Daredevil Showrunner Describes Daredevil As Morally Grey, One Bad Day Away From Becoming The Punisher

Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight has made it clear during various interviews that fans can expect a dark and gritty take on Dardevil. In a new interview with Paste Magazine, DeKnight goes into more detail about what appeals to him about the character of Daredevil. He also briefly discusses plans for Season 2 if there is one.

"With this version of Daredevil, we wanted it to be grounded, gritty, as realistic as we could portray," said DeKnight. "That naturally fits in with the Daredevil character. Matt Murdock, on a regular basis, would get the s**t beat out of him. That's one thing that makes him a great character. He's not super strong. He's not invulnerable. In every aspect, he's a man that's just pushed himself to the limits, he just has senses that are better than a normal humans. He is human. The other thing that really drew me to this character is that he's one of the most morally grey of the heroes."

When asked to explain what he meant by Daredevil being morally grey, DeKnight explained, "He's a lawyer by day, and he's taken this oath. But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things. The image that always stuck in my mind was the Frank Miller Elektra run where he's holding Bullseye over the street, and he lets Bullseye go because he doesn't want Bullseye to ever kill anyone again. When I read that originally, when I was young, I'd never seen anything like that in comics. Superman scoops up the villain and puts them in jail. This time the hero didn't do that. It was a morally grey ground that I found absolutely fascinating. There are two sides to this character. He's literally one bad day away from becoming the The Punisher! Frank Castle went just a little bit further than he did. Daredevil has no qualms about beating the hell out of somebody. He's not going to tie them up with his webs! He'll come close to killing somebody. And it's that fine edge—Why doesn't he go all the way? I really liked the flawed heroes, the human heroes."

DeKnight also told Paste that he was very happy with the casting of Charlie Cox and Deborah Ann Woll on the show. DeKnight said, "For me, the more important thing is not whether or not they look the part, but if they feel the part."

As far as how far he could go with the character compared to what he did on Spartacus, DeKnight explained, "This is a bit of a different scenario because it's a Marvel property. Once you have an IP like that, there are restrictions that you have to accept. I'm fine with that, I totally understand. I'll push it as far as I can, of course, but I also respect the fact that this character has been around for decades. Overall I've been surprised at how willing everyone is to take a really fresh look and really push what we're doing."

As far as longterm plans for Daredevil, DeKnight explained, "...[Daredevil] is one part of the bigger plan— Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and then The Defenders. How that all fits together, and whether or not there will be a second season of this show—or if it will fold into the others—are question nobody really has answers to yet."

However, if the show does get a second season, DeKnight revealed that they've been talking about "some very cool stuff" that he can't even hint at.