Possibilities for ‘Daredevil’ Season 2 And What It Could Mean For ‘The Defenders’

(Caution: spoilers ahead for season 1 of Daredevil)

Matt Murdock, the scarlet-clad hero with the devil horns, will return to the fictional streets of Hell’s Kitchen sooner than originally expected. Yesterday Daredevil was renewed for a second 13-episode season to air in 2016.

The announcement of a second season just two weeks after all of Daredevil‘s first season hit Netflix isn’t at all shocking considering the amount of love it received from fans and critics alike.

The people have spoken. #Daredevil https://t.co/Nyox6dVaZk

— Daredevil (@Daredevil) April 20, 2015

The question is, what does this renewal do to Marvel’s plans for building up to an Avengers-like combination of multiple superheroes in The Defenders. Marvel and Netflix’s original idea was to develop each of the four separate superheroes, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, in their own 13-episode runs and then have them come together for an 8-episode season of TheDefenders. With this proposal agreed upon by all the higher-ups, it seemed assured that no single superhero would move into a second season until after everyone had come together for The Defenders. But now, all bets are off.

If nothing else, the news of a second season for Daredevil shows Marvel’s willingness to feed into what’s working for their universe, rather than stubbornly holding on to one specific strategy.

Netflix’s part in the equation certainly helps with the flexibility. If you just look at the first season of Daredevil you can see the major difference between it and the other Marvel entities on the small screen, like Agent Carter or Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil takes its time. Especially with Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (though he’s not referred by that name at all in the first season of Daredevil), who they simply build by word of mouth from the other characters until his appearance at the end of the third episode, “Rabbit in a Snowstorm.” They then devote episode 8 “Shadows in the Glass” to his backstory, making him sympathetic and more nuanced than your average mustache-twirling villain.

IGN sat down with Steven DeKnight, before the news of the renewal hit and his exit as showrunner, to discuss the major plot points of Daredevil‘s first season, as well as drop hints about what storylines may be explored in the future.

“Being the first show out of this 60 hour experiment that Marvel’s doing, I wanted to lay some groundwork. Whether or not that grows into something bigger, we’ll have to see as the other shows progress. But obviously the Steel Serpent [Madame Gao’s heroin logo], is a nod to Iron Fist, and that world, which is coming up. I really wanted to try and weave in as much as I could the feel of the other shows. There’s nothing I could really do at this point with Jessica Jones or Luke Cage, but with some of the Iron Fist mythology, it felt natural to be able to drop that in.”

Marvel’s #Daredevil? confirmed for a second Netflix? series – but what does it mean for The Defenders? http://t.co/Ol8Qq8vVIQ

— Total Film (@totalfilm) April 22, 2015

So who might show up in Hell’s Kitchen to help, or hurt, Matt Murdock in the second season of Daredevil? Speaking to SciFiNow, DeKnight talked about the possibilities for characters to bring in to future seasons.

“There are so many stories to tell. The Hand, Elektra, Bullseye… with a 13 episode arc, you don’t have to rush it, you can explore. That’s not to say we are going to do Bullseye and Elektra but it’s on the radar.”

All three may have, at least, been referred to in Daredevil. Nobu, the Japanese ninja in the red costume who almost succeeds in killing Daredevil in episode 9 “Speak of the Devil,” could very well be a member of the Hand, a group heavily involved in corruption and the occult. Elektra may be the girl Foggy refers to when he teases Matt about a Greek girl he took a Spanish course to get to know in a flashback in episode 10 “Nelson v Murdock.” And rumors have been circulating across the Internet that the sharpshooter who takes out Detective Blake in episode 6 “Condemned” is none other than popular villain, Bullseye.

@Daredevil@stevendeknight Is Bullseye? #AskDeKnightpic.twitter.com/OdofsSdZeX

— Agent of MARVEL (@AgentedeMARVEL) April 22, 2015

But whatever they end up exploring in season 2 and however that’s going to affect The Defenders, a second season of Daredevil next year can only be a good thing.

[Image via tomandlorenzo]