Fans eagerly anticipating the new Marvel "Daredevil" show coming to Netflix can now officially get excited, as in a new interview with Paste magazine showrunner Steven DeKnight says the show will walk in a moral grey area that few superheroes rarely explore. DeKnight even lists comic book legend Frank Miller's "Daredevil" work as a key influence on his interpretation of the character.
The upcoming show has some impressive talent behind it in the form of DeKnight, who is coming off his work on the popular Starz series "Spartacus." DeKnight has also worked with Joss Whedon on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
It is the tone of the show that should get fans excited. Speaking with Paste, DeKnight elaborated on the idea of a superhero that doesn't always win.
"With this version of Daredevil, we wanted it to be grounded, gritty, as realistic as we could portray," DeKnight says. "That naturally fits in with the Daredevil character. Matt Murdock, on a regular basis, would get the shit beat out of him. That's one thing that makes him a great character. He's not super strong. He's not invulnerable. In every aspect, he's a man that's just pushed himself to the limits, he just has senses that are better than a normal humans. He is human. The other thing that really drew me to this character is that he's one of the most morally grey of the heroes."
When asked to further discuss the "morally grey" characterization of Daredevil, DeKnight said he always remembers Miller's work with the character. Miller is famous for graphic novels like "Sin City" and "The Dark Knight Returns," but one of his other most notable achievements is his work on "Daredevil," which is famous for its dark and gritty interpretation of the hero.
"He's a lawyer by day, and he's taken this oath," DeKnight continues. "But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things. The image that always stuck in my mind was the Frank Miller Elektra run where he's holding Bullseye over the street, and he lets Bullseye go because he doesn't want Bullseye to ever kill anyone again. When I read that originally, when I was young, I'd never seen anything like that in comics. Superman scoops up the villain and puts them in jail. This time the hero didn't do that. It was a morally grey ground that I found absolutely fascinating."
For reference, here is the scene DeKnight is referring to:
To hear that DeKnight understands the source material and knows what makes Daredevil so fascinating is a good sign that Marvel picked the right man for the job. "Daredevil" will be coming exclusively to Netflix sometime in 2015.
