Marvel's 'Daredevil' is dark Netflix series
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The swank Avengers Tower is a world away from Matt Murdock's humble abode in Hell's Kitchen.
In Marvel movies, the headquarters of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and his pals looms large on the Manhattan skyline. But in another part of town, Murdock — the blind attorney and title vigilante of Marvel's Daredevil, a 13-episode series due Friday on Netflix — has a bare-bones apartment and a law firm bought on the cheap, thanks to an alien invasion.
The hangouts are just as different as the superheroes within: Daredevil has no star-spangled war heroes or thunder gods with magical hammers — just one masked good guy who doesn't know when to stay down.
"It feels very new and very different and very dark," says star Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire). "It suits the source material."
Based on the exploits of comics' Man Without Fear, the series — the first of five planned Marvel projects on Netflix — follows Murdock as he fights for law and order in court during the day and cleans up the streets at night. His heroism, which can be slightly brutal at times, quickly garners the attention of Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio), a man powerful in build and influence on the way to becoming the city's Kingpin of crime.
The sets for Murdock's apartment and law office are housed not in Hell's Kitchen but in an old art gallery-turned-production studio in Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. There's not much decoration in Matt's pad — crosses signal the character's Catholicism. But on this October day, the place looks like a holy mess after a fight, with the bedroom's glass door shattered and the stair landing splintered.
The work digs for Murdock and his law partner Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) aren't in much better shape. It reeks of '70s blandness and the décor is severely lacking — one of the more interesting tidbits is a Post-It note on Foggy's desk that reads "Extradition is a very big word!"
Then again, Matt doesn't spend much time there. Instead, his real offices are the rooftops and back alleys where he punches and kicks the worst the underworld has to offer, and it's ticking off criminal financier Leland Owlsley (Bob Gunton).
In the crook-friendly shop of machinist Melvin Potter (Matt Gerald) — a busy set a short drive away — Owlsley vents to his associate Fisk after Daredevil does a number on his face: "I can't go to work like this. I'm afraid to go anywhere with that masked psychopath running around."
The Avengers regularly contend with the otherworldly shenanigans of villains, but the action is more street-level on Daredevil, which is just what executive producer Steven DeKnight is shooting for in this hybrid of a TV procedural and Marvel's cinematic levity — and with a lot more broken bones and spilled blood than ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
That mix is "like oil and water sometimes, so to walk that fine line can be very tricky," says DeKnight. "We really wanted to focus on that crime-drama element, and everything else is really gravy."
He also wants to be true to the character, who turned 50 last April. Fans have long respected the adventures of Murdock and his origin story — as a child, he was blinded by chemicals splashed in his eyes — but gifted with newly heightened senses, trained himself with near-superhuman abilities.
Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel television, says Murdock is a classic hero because of his split identity: The intelligent man his late father, a boxer, always wanted him to be, and "this coiling, roiling devil that is inside of him that desperately wants to get out and solve things with his fists."
But what DeKnight really loves about this gritty story is that, in a world of superheroes, Daredevil isn't all that super.
"Much like his father, he always gets up, and we beat the crap out of him," DeKnight says. "He isn't superhuman — he's just a guy who's very, very driven."
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Marvel owns the cinema, and soon it will bring four more superhero series to Netflix:
A.K.A Jessica Jones (2015)
In the second show expected later this year Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) plays a former superheroine now working as a private eye in Daredevil's part of town.
Luke Cage (2016)
The Harlem-raised good guy is played by The Good Wife's Mike Colter, and, with great strength and a tough exterior, there's no wonder Cage is also known as "Power Man."
Iron Fist (TBD)
Martial-arts action comes to the Marvel Universe in form of Danny Rand, a kung fu master trained as a young boy in the mystical city of K'un L'un.
The Defenders (TBD)
The Big Apple's best and brightest heroes are expected to come together in an Avengers-style crossover.