Back when I was still young enough to buy comics with a straight face, I read the Marvel vs. D.C. comics crossover series. It was a tame and entirely rigged match between superheroes from Marvel (responsible for every successful movie hero of the last ten years) and D.C. (Batman, Superman, nobody else.)
Despite the overall laziness of the story, each issue was the best chance the respective companies would have to sell comics to "the enemy," ie: people who bought comics published by the competition. D.C. attempted this by showing adverts for things you wouldn't understand unless you'd been reading comics since the thirties. Marvel did it with bold, brilliant one-page posters outlining the basics of their characters. The Incredible Hulk, for example, pictured under a screed in which his dialogue changed from GREEN VIOLENT CAPITALS ABOUT SMASHING THINGS to much smaller, frightened text as the rational man inside tried to control the monster.
One that always stuck with me was Daredevil. His ad consisted of an image of the character, surrounded by the combination threat/promise: "I know all about your hidden guns. I know your knives before they're ever pulled. I know your arsenic lies before they squirm free from your sweaty lips. I know all this and I'm not afraid. You may have escaped the law, but you won't escape me. The man without fear is back."
This was, I hope everyone will agree, a great piece of writing and completely bad ass. It gave me a soft-spot for the character even though I never actually read Daredevil comics. I still took the time to find out who he was - a blind lawyer by the name of Matt Murdock who, due to typically magic toxic waste, lost his sight but gained supernatural hearing, smell, touch, balance etc. He knows your arsenic lies because he can hear your heart beating and knows that it beats harder when you're not telling the truth, for example. Like most Marvel characters, he was flawed and interesting, and with the intro I'd seen, how could he not be cool?
The answer to "how could Daredevil not be cool" came in 2003 with a painfully bad movie adaptation starring Ben Affleck. Pretty much everything about it was terrible. Lazy plotting, glaring continuity errors, and casting that was way off the mark and faintly racist - Michael Clarke Duncan played The Kingpin, an enormous, obnoxiously wealthy crime lord. In the comics, this huge, corpulent, corrupt figure is a white guy because stinking rich, crooked, fat businessmen always are. They cast Duncan instead because he was "the only actor big enough," which was clearly bullshit as Duncan was actually a relatively normal 6' 5". Having stamped the subtle social commentary out of the Kingpin by casting a black actor, they set to work making Daredevil as boring as possible. They also tried to portray his powers to us, the viewer, on screen., which was never going to work as Daredevil's powers hinge on the fact that he can't view a screen himself. Trying to visually convey what it's like to be a blind superhero is an idea so stupid I think just typing it has automatically qualified me for the next series of Geordie Shore.
Ten years down the line, and with nerds now angry at Ben Affleck for other reasons, Marvel has announced a new Daredevil Netflix series, and, because the internet is fueled entirely by outrage and porn, people on the internet are outraged. And probably naked, but one problem at a time.
Fans seem to be annoyed that such a high-profile Marvel character has been demoted to TV. He joins other second-string Marvel heroes like Iron Fist, a largely forgotten martial arts hero, and Luke Cage, whose powers included not having a code name, dressing like a gay backing dancer and baffling, faux-pimp dialogue:
Compared to characters like these, Daredevil does indeed seem to be getting short shrift, but in actual fact, TV might be the best thing that could happen to Daredevil.
One thing fans need to realise is that his power is objectively bloody stupid. He's blind. If you put him in the hacky old "cut the red wire to defuse the bomb" situation, he'd be fucked.* Sure, he has a kind of bat-like sonar and spatial awareness, but as mentioned above, it's impossible to portray that in a visual medium without looking ridiculous. His limitations have always made Daredevil a small-time hero, and that's actually part of his charm.
In the comics, he comes off as a Robin Hood figure, living and working in the Hell's Kitchen area (this was written into his character before Hell's Kitchen was gentrified and became an artist haven) and often representing the poor free of charge in his legal practice.
Comedian Reginald D. Hunter (amongst others) has pointed out that Batman is inherently right-wing, using his vast wealth and technology to kick the shit out of purse snatchers and street-level junkies. Daredevil doesn't suffer this criticism because he's a man of the people, and behaves as such. He works best when he's prowling the streets and brawling, instead of saving the universe in a histrionic mega-budget spectacular. He's not a Norse god or a billionaire in a rocket suit; he's a handicapped lawyer trying to make a difference.
The recent renaissance in quality TV means that it's no longer a medium to be dismissed, and shows like "Arrow" prove that superheroes can be done small. If anything, a large number of the more human, real-world superheroes might benefit from smaller scale, character focused outings. Did we really need a Punisher movie with John Travolta in it?
Instead of howling about their hurt feelings over some perceived mistreatment of their character, Daredevil fans really should be giving this one a chance.
Daredevil is going to be on TV. It can't be any worse than the last adaptation. It's being made by Marvel, who know what they're doing. I know all this, so I'm not afraid.
The man without fear is back.
*Why don't more bombers use wires that are all the same colour?!
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