‘Daredevil’ Showrunner Addresses Absence Of The Punisher & Defenders

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In a recent interview, Daredevil showrunner Erik Oleson addressed the absence of The Punisher and Daredevil’s fellow Defenders in the show’s latest season.

While talking with ComicBook.com, Oleson addressed why he didn’t invovle his allies. According to Oleson, it was because, from a character stand point, Daredevil/Matt Murdock felt that Wilson Fisk was his responsibility and not his allies.

Well, there’s a number of reasons. There’s the story reason of that Matt feels that it is his responsibility that Fisk’s release in large part is on him for not having taken care of it the first time around, or the second time around. And so Matt Murdock is determined to right the wrongs that he himself set in motion.

He also, in a kind of a spiritual way, feels like God is speaking to him and is putting in front of him a raison d’etre, a reason to keep going and to keep existing after his heartbreaking life turn at the end of Defenders, where he walked out of the building, Elektra did not. And in episode one of this season, Matt essentially attempts suicide by thug. So he has spiritual and emotional reasons for why he doesn’t call in the Defenders.

Such a sentiment is echoed in the first few episodes of the season. While Daredevil does not explicitly drop the names of his fellow Defenders, he certainly implies that he is the only one who can and should take on Fisk. This, however, did not stop him from giving a more practical explanation from a film making perspective. According to Oleson, having the Defenders involved would have cut out a lot of the drama:

Then there’s the kind of meta writerly reason why I didn’t want to do that, and if one of the basic rules of great drama writing is that your protagonist must be out gunned by the agonist or else there’s no dramatic tension. If Matt can simply call Luke Cage and Jessica Jones and Danny Rand to come in and beat these other villains, your dramatic structure is lopsided. It becomes boring. It’s like suddenly the heroes have all the power and the villain is outgunned, and that becomes a major impediment to telling a great story. So that’s the other reason we did it, truthfully.

From the sound of things, having the Defenders involved would have cut out a lot of the dramatic tension.

What do you all make of this? Could Daredevil used a few more Defenders allies in this latest season or is Oleson right and would it have cut out all the tension? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Here is the plot synopsis for the latest season:

Missing for months, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) reemerges a broken man, putting into question his future as both vigilante Daredevil and lawyer Matthew Murdock. But when his archenemy Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) is released from prison, Matt must choose between hiding from the world, or embracing his destiny as a hero.

Daredevil season 3 stars Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Wilson Bethel, Jay Ali, and Lesley Ann Warren.

Daredevil season 3 is now available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Comicbook.com

Trey Griffeth

Trey Griffeth

Lover of video games, comics, and movies! Writer of all things that involve them!