~Matt Key

Geek Girl Authority got to attend the premiere of Netflix and Marvel’s Daredevil last night. We only got to see the first two episodes, but, my god, what an amazing two episodes. Thus far, all the reviews about Netflix’s Daredevil have been glowing and all we can do is add to that. It’s much more than just a great adaptation of a comic book to the screen; it’s a brilliant television show, the likes of which would be right at home on networks like HBO or Showtime.

And it just so happens to be, quite possibly, the best adaptation of a comic book to date. That’s not to minimize what Marvel has done before this because so much of what they do is dead on and right in terms of their adaptations; rather, it’s meant purely to give you an idea of just how good of an adaptation it is. From the sweat of Fogwell’s Gym to how wonderfully personable and pathetic Foggy Nelson is, they nailed the comic and the relationships perfectly.

You can feel the inspiration of Frank Miller behind every frame, but even better than that is the adaptation of the spirit of the comic found in every single corner. Just like the comics in the 80’s, it has that same self-aware darkness, gritty brutality and thin line morality. Daredevil perfectly shows the growl-through-clenched-teeth moral struggle of a just man with good intentions, doing his best to make the world a better place, bloody punch after bloody punch, no matter the cost.

If Marvel set the bar before, Daredevil just raised it even higher. This is a game changer.

One of it’s greatest strengths is how real they treat the entire world. They tie the entire series into the greater MCU through very subtle means, mentioning “the event” without ever talking about it with heavy-handed winks to the camera or beating us over the head with talk of “alien invasions” or The Avengers. Instead, it’s all glanced over, treated in a very real sense, with Hell’s Kitchen in the midst of renovation due to the attacks. As Jeph Loeb has said, it’s all very much connected.

Even better than that reality is how they treat Daredevil’s fighting. In a world filled with gamma-irradiated rage monsters, super serum-infused super soldiers and Norse gods raining down upon the earth with magical Uru hammers, Daredevil is the most realistic hero. He fights exactly like you’d expect to see a boxer fight, leading with his fists, landing jab after jab, punch after punch, putting his entire body behind every blow and absolutely exhausting himself in the process. That’s not to say there are no theatrics or acrobatics, no amazing flips or kicks because that’s absolutely present too. The big difference is that they don’t highlight it; it’s a tool he uses only when he has to.

The best part of the fighting is that whole aspect of “never giving up,” even when you’re knocked down, you get back up. You can feel Matt Murdoch’s exhaustion, as well as everyone else’s, with each subsequent punch thrown. And unlike in other fight scenes where the thugs are out with one punch, these bad guys get back up and make him fight even harder. At the end of a fight, you’re just as winded as Murdoch and you can’t help but feel yourself cheering for him more and more.

There’s honestly just too much good to say about it, too much that they got right that if there is anything wrong with the series, you can’t notice it.

Having only seen the first two episodes, we can’t say that this will be the greatest television show in history, but we can very confidently say that what we saw left us positive that it’s shaping up to beat even the highest of expectations. If this is any proof, the road to The Defenders team-up is on par with everything Marvel is doing in their Cinematic Universe.

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