Since its debut in 2015, Daredevil has been cited as one of the best superhero shows around. It marked the launch of Netflix’s Marvel Universe and washed away the bad taste of the 2003 film, starring Ben Affleck and the late Michael Clarke Duncan. While the likes of Luke Cage and Iron Fist have fallen in recent weeks, it’s unlikely that Daredevil will suffer the same fate – especially not after its remarkable third season.
Sitting at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus being that it’s a welcome return to form, everything seems to suggest that this season’s a hit. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Daredevil star Charlie Cox explained where he thinks the new run succeeds, saying:
“I think we’ve learned that ideally, this show lives somewhere in between what we did in season one and what we did in season two. Season one was very down-to-earth and gritty, boots-on-the-ground type storytelling, and maybe a little bit broody at times, maybe the pace slowed a little too much. Season two delved into more of the mythology and the suspension of disbelief, in terms of what the character can do and achieve with his powers. It was really fun but maybe wasn’t quite the show that we’d made in season one in terms of how grounded it was. So, season three lives somewhere in between those two, which is I think where it’s ideally placed.”
That’s understating its impact, though, as new showrunner Erik Oleson and his team created a seminal season that captured the atmosphere of the comic books and spliced together all its best narratives. In fact, it’s oddly reminiscent of a certain Batman film released a decade ago…
In 2008, Christopher Nolan turned the movie world on its head with the release of The Dark Knight. Before then, superhero films had been seen as genre movies for children and longtime fans of the characters. No one took them seriously, or even considered them to contain any real artistic value, so when Nolan’s masterpiece arrived, it changed the entire landscape. Suddenly, people sat up and took notice, realizing that this transcended its genre and subject matter. And season 3 of Daredevil has done the exact same thing for superhero shows.