Not Watching Daredevil? Why You Should Start Now

Updated on May 12, 2015 at 6:15 PM

Daredevil's first season premiered in its 13-episode entirety on April 11 — so why haven't you watched it yet? You may not want to add another show to your already-busy TV-watching schedule, or maybe you think superhero shows just aren't for you. Perhaps you're just not intrigued by the trailer or the posters. Whatever the reason, it's time to find out why you need to give this show a chance. After all, there's a reason it has already been renewed for a second season.

Charlie Cox is outstanding as Matt Murdock/Daredevil.

You might not realize how hard it is to portray a blind man until you're watching someone do it. Daredevil's whole schtick is that he's a blind crime-fighting lawyer, but his blindness isn't at the center of the show. Cox has subtle mannerisms that remind you of this characteristic without making it too over-the-top. Matt is handsome, charming, and talented at both his day and night jobs, and Cox is an embodiment of all of these things.

The villain isn't a run-of-the-mill psychopath.

Vincent D'Onofrio plays Wilson Fisk, a Marvel villain who makes up for his lack of superpowers with total watchability. He's a megarich crime kingpin; he's not some evil genius sitting atop a tower. For the most part, he's a big, socially uncomfortable teddy bear — until he gets upset and crushes a man's skull in a car door. Flashbacks to his troubled childhood give you a sense of why he is the way he is and the terrifying secrets that he's keeping. He's not easy to hate, and that moral ambiguity makes Daredevil fascinating.

The characters feel real.

While superhero stories can be hard to relate to, a lot of the characters on Daredevil are just regular citizens. Matt's colleagues at his budding law firm (Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson) aren't fellow crime-fighters, they're just well-rounded people with their own personal issues. It's nice to have some normalcy in the center of chaos.

The action sequences are excellent.

Daredevil is a force to be reckoned with. He has hypersenses that are so strong he can almost literally see. Those senses combined with the boxing skills his late father passed down to him make him borderline unstoppable, and the hand-to-hand combat scenes are intense, impeccably choreographed, and surprisingly violent.

It's fun to watch if you love other Marvel blockbusters.

Because the story picks up in New York City (Hell's Kitchen, to be exact) after the epic battle that goes down in The Avengers, there are references to characters and events from Marvel movies. For the casual viewer, it's nice to know how it ties into the universe, but for diehards, there are plenty of Easter eggs to discover. With Jessica Jones (a character who is closely connected to Daredevil in the comics) coming up as Netflix's next collaboration with Marvel, you can bet there will be some references to her in season two. Can we dare hope for a crossover?