Judgement

This was a big week for television enthusiasts. Last Sunday saw the return of Mad Men, Monday brought us the finale of Better Call Saul and tonight sees the premiere of season five of Game of Thrones. Sandwiched between those blockbuster, monster shows, Netflix also released the first fruits of their partnership with Marvel Entertainment; Daredevil. By making all thirteen episodes public in the same week as the Better Call Saul finale, Netflix has managed a smooth transition from one popular show to another, keeping its subscribers hooked for another few weeks. Or at least a couple of days.

The story of Marvel’s Daredevil, in case you’ve blocked the Ben Affleck adaptation from memory, focuses on Matt Murdoch, a small time lawyer operating out of Hell’s Kitchen who was blinded by radioactive materials as a child. Borrowing from the popular myth, instead of blinding the kid, the loss of his sight elevates his other senses to the point where he can hear a person’s heartbeat just by standing nearby. His enhanced balance also allows him to execute martial arts techniques flawlessly. Murdoch, following the death of his boxer dad who refused to throw a fight, uses these newly developed abilities to fight crime and clean up Hell’s Kitchen.

So, Daredevil plays into a lot of the superhero tropes that we’re all familiar with by now; powers caused by exposure to an outside source, dead parent. But the Netflix series is very aware of that. While the show opens with a scene depicting Murdoch as a child having his sight destroyed, when we catch up to Charlie Cox as the adult superhero, he’s already fighting criminals and stopping human trafficking deals. It’s clear he has only just started but this isn’t his first outing in the costume. Which is nice. By now, viewers are getting bored with origin stories. It’s in the best interest of superhero media to show the origin in as succinct and concise as fashion as possible, which Daredevil does.

“It’s ok, I just bit my lip.”

Later episodes do develop Murdoch’s relationship with his father but in some senses this show was made for fans of the character. It doesn’t dwell much on the origin and comic book readers will recognise some of Daredevil most anti-heroic actions from Frank Miller’s run. But then it baffles me why Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin is treated as a secret for three episodes. Fans of the comics, especially those reading post-Miller, will recognise Kingpin as Daredevil’s biggest and most notorious foe. And Marvel already announced that he would be in the show. Therefore the only reason to hide his face is to make Vincent D’Onofrio’s appearance a surprise. But it’s just not. We’ve already seen D’Onofrio bald as Private Leonard Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. And Wilson Fisk just looks like Gomer Pyle stole a few too many donuts.

Along with the lack of focus on audience, there is also a lack of focus on character. While the show is predominantly about Matt Murdoch and his adventures as Daredevil, he also has to share screen time with Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Debrorah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Fisk’s romantic storyline with Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna. It’s good to develop supporting characters, and I actually like Foggy because he manages to be Murdoch’s partner without playing a wholly comic relief role, but at 50+ minutes, the episodes could benefit from being trimmed back slightly.

It’s not that I want the characters to be two dimensional or every scene to include Charlie Cox. However, I am sitting down to watch a show titled Daredevil so I do expect the character to be at the centre of the show. Instead I’m watching Fisk court his future wife. Yes it gives him a human side so that he’s not just evil for the sake of evil but it still detracts from the main character. Daredevil suffers from this in the same way that Fox’s Gotham devotes a lot of screen time to The Penguin and Fish Mooney as well as Jim Gordon. Gotham at least has the advantage of being about an entire city rather than just one man, but the problem is the same. I don’t want to see what the bad guys are doing. I want to see the good guy figure it out.

Not shown: a lot of recurring side characters.

Daredevil also suffers from a second structural issue but it’s one that seems to plague other Netflix original programming too. Daredevil, like House of Cards, and other shows that have all of their episodes released at once, episodes tend to lack a hook to entice the viewer to watch the next one. It doesn’t seem like a big deal if the viewer doesn’t watch another episode right away when all of the episodes will be available for months. But they’re looking at it wrong. Not watching the next episodes reflects a lack of interest. I can tell you now, if HBO released all of Game of Thrones at once tonight, I’d have the entire season watched by sunrise.

With Daredevil, I’m just not that eager and I don’t feel that the show is demanding to be watched in the same way other shows do. Even if the episode itself isn’t exciting a hook can still entice the viewer. Person of Interest does it all the time. A particular case might be dull but often the episode will end with a revelation or twist that will make me desperate to tune in next week. On demand shows are relegating this device, treating it as a remnant of weekly televised shows but its not. It’s a tool to draw the viewer into the next episode. Remember, there’s only a few seconds between episodes. The hook only has to stall them for that long and then the next episode can do the rest.

