Daredevil vs. Fisk – Daredevil, episode 13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEmjRNHKefY
I couldn’t wait for this fight to happen. Just the mention of Fisk alone made me want to watch the inevitable brawl between him and Daredevil. Paired up by the fact that the fighting during the series had been so damn good – and, honestly, everything I could have hoped for – made me even more pumped for this.
Although the final fight could have really gone for it and given something much menacing than it turned out to be, it was still a monumental moment. This is what everything had been building up to. Daredevil had been in Matt’s shadow, the Kingpin had been in Fisk’s. Their character journeys were constantly intertwined with one another, and this is where it reached its head, where they truly embodied their alter-egos. Matt, geared up in his Daredevil costume and clutching onto his red billy clubs; Fisk, angry as hell and ready to crush some skulls.
“You took everything! I’m going to kill you!” Fisk screamed in an almost too comically way to be taken seriously. But then you remember that guy’s past, the good and the bad and everything in between, and you know he means it. He had killed a lot people before the last episode. This is villain talk.
As Daredevil and Kingpin start punching it out, something strange happened – music started playing. Not any kind, though – it was heroic. Heroic music played over Daredevil when he was winning, when he was defeating the bad guy. When he was down, the heroism in the music faded. And that one little thing makes this fight so good.
Matt is constantly in two minds about the choices he makes. He is ruled by his own emotions and self-doubt, trying to find solace, somewhere (which, for him, is usually in a church with his priest). Claire, a nurse who helps Matt out, and Karen, his colleague, can call The Man in the Mask a hero, but he won’t see himself in that way. He wasn’t trying to be heroic, he actively denounces the title when anyone calls him that. I mean, the guy dresses up like a devil; his name is Daredevil. He’s got issues.
Here, the show did something it hadn’t before – it framed Matt as the hero. Just as much as Matt ignored the heroism qualities of his character, so did the tone of the programme. Any music that scored a fight scene would be rough and bloody, electric and, at times, a bit like Drive.
By putting on the costume, Matt has accepted a different path than the only one he thought was available to him. His fight with Fisk was no doubt still part of a personal vendetta, but it was more driven by his want to protect the city and its people.
In that moment, he was no longer a vigilante – he became a superhero.
Cherokee Seebalack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5&feature=player_embedded&v=pnc360pUDRI
Originally published April 25, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
