Scott J. Davis reports from the premiere of Daredevil Season 2 in Paris….
After its stunning debut at the start of last year as part of Marvel’s Netflix original series deal, The Man Without Fear returns to the small screen (although it always feels much larger) with a second season, bringing with him a few new adversaries to shake things up in the muggy, sweaty underbelly of Hell’s Kitchen.
Debuting on Netflix on March 18th, Daredevil season 2 looks set to be even better than the first, continuing Marvel’s mightily impressive run thus far on television after the success of last year’s other debutant, Jessica Jones, which continued to push the darker side of the studio’s back catalogue of lesser known anti-heroes.
With the impending release date edging closer and closer, Flickering Myth were lucky enough to be invited across the English Channel to the beautiful city of Paris for the premiere of the first two episodes from the new season, as well as spending some time with Daredevil himself, Charlie Cox, and the new recruits that already have fans salivating: Jon Bernthal, who joins the ranks as Frank Castle aka The Punisher, arguably Marvel’s darkest and most violent character who arrives to put the hell in Hell’s Kitchen, and Elodie Yung as Elektra Natchios, a mysterious woman from Matt Murdock’s past who may have her own agenda against Daredevil. Keep your eyes peeled later this week to Flickering Myth for the Q&A from the exclusive Paris event.
If the first two episodes in the new season are anything to go by, this could be one of Marvel’s biggest triumphs to date. We arrive back in Hell’s Kitchen some time after Daredevil has donned the red-horned costume and become the hero the city needed, particularly after putting notorious crime-boss and “kingpin” Wilson Fisk (the superb Vincent D’Onofrio) behind bars. Continuing to clean-up the streets has left Murdock battered and bruised both mentally and physically, but he continues to work alongside his best friend Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) as attorneys Nelson and Murdock.
On the world of comic-book films and television, Charlie Cox thinks the reason they are so successful and loved by many is because they “…. speak to the kid in us. We remember being a little boy or a little girl and fantasising about having special powers and being able to use them as a force for good.”
With Fisk behind bars, many of the city’s crime lords and drug cartels want to fill the void and take Hell’s Kitchen for their own to create their own empires. But soon word gets out that many of the wannabe “kingpins” are being hunted down and slayed by what the police and the FBI believe to be an army of brutal vigilantes who are precise in their killings and are doing so without mercy. But soon they and Daredevil realise that an army isn’t an army at all, it’s one man who is responsible for the lethal blood-shed, one that is the mental and physical equal of both the police and Daredevil combined. Shrouded in mystery, he is simply known to police as The Punisher.
For the role, Bernthal cited “Punisher Max” as his go-to book for all his Punisher needs, as well as heading out into New York City in the early hours to find the character (more on that in the Q&A coming soon right here on FM).
From what we have seen so far, Daredevil season two is Marvel’s The Dark Knight: with the hero now revealed to the world he inhabits, how far does he go in his search for justice before he becomes the very thing he is fighting? How far can a hero be pushed before he crosses the line from vigilante to villain? With the arrival of The Punisher, who is “The Joker” of Season 2 although far more ferocious and violent (like Bane for example), Daredevil has to face such questions and be pushed all the way to the edge of his darkest fears with the possibility of no return.
That said, Daredevil is still it’s own entity, and everything you enjoyed about the first season is here in droves and then some. The dynamic change with the introduction of the superbly-cast Bernthal as The Punisher raises the stakes to the umpteeth level, which coupled with the visuals and the relentless nature of the show will have fans at fever pitch.
On playing Elektra, Elodie Yung said “She is very complex. I didn’t know her before, so it was all new to me” as well as being told to “Keep the nice girl in the closet…” to fully immerse herself in the character.
Stay tuned to Flickering Myth this week for more on Daredevil: Season 2, including the Q&A from the Paris event with Charlie Cox, Jon Bernthal and Elodie Yung and much more….
Our huge thanks to We Are Social and Netflix for allowing us to attend the event in Paris.
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Originally published March 10, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
