Early evening on the main stage (1-D) at New York Comic Con was the setting for Netflix and Marvel's television division to discuss their "team-up" for the upcoming "Daredevil" TV series. The majority of the cast was in attendance for the discussion: Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Vondie Curtis-Hall (Ben Urich), Toby Moore (Wesley), Ayelet Zurer (Vanessa), Bob Gunton (Leon Owlsly) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Kingpin), along with showrunner Steve DeKnight and Marvel Head of Television Jeph Loeb.
"'Daredevil' is the first of what will be five series that run exclusively on Netflix," Loeb said, with the others being "Jessica Jones," "Iron Fist," "Luke Cage," with these all coming together in "Defenders." For those who never followed the comics closely, "The Defenders" are kind of a low-rent super team in the mold of the "Avengers" that's had a revolving cast of B- and C-list Marvel characters in its ranks since 1971.
Loeb then showed a clip from "Daredevil," showing "what happens in Karen Page's apartment when an unexpected visitor stops by."
After introductions, Loeb said that Quesada "found Matt Murdock" before Marvel had regained the screen rights from Fox, and they eventually cast Quesada's man, Charlie Cox.
Though Rosario Dawson was not able to attend, Loeb revealed she will play Claire Temple, and showed a clip of her stitching up Matt Murdock on her couch.
Curtis-Hall joked that, looking at the comics, he said, "I don't know how I'm going to play this guy. I don't wear glasses..." He said he sees Urich as having a similar passion and drive to Daredevil.
"Our Fisk is a child, and he's a monster," D'Onofrio said of his character. "Every move that he makes, and everything that he does in his story, comes from his foundation of morality within himself. Meeting Vanessa, the one thing he does for him so far, is bring him out of the shadows."
DeKnight noted that Murdock is "a lawyer by day, a vigilante by night; those two things do not mix." He added that "he's one bad day from becoming Frank Castle [The Punisher]," while "when you see why Fisk does what he does, you might think, that's not such a bad idea."
Loeb said Henson sent his audition on his phone while shooting "Hunger Games." Henson said he ended up with not a lot of time to prepare for the role, but was able to rely on his fellow actors to "make sure I'm going in the right direction."
Woll said that it's not quite true to say Karen Page "keeps getting into trouble," but rather "Karen is trouble."
Cox spoke about the difficulty of acting "the blindness and the physicality" in a show that "is about the inner conflict and inner turmoil." Though Cox does as much of the action sequences as he can, he said there is a stunt team, and "it looks like CGI, but it's not."
Another clip presented Karen Page bringing dinner to Foggy and Matt at the office of Nelson & Murdock, ultimately working her way into a new job at the fledgling firm.
Loeb then opened the floor to fan questions.
In response to how he prepared for his role as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, D'Onofrio said that, once it had been established what this "Daredevil" would be about, the actor bought several trades from Forbidden Planet to get some background on Fisk. He especially enjoyed Frank Miller's celebrated run on the book.
On the difference of working for a Netflix show, Cox said the format allowed for a different sort of storytelling. "Because there isn't a week in between, you don't have to spend so much time reminding an audience what happened," Cox said. "And also, ending on a cliffhanger is pointless, because 'what happened? O, I can just click a button. It'll feel more like a thirteen-hour movie."
When asked whether "Daredevil" will connect to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Loeb said, "first of all, that's a Level 7 question; second, it's all connected, man."
Aside from the Miller run, Cox said, "I am most influenced by the Bendis/Maleev stuff." He added that having it on Netflix "allowed it to suit a slightly older audience."
Loeb wrapped up by showing the expanded, full version of the first clip shown, in which a masked but not costumed Murdock brutally fights an intruder to rescue Karen Page.
In terms of the costume shown (the official picture is below), I am not fan. It's taken from the version seen in 1993's "Daredevil: The Man Without Fear," by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. Hopefully, the creative team will quickly move away from this ninja inspired look, and dress Murdock/Dardevil in his much more apropos red costume. Heck, even DD's original red and yellow costume would be better than this bland costuming choice.
