The second season of the hit Marvel show Daredevil will hit the Internet as a Netflix original this March, and last week we received the latest teaser trailer from the official Daredevil twitter account. As with previous brief trailers for the upcoming season, it took the idea of being a “teaser” pretty seriously, offering very little in the way of details or specific hints about plot points. What it did accomplish, however, was getting the discussion churning once more regarding where Marvel’s blind hero is headed after a wildly successful first season.
Most of what we know so far about the direction of the show is that it will involve two major new characters who have been associated with Daredevil in the comics. The first of the two is The Punisher, who will be played by Jon Bernthal and who according to BGR is responsible for the ominous “bang” that can be heard at the end of that most recent teaser.
Traditionally, The Punisher (aka Frank Castle) is a brutal and uncompromising antihero, sometimes sacrificing morality to the point of becoming no better than a villain. Such a character will make for an interesting foil to Daredevil, who was portrayed by Charlie Cox as a hero almost wholly concerned with doing what’s right. And judging by some comments from Bernthal posted at CinemaBlend, we’ll be getting a Punisher every bit as hard-nosed as comic fans will expect. In Bernthal’s own words, his goal was to “never pursue likability at all.”
The other major character being introduced in the second season of Daredevil is Elektra, a common sidekick/love interest of Daredevil’s in the comics. We’ve actually already seen this character in the form of French actress Elodie Yung in previous trailers, though the glimpses have been fleeting and unsubstantial. So who exactly will she be if Daredevil is a bastion of morality and The Punisher the ultimate antihero?
Well, one of the first places that Elektra showed up in the lead up to her being announced for season two was among the slots at Betfair. Incidentally, the Elektra game there has one of the most complete explanations of her out there. In addition to teasing her character image and accessories as symbols on slot reels, the game describes Elektra as “an intimidating presence that can send even the bravest of men cowering into a corner,” and someone who uses all her skills to accomplish any goal. In short, Elektra is perhaps as deadly as The Punisher, but not necessarily as uncompromising. The best guess is that Yung’s character may occupy a middle ground between Daredevil and The Punisher, morally speaking. Though for her part, Yung was quoted by Flickering Myth as saying her character is “kind of a sociopath!”
The involvement of these two additional superheroes, both of whom are fairly savage, suggests that the upcoming season of Daredevil may be as much about the question of handling power as anything else. It’s now been 14 years since Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film reached theatres and the line “with great power comes great responsibility” was made iconic. Yet, this is still the sentiment that appears to drive modern Marvel projects. In Captain America: Civil War, we’ll see a conflict stemming from the question of whether the Avengers should allow their powers to be limited. And it certainly seems that Daredevil is gearing up to address the question of whether heroes should restrain their activity on their own.
That alone should make for a pretty compelling second season. As for specific plot points, we remain largely in the dark. We can probably expect at least some form of romance between Daredevil and Elektra. And judging by the latest poster for the season, we may also be seeing something close to a war in Hell’s Kitchen.