Most of the problems are structural. The acting is good, with Charlie Cox as the clear standout, and the choreography is great. It’s a joy to see a fight scene where the camera doesn’t move with every punch. I can actually see what’s happening. I like the neo-noir theme too; it fits the moral quandaries of the character. I’m hoping that the problems are due to producers or writers, as the series is created by Drew Goddard, the man who will direct the next solo Spider-Man. Otherwise I’m expecting good fight scenes but I’m a little worried that Aunt May might end up with as much screen time as our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Female

Who knew that, in this day and age, a woman could cause so much controversy. When Marvel announced that Thor was now going to be a woman Twitter the internet at large spent the next three days discussing how this was a complete travesty and it was going to ruin the character. As usual, the internet went a little bit overboard in its reaction to a simple gender change. This is not an abomination of the character. At worst it is a publicity stunt; at best it is a genuine attempt at Marvel to move away from male centric and dominated characters and stories in order to provide a more well rounded and appealing landscape for their comic books.

The latter seems more likely than the former. Marvel editor Wil Moss stated “The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!” There is a sense that this is being done with female readers in mind and that is no bad thing. Comic books have long been seen as the domain of men, with women being busty and slim in order to appeal to male sensibilities. It is reasonable then to accept that including more well-rounded and interesting female characters will draw female readers and provide worthwhile role models.

Thunder and lightning have never looked so cool.

A lot of comic book fans are peeved to say the least. They feel that by changing Thor in order to appeal to a specific demographic that Marvel is derailing the character. I might agree if there weren’t an element of mystery to the new character’s identity and origins. It’s not like Thor just woke up one day with breasts, although that in of itself might make an intriguing one-shot. No, this is a completely separate character. One that just happens to have picked up the hammer and taken up the mantle of being the god of thunder while the original is on leave. This is not just about an aesthetic change; it is about telling a story.

Still, that potential for storytelling isn’t enough for some people who decry the fact that Marvel are ruining Norse mythology by turning Thor into a woman. Last time that I checked though, there was nothing in Norse mythology about the god of thunder teaming up with a patriotic super solider with a shield and a businessman with robotic armour in order to fight crime and galactic evil. While they are certainly messing with the source material, Thor has long deviated from that origin. And honestly, if Marvel has mutants who can nigh rewrite existence and a radiation afflicted scientist who becomes a large, green brute when angry, why can’t the the god of thunder be a woman? It boggles the mind that to some people the former two are accepted with gusto and the latter is to be ridiculed.

Many supporters have also noted that this is not the strangest character to ever hold the mantle of Thor. I put up a picture on Twitter referencing the brief time that Wonder Woman held Mjolnir during the 90’s crossover series DC Vs. Marvel Comics. One of the most referenced changes, however, was the time that Thor was transformed into a frog by Loki. And if we can be accepting of Thor as a frog, why can’t we at least give a female version the benefit of the doubt? Even if it appears like a cheap trick to lure in female readers, accept it for the story-telling potential because, man or woman, aren’t entertaining and interesting stories the reason that we read comic books?

Could we see any of these comic book changes translate to the big screen?

Hot off the heels of the announcement that a woman is taking over the role of Thor, fans also got the announcements that Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon, would be taking over the role of Captain America from Steve Rogers and that, similar to the recent Superior Spider-Man storyline, a tough to root for Tony Stark as Superior Ironman would be joining the Avengers. Both of these storylines stirred up additional controversy, although possibly least of all was Superior Ironman. Tony Stark has always been a deeply flawed character despite being a genius at both business and science and was even an enemy of some of the Avengers in the Civil War storyline. That he could go to some dark places isn’t surprising but it could make for a fairly interesting story.

No it was the black guy becoming Captain America that got people riled up, though it is probably the same people who were up in arms about Thor being a woman now. Of course we know the storyline reason for this one, at least in part. Steve Rogers’ super soldier serum is failing him and so his genetics have aged rapidly and his buddy Sam Wilson takes over the role. This isn’t the first time the Captain America costume has been worn by someone else; Bucky Barnes played the role when Rogers was thought to be dead. To me, this suggests Marvel aren’t just looking for cheap ways to lure in readers. Instead, they honestly want to diversify their characters in a very real and potent way. And, as I said on twitter, I wouldn’t mind if this carried over to the movies.

That is what I think is really annoying most fans. Rather than seeing the storytelling potential of these changes what they see is a publicity stunt to herald the coming of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. That’s what is putting the bad taste in their mouth. And I agree. I just don’t see why we can’t have our cake and eat it. Sometimes life imitates art but most of the time art imitates life. If there is going to be a big event that might get a few people to think “wow, that’s pretty cool, I wonder what the comic books are like” then why shouldn’t Marvel create diverse, interesting characters and stories that will keep readers coming back long after they’ve picked up that first issue? The film franchise has been challenge to the comic books to up their game. I’d say Marvel Comics have met the challenge and more.