Last week we got a first glimpse at the much awaited second season of Daredevil. The trailer was a visceral look at the acts of vengeance by the Punisher on Hell’s Kitchen and ended with a tease of another adversary Daredevil will have to face, Elektra, and a promise that the second trailer would land today.
And landed it has. Depicting the other end of Daredevil’s fight, the trailer gave us new glimpses at the larger threat Daredevil will eventually have to face. It’s all ninjas, swords and Elektra with this one, and I am once again here to break all of it down for you.
“Would you believe it if I said I missed you?”
“No.”
Picking up where the last trailer left off, we see Elektra make an attempt to get close at her former flame as Matt shuts her down. We of course quickly learn that there’s more to her visitation than just flirting. Some serious trouble is coming and she needs the help of her ex-lover.
“I need your help Matthew. You’re the only person I could trust.”
“Well sweetheart, you don’t break into my house and then talk to me about trust.”
A fantastic line smugly delivered by the charming Charlie Cox. It’s a hint of their dynamic-to-be that is incredibly reminiscent of the dynamic Daredevil and Elektra had in the comics. Elektra is a sly conniving woman while Matt is a dude who’s been around and seen the true face of Elektra but can’t seem to shake her charm off.
“What do you want from me?”
“You fight better than anyone I know.”
This line means that we will likely have callbacks to their college day romps wherein they trained together nonstop and banged nonstop. Such scenes can read in Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear comic book.
“I have information. The Yakuza never left.”
“That’s impossible. I drove them out of New York city”
“No you didn’t. They just all hibernated and watched you take out all their enemies.”
And we’re given hints of the eventual payoff from the seeds planted early on in the show’s first season. As some of you may remember, one of Wilson Fisk’s allies was a Japanese man named Nobu; a person whom Matt believed was a part of the Yakuza. Matt’s sensei Stick was quick to remind Matthew that are forces more powerful than the Yakuza in play. And we all know what happened to that Nobu fellow.
The enemies Elektra refers to could be a number of things. For one, it could be someone Daredevil encounters early in Season 2. Or it could be Wilson Fisk himself. We all saw how pretty much all of Fisk’s allies despised him and looked to him as the problem to their operation. With Fisk out of the way, it’s high time for his enemies to make their move.
“And now New York is ripe for the taking.”
“If we do this, nobody dies. Do you understand?”
And we’re treated to a fantastic brief fight sequence. Looking straight out of the comics, we see a Daredevil stealthily deliver some punches from above as Elektra ninjas her way into the room. We also get a clear look at the improved Daredevil costume we saw from the last trailer.
Also that Dogs of Hell biker bar in the trailer shares the same name with the biker bar Lorelei crashes in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season one. It probably means nothing, but its a fun nod nonetheless.
“Every time I walk up those stairs, I wonder if today is the day your dead in your living room.”
“There are horrible things happening to this city. I’m done apologizing to you for who I am.”
Angry Foggy is a Daredevil staple. It won’t be the same if we don’t get any moment where Foggy is mad at Matthew for what he does. It’s become of a trope in the Daredevil comics and I welcome it in this second series. Also that scene where Matt leaves Foggy behind strongly reminds me of this cover.
“This city needs me.”
“This isn’t your city anymore!”
One of things people love to point out in the previous season is how they constantly refer to their neighborhood as a city. I have a feeling it’ll be the same for this one. Claire’s great though. I also do wonder if that last line refers to Claire’s experience in dealing with more meta-humans than previously because the last time we saw her, she was hanging out with Luke and Jessica. Two of Daredevil’s future team mates.
“My way isn’t working. What if it never has?”
“The battle has begun Matthew. There’s nothing we can do but fight.”
We cut to a stand off scene set in a rooftop; most likely this set photo that was leaked a couple of months back. The scene is said to involve Daredevil, Elektra and Punisher himself as they take on a horde of ninjas. Speaking of ninjas..
“They’re called the Hand.”
We’ve known they were coming for sometime and now they’re here. I absolutely lost it when it got to this moment. My favorite episode in all of Season 1 is the episode where Stick shows up. That episode for me is what brings it all together; the larger-than-life ninja mythology and the gritty realism. This moment in the trailer just seals the deal for me.
“You cannot stop what we have started. The Rising is coming.”
There are so many things to talk about in this part of the trailer. I’ll save all of them for last.
More ninja goodness courtesy of the The Hand. It is just fantastic that we’re getting a side of the MCU we haven’t seen.
Quite possibly taking its cue from the boundaries that were pushed by Jessica Jones, this season of Daredevil will now also feature some moments of sensuality. It also seems like these two are going at it in the same boxing ring Battlin’ Jack trained. That totally isn’t weird at all.
To bookend the trailer, we get a killer shot of what seem to be the seeds for a future improvement in Daredevil’s equipment; the cable in his billy clubs. It’s a nice surprising add on to the character that I’d never thought they’d do given how grounded their approach to the costume was. Great end to the trailer!
Noteworthy Mentions
Is Nobu Back From The Dead? – one of the most fascinating things in this trailer is the appearance of a weapon that is too familiar for us Daredevil fans and an unmasking that is too peculiar to brush off. The death of Nobu in episode 9 is a significant moment in Matt Murdock’s journey to becoming Daredevil because not only was Nobu the first difficult adversary he went up against, but also the first person that dies at the hand of Daredevil. Given how Season 2 is pretty much about Daredevil struggling with the moral choices laid in front of him, it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts seeing a resurrected Nobu. Plus, Nobu coming back from the dead is a total Hand move.
What Is Up With That Giant Pit? – Another fascinating moment in the trailer. We see a huge excavated pit leading down to presumably the depths of Hell’s Kitchen. An educated guess would be that the pit was dug by the Hand. Nobu spends most of Season 1 trying to score the land that Elena Cardenas’ tenement happens to be on top of, probably to create something like this. Why they create something like this is anyone’s guess. It could be the foundation to build Shadowland on, your average tunnel, or maybe a pit to do mystical rituals in, which brings me to the next point.
What Is The Rising They Refer to? – In the comics, there is an entity that the Hand refers to as The Beast. Think of it as their divine leader or a being that they worship, if you will. Throughout the years, Daredevil and Elektra have come across this entity, with the most recent being Daredevil’s possession during Shadowland. Now, The Rising could be a number of things other than the Beast, but given the Hand’s prominent presence in the season, a foray into occult mysticism shouldn’t be discounted. We did have Black Sky last season.
Frank Castle’s Look – Something I found so interesting in the trailer is how different the Punisher looks in this trailer compared to the first one. We see Jon Bernthal in the first trailer with a shaved head. He ties Daredevil up in chains and gives him a lecture on being a half measure with a shaved head. Yet in this trailer, we see Jon Bernthal with a thicker head of hair and a white skull to go with it.
Why am I so caught up about his hair? It’s because that change in appearance indicates the passage of time. Even in the first trailer, majority of the shots that featured Daredevil had him wearing the cracked black face plate. All the Daredevil scenes in this trailer has him wearing the improved red one. The fact that Jon Bernthal has the thicker head of hair and the fact that Daredevil has a new costume as he faces the hand means that all this Hand/Elektra stuff could happen late in the series and that Season 2 can essentially be split into two parts.
