jessica Jones on the horizon, Luke Cage and Iron Fist series to come, the proposed Defenders team-up for the lot of 'em, and enough Marvel movies to squeeze in an inevitable cameo, this won't be the last time we see Cox suit up as Daredevil. Which works out for fans: he's perfect for the role.

In its first episodes, Daredevil doesn't dare get into some of the character's crazier aspects: his ninja training or his flagpole-leaping. He only once handles anything resembling a billy club, and his heightened senses are handled with smart simplicity: He concentrates in close-up, and the sound designers let us know what he hears, or he tells us what he smells. What's most encouraging is that the show's sometimes punishing seriousness seems to rise from a love of the character's hard-to-swallow aspects rather than a fear of them: Goddard and company seem to be building up to them rather than taking them as a given. I look forward to seeing what their Daredevil's like when they get him there.

No CGI here, folks: not only are all the fight sequences performed by actual humans, but they’re also filmed beautifully and often in agonizingly intense tracking shots. If the rest of the series is as riveting as these first few episodes, you’re going to be on the edge of your seat the entire time.