If there's one thing that can be said about Marvel's crimson-clad hero, Daredevil, it's that he's a little bit of all of us. Everything we've ever questioned about the mantle of responsibility, the existence of God, the conflict of right and wrong, can be found in the pages of the Daredevil comic books. From his first appearance in Daredevil #1 back in 1964 to his more modern outings in the Netflix live-action series, Matt Murdock and his alter-ego have shown us a far darker side of the Marvel universe, while also making it clear that even in the darkest of places light can be found, though not always in the form we expect. Before one can really appreciate Daredevil, an important question needs to be asked: What exactly defines a hero?
I ask this because the 20th century disassembled ancient heroic archetypes and then reassembled them into be flawless beings who always operate above areas that might be considered morally gray. For example, the earliest iterations of Batman and Superman always saw our favorite caped heroes taking on bad guys in a whimsical and practically non-violent way before turning them over to the police and going about their lives. No moral conflict, no personal attachment to the events, just a linear and light-hearted path connecting the dots in the three act story structure of comic books. This is what defined the Silver Age of comic books, which lasted from 1956 to 1970. Then things got darker in the Bronze Age (1970 to 1985) and Modern Age (1985 to Present) with the rise of popular writers like Frank Miller (300, The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, Daredevil), Chris Claremont (X-Men, Alien vs. Predator, JLA), Alan Moore (Batman: The Killing Joke, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Watchmen), Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spiderman, Superman, Avengers), and various artists who helped bring comic books to mainstream audiences around the world. The point I'm trying to make is that even the earliest stories to feature the hero archetype like the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, and even the Bible have featured deeply flawed individuals, who were no more in control of their rage or darker lines of questioning than you or I. This is what I love about Daredevil. He's not a perfect being. I don't even know if he could be called a righteous being, at least not according to modern understandings of the word. He's flawed, emotionally unstable, and does what he perceives to be the "right thing" within his perception of the word. And this is something that show-runner Erik Oleson and series creator Drew Goddard really explored in the latest season of Daredevil: Is it possible to be a hero in the world we live in without occasionally dwelling in those morally gray areas?
This is supposed to be a Daredevil Season 3 review, but this is a topic that deeply fascinates me, and Daredevil embodies it. So before I get into the actual reviewing, let me elaborate on this topic a little. Throughout the years, society has shaped and reshaped our perception of what makes a hero. While today's comic books do a great job of bringing heroes and "anti-heroes" to the spotlight, there's still a stereotype left over from the late fifties and early sixties that a hero must embody certain qualities: they must always be morally right and motivated by a need to do good. What we tend to forget is that, fictional or otherwise, at the end of the day our heroes are still (more or less) human. I always ask this question to people who love Batman (mostly because I'm not a fan): Who is more of a hero, Batman or Wolverine? The obvious answer would be Batman, but when you really dig into the mindset of each of these individuals, you'll find a completely different answer. Let's look at their motivations. Batman, or Bruce Wayne, lost his parents at an early age. His origin story is filled with tragedy. He took up the mantle of Batman to save people because he couldn't save his parents. Wolverine is sort of a jerk. His origin story is one he was more in control of. He never goes out of his way to save anybody, and when he does, it's usually at the behest of Professor X or because he really feels at the core of his being that it's the right thing to do. So I ask you again, who is more of a hero? Batman, who saves people only to soothe his own guilt, or Wolverine, who saves people because (every once in a while) he knows it's the right thing to do? Daredevil is a hero that operates on both sides of that spectrum. He's motivated by a strong mix of guilt, compulsion, compassion, righteousness, and a spiritual need. Essentially he's human. And if you've read any of his more well known story-arcs like Born Again, Last Hand or Roulette, you know just how human Matt Murdock is.
In season 3 of Netflix's Daredevil, we see a more lost side of Matt Murdock. We see a man who is broken and alone, having lost so much in the pursuit of being a "hero." The last time we saw him, a building fell on top of him as he fought alongside the Immortal Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones to bring down the hand and their secret weapon - Matt's former lover - Elektra. Daredevil season 3 picks up shortly after those events, as Matt crawls out of a New York sewer, barely alive. When he wakes, he finds himself at Saint Agnes Orphanage, where he grew up, in the care of the woman who raised him, Sister Maggie. As his sonar-like powers flicker in and out, Matt tries to recondition and heal his body so that he can return to the streets as Daredevil instead of returning to his civilian life. He thinks that in order for Daredevil to exist and do what needs to be done, Matt Murdock needs to stay dead. This time, however, he returns to using the black cowl instead of the costume made by Melvin Potter back in the first season. Let's just say that returning to the world of vigilantism isn't as easy as getting back on a bicycle, as Matt finds out the hard way. Meanwhile, back in the real world Matt's friends, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson are dealing with issues of their own. Not only are they dealing with the aftermath of losing their friend, they've discovered that the FBI is working with Fisk to take down criminals in exchange for certain "freedoms." What they don't realize however, is that Fisk is actually using them to take down his own enemies, get out of prison, and reunite with his lover Vanessa. From there, it's thirteen episodes of drama, intrigue, betrayal, and people getting kicked and punched.
