Daredevil provided fans with three highly-acclaimed seasons of Marvel television on Netflix, and despite the success of the shows on Disney+, it’s still the best TV Marvel has to offer. With Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock now having made its debut appearance in the MCU, now is the ideal time for enthusiasts to revisit the classic show. Whether or not the MCU’s Matt Murdock is already Daredevil is still up in the air, but it seems likely that any direction his story takes will mirror the Netflix show.

Despite being blinded as a young boy, Daredevil’s ability to take and deal damage has been proven time and time again, thanks not only to his physical training but also his advanced hearing. The show not only sees Daredevil go on to fight a slew of crime bosses working for the Kingpin, but fights Kingpin himself, alongside the Punisher and Bullseye throughout the seasons. While the Devil of Hell’s kitchen has had a busy crime-fighting life, some of the show’s true shine comes from its less-than-super but still heroic friends of Daredevil, Foggy, and Karen, who go on to take roles of great importance themselves.

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While one of Daredevil’s many strengths was the interactions between hero and villain, the three seasons of runtime allowed for a much greater grounding in the everyday life of Hell’s Kitchen. The characterization and substance to both Karen and Foggy, through their own character developments and motivations not only provided an extra lens for the viewer to watch the story of the show unfold but a variety of angles to watch and relate from. Whether that’s the push and pull that constantly exists between the trio of characters, or their individual motivations and career goals as they try to navigate the insanity of their superhero world, Karen and Foggy are still Marvel’s best non-hero characters, elevating the show greatly. It is this realistic edge, when compared to the more cartoonish Marvel Disney+ shows that makes Daredevil stand out. 

Foggy Nelson and Karen Page

Daredevil becoming part of the MCU risks making the show less successful, in major part thanks to its grounded nature. While the MCU often makes for great spectacles, CGI fights, battles in space, and so on, Daredevil shined so brightly because it was made relatable to the viewer. The much longer runtime of the show, three whole seasons totaling 39 episodes, not only allow for more intricate storytelling and world-building but also allows the show to make the dual-life of an anonymous hero more believable. The MCU movies with anonymous heroes are often torn between how much screen time to give to the hero, and how much to the person. Daredevil however has the time to fully commit to its non-hero world as much as it does to its hero world, further reinforcing the positive impact of the show’s non-hero characters, and grounding the show for the viewer. This makes it compare extremely favorably to Disney+ shows featuring previously established big-screen heroes.

Matt Murdock’s return to the screen and MCU debut has certainly shifted the question from will he return, to whether Daredevil’s original ending is still canon. However, whatever the character's status, the original show still stands head and shoulders above other Disney+ projects. While series like Loki and WandaVision continue the saga's cinematic legacy, no show has yet been able to recapture Daredevil's sense of grounded realism. It is for this reason that, despite the advent of Disney+, Daredevil remains Marvel's best show.

Next: Is Hawkeye's Kingpin The Same Version As Daredevil?

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