Daredevil: How to Craft PERFECT Antagonists (Video Essay)

This show isn’t appreciated enough compared to the amount of effort it put to staying true to its origins, making great analysis like these really that much better

This is why Daredevil is great: I see the theme of the whole show as Morality. How antagonists view it, how side characters view it, but most importantly Matt's morality itself and his morality being challenged by the antagonists and each season seeing that challenge brought up in a new way and watching as the show progresses, Matt does seem to be slipping to the dark side, but still persists to not be the killer, to do the right thing, no matter how hard it feels.

It's about time somebody talks about Dex.

Too many Daredevil essays? If you ask me, there's not enough!! This is the best superhero show on any network, I wish there were more creators like you who want to dive deep and oncover the many layers this show offers! Consider me subscribed for this one my dude 🤙

Machuw: I won't talk about Bullseye as much here. Also Machuw: talks about him for like four minutes xD

The moment he said that Agatha wasn't a good antagonist, he gained one more subscriber(The only reason agatha felt relevant as a character was because Kathryn hahn is just a great actress)

That discussion with Punisher is one od the greatest scenes of the show. But he wasn't villian, he was more like traumatized antihero.

The 'pure evil' villain has to have the charisma and writing to back them up. If we don't get to see them chewing on the scenery, or get to watch them crack, they fall flat. Hence Agatha not being that great. They got like one thing right (deeply selfish motivation). [Red explains it better in her Trope Talks over on OSP]

the fact wilson fisk doesnt have special 'powers' make shim more better as an antagonist. i really like powerful villains, when they dont actually have like superpowers because it shows that not all villains need powers to beat a hero, they use their mindsets etc

I love Bullseye so much in this show! He's the one that I relate to the most (among the villains). Love and acceptance are a big deal, and they can change people. And I genuinely felt sorry for him because of the hand that life dealt him.

also about the scene of the argument.i love how daredevil frees himself instead of unwillingly shooting frank. in the comic it shows how matt is more malleable than he says or think he is.but here he not taking franks bs.which is nice seeing the heros conviction being able to surpass diffculties

I think an amazing scene for Bullseye would be a parallel between Daredevil and the Punisher's rooftop conversation. Only this time, Matt is the one holding someone prisoner. Matt refuses to kill Bullseye but for whatever reason has no other way to contain him at that moment (like leaving him for the cops to find). His only way out is to get through to Dex mentally in order to recruit him as a temporary ally. The audience would see a chance for this because the pair kind of worked together once before, when Matt unleashed him on Fisk. He could try to convince Dex that there's enough good in the world to fight for as a direct contrast to Frank trying to convince Matt that no one is worth redeeming. The end of the scene would also be both contrast and parallel. The clock finishes ticking and Bullseye breaks loose, only despite Matt's efforts, Dex is even more broken than before, nearly killing Matt and massacring everyone in the vicinity.

I think a reason as to why frank and Fisk are liked is because they have not only believable but justifiable reasons for doing what they do. Frank takes his anger out on the crime of New York due to the death of his family, he’s fuelled by rage and revenge but does want to make the streets safer. Fisk is a childish man with broken past but also has a mature, rationale and intellectual side to him that takes the forefront of how he acts to others, but now and again his mask slips, but even through all his trauma and pain he still strives to make the city a better place, in his own way of course

How many superheroes are known for what they cant do ??? ~ Frank Miller

I love Daredevil. It's one of my favourite fictional stories I've ever experienced. Even though I love the series is so amazing I do think that there shouldn't be any more seasons. Why? Because from the conclusion of Season 3 I believe that the show's quality has peaked and the arc of Matthew Murdock was complete. The ending of season 3 was the most satisfying ending possible as we actually see Matt get an happy ending with Foggy and Karen and I wouldn't want that ending to be sacrificed as the pain and suffering which the character had endured deserves a happy ending. I also find it much more poetic in a way having Wilson Fisk be the villan of the overall series. Does this mean I don't want to see Charlie Cox's Matthew Murdock again? HELL NO. By this I only want Matt to appear as a secondary character to support other characters like he should be in No Way Home but of course they are probably just going to rush into the Spider-Verse. Random side notes but having Matt fighting in different identities in each of the 3 hallway fight sequences is such a great detail. Aswell as each season empathising 1 of the 3 core components of Matt Murdock Season 1 Hallway fight as the Vigilante Season 2 Hallway Fight as Daredevil Season 3 Hallway Fight as Matt Murdock Season 1: The Law Season 2: HeriosmViglantism Season 3: Faith/Relgion

That DD background theme muah!

"You are one bad day away from being me," Punisher. This line resonated in my head throughout season 3 when Matt determines he needs to kill Fisk, when Bullseye appears as the mirror image of Daredevil who kills, and when Matt finally gets the chance to kill Fisk. I wanted to see him kill Bullseye or Fisk so bad but I'm constantly reminded that he cannot.

I also am going through that DD withdrawal so thank u for this little Daredevil fix. I pretty much 100% agree with this, Daredevil did not miss with its villains, and I also liked how you touched on how each villain is introduced at a time in Matt's story to better parallel what Matt's going through at that point in his life. Yeah, the Disney+ Marvel villains have been.... ehhhhhh so far. Like, when John Walker was first introduced, I thought his storyline would take a Dex trajectory (and if you've seen the most recent episode, YEPPPP), with Lemar being a north star to him in the way that Julie was to Dex. But what makes John weaker compared to Dex imo is that before Julie was killed by Fisk, we as the viewers (or at least myself) were genuinely unsure as to whether Dex would continue his descent into villainy or if Julie could help him get better (or we genuinely wanted him to get better - I don't see anyone genuinely rooting for John's betterment), and there was tension in that. With John Walker, at least by episode 3, we (or again, at least me) could be confident that he was already on an unstoppable downward trajectory that he would've reached regardless; Lemar's death was just the catalyst that sped it up. Personally, I would rather John had the more gradual, Dex-like descent as oppose to his buddy's death pushing him over the edge. Sorry, mini rant over. You're completely right tho about the first 4 episodes of season 2, Frank Castle's my favorite DD antagonist by far and New York's Finest is my favorite episode, it's just chef's kiss Also, you could literally post a DD video essay every single day and I would never get tired of it tbh

I love every single point you made about this show, this is literally my favourite show of all time and it’s just a total crime that this show got canceled.

Fisk is one of the best villains I’ve ever seen. It’s crazy how they could even make me root for him sometimes! And I loved the visuals in the show of the wall Fisk stared at as a kid, the picture Vanessa painted, and the prison wall.