While there are quite a few things that make this season stand out above the other Netflix Daredevil outings, I want to explore a few of the ones I think are important. First, all of the characters in the show are motivated by very human things. For example, one of the big threads that unravels over the course of the season is Matt's obsession with bringing down the Kingpin. He's so caught up in his hatred of the man that everything else begins to lose all importance. It's only when he finds out that his friends are in trouble that everything else comes back into focus. There's also Matt's backstory. He's always, to some extent, been lonely, angry, and felt unloved. In this season, after a certain revelation we see why, and how Matt's desire for human connection - even on a subconscious level - has driven him all of these years to do the things he does and become the man he's become. Foggy believes so heavily in the justice system, and the idea that right and wrong shouldn't be left in the hands of the individual that he puts himself in harm's way to save the soul of his friend. He even sacrifices what would have been a successful run as New York District attorney for the good of the city. Where Fisk is the devil on Matt's shoulder, Foggy Nelson succeeds in being the angel on the other side. Karen page gets a lot of care this time around, as we see her backstory and find out her motivations. As it turns out, there are things in her past that she's spent her entire life running from. Why does she recklessly go after a man like Wilson Fisk? Because she's trying to atone for past sins, and she does this with little regard for her own life. An interesting question that doesn't exactly get asked but does get eluded to is: How long does it take for one to atone? How much does one have to suffer before the process is complete? FBI Agent Ray Nadeem is perhaps the most human character in the show. When Wilson Fisk decides to "entrust" him with info that will help the FBI bring down criminals, he's only too eager to take charge. Why does he do this? It's not for fame or ego. He does it because he has a family to take care of, and after falling into debt to pay for the medical costs of his ailing sister-in-law, this conspicuous break is just what he needs to make sure his family is provided for.
Even the bad guys are motivated by very human things. Though at his core, Fisk is a rotten and maniacal human being, his motivations revolve less around money and power (as they once did) and more around love. Everything he does is to be reunited with his love Vanessa Mariana. Only trouble is, the path to being reunited requires no shortage of money and power. Finally, let's talk about Bullseye. As we find out through flashback scenes, Agent Poindexter has never exactly been a "stable" human being. You could even argue that his "gift" surfaced out of a psychological need. Whether that "need" is to harm others or survive, depends on your interpretation of the character. However, what we find out through his backstory and his obsession with Julie (as creepy as it gets), Dex wants what we all want . . . to feel connected to somebody, to love, to know that as bad as the world gets and with as much darkness as we keep in our hearts even on the best days, there's still hope.
The second thing I want to look at is the spiritual side of Matt Murdock and Daredevil that this season really dives into. At his core neither Murdock nor his alter-ego can exist without God. And just like the concept of original sin was presented in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden and for the first time experienced a lack of something (or separation from God), Matt's crisis of faith represents his own separation from the Power that once kept his world held together. Though this theme was only touched upon briefly in the scenes between Father Paul and Matt in season one, the focus on Matt's Catholic upbringing and the question of why bad things happen and if they happen for a reason, is rooted deep in the main narrative. And as somebody who enjoys a good theological rabbit trail, I was also fascinated with the idea that in order for good to be done, sometimes one has to do a little bad. For those of you who grew up in the church, you know that this concept is often looked upon with disdain, no matter what denomination you count yourself in. We hear the Bible being preached as if it's a happy book full of a virtuous people, when in reality, one of the things that makes the Bible so great (and fascinating) is that it isn't a happy book full of virtuous people. It's quite the opposite. Though the Bible teaches a lot about virtue and what it means, it is one of the most gritty and violent books ever written. Yes, it has its fair share of heroes, Jesus included, but what we tend to forget is that most of the individuals talked about in the Bible were deeply flawed and far from perfect. Does this sound familiar?
The final thing I want to talk about is Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin's development as a villain. If you grew up in the '90s like I did, your only exposure to the Kingpin was through comic books and the Spider-Man cartoon that Fox Kids showed during the early hours of the morning. In both cases, the Kingpin was portrayed a fat man in an even fatter suit that spent his time in a building coming up with all sorts of technological advances purely to destroy Spider-Man and occasionally Daredevil. He was not only predictable, but he was also very one dimensional. Though the comic book depiction of him changed in the years that followed, there was always an opportunity with Kingpin that was never truly seized in the way it could have been. Then, Netflix and Marvel Television decided to make Kingpin the main bad in season one of Daredevil, and what they did with season three solidified Wilson Fisk as one of the greatest comic book villains of all time. Not only is a he strategic mastermind, but he's terrifying in the way that you feel sorry for him and hate him at the same time. The way he weaved himself into the fabric of the FBI and had people do unspeakable things in his name, like Nadeem's boss when she kills their superior in her own home to keep Nadeem under control, and the way Fisk manipulates Foggy Nelson by threatening his family, everyone is tied to Fisk in some way, because he offered them something they needed during a time when they needed it most. That's masterful manipulation. And the scary part about it, is that it reminds me of modern politics. In the words of Alan Moore, "Who watches the Watchmen?"
Overall, season three of Daredevil was an exciting and emotional ride from start to finish. The characters were developed with care, the backstories were given the time they needed to be fully fleshed out, the fight scenes were well choreographed, and the ending was delivered with no shortage of surprises. They even setup Poindexter, aka Bullseye, to make a return in some capacity in the next season. As for the character arcs, one of the best qualities about this show and the way it's written is that there aren't exactly any happy endings. There are real endings. And as a longtime fan of comic books and Daredevil, I like the idea of a real ending rather than a happy one. After all, what is happiness? That's another discussion for another day. Where Spider-Man can be considered the everyman hero, Daredevil is the conflict in all of us. He's the endless battle with our dark sides, he's the longing we have to be connected to a force greater than ourselves, and he's the drive we don't always indulge to do good within our capabilities. Is Daredevil a hero? Absolutely. Is he a hero within the context that society has created? Absolutely not, and I'm okay with that. Because the hero we need isn't always the hero we want. While there hasn't been an official word on season four being green-lit (especially after the cancellations of Iron Fist and Luke Cage), lets hope that the devil of Hell's Kitchen gets at least one more outing and the ending he deserves.
Reviewed by: Josh Pederson
Score: 10/10
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