The Best Fight Scenes From 'Marvel’s Daredevil'

Beyond the fascinating characters and tightly woven drama of “Marvel’s Daredevil,” its fight scenes rank as some of the very best on TV. Gritty and realistic, they’ve impressed a legion of viewers with every punch, kick, and headbutt.

To celebrate the recent debut of “Marvel’s Daredevil” Season 3 on Netflix, we’ve gathered together a list of our favorite fight scenes from all three seasons of the show so far, but fair warning: Reliving these fights may cause some aches and pains. 

Spoilers follow for all three seasons of “Marvel’s Daredevil”! 

SEASON 1

That Hallway Scene (Episode Two, “Cut Man”) – The set-up’s simple: Russian thugs set a trap for the vigilante of Hell’s Kitchen by kidnapping and holding a young boy as bait. Matt Murdock took that bait, but brought his strength, stamina, and tenacity with him. For nearly three minutes this fight ebbs and flows down a single corridor and in and out of rooms along it as Matt whales on gangsters over and over again. The men seem out of it, but then pick themselves up to take their licks again, while Matt exhaustion oozes off the screen. He never gives up until the battle’s won, though, and we can’t look away for a second.

Stick-Up (Episode Seven, “Stick”) – Matt’s mentor and trainer Stick shows up, but angers the blind attorney by announcing he’s killed a boy who might be the infamous “Black Sky.” The fight destroys nearly every stick of Matt’s furniture and it seems like the old man’s got the upper hand, until his former pupil picks up a, yeah, stick and gains the edge on him. Ultimately, Stick tries to choke Matt, but doesn’t realize the student’s finally grown past the teacher. Matt wins and then tells his mentor turned opponent to get out of his city. Period.

What a Drag (Episode Nine, “Speak of the Devil”) – Japanese warrior Nobu hit town to pave the way for the Black Sky, but gained an enemy in the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Murdock confronts him in a warehouse and impresses Nobu with his talent for fighting, but the warrior whips up a storm with his kyoketsu-shogeweapon and having planted its edge in Matt’s back, proceeds to drag him across the floor with it. Somehow, our hero gets his second wind one spark and a pool of flammable liquid later and Nobu’s a human briquette. End fight.

Knocking Down Fisk (Episode Thirteen, “Daredevil”) – It all led up to this, the final showdown between Daredevil and Wilson Fisk. Unlike some of the series’ previous battles, this one rolls out with little finesse, at least on Fisk’s part. The big man’s on the run and angry over the loss of “his” city when he runs into his nemesis in an alleyway. Matt’s his usual martial arts-boxing self, but the Kingpin’s a rage machine, throwing punches like a drunken sailor and bellowing a lot. He’s too wild, too undisciplined at that moment, and he goes down hardunder the punishing fists of the Man Without Fear.

SEASON 2

Punishing Blows (Episode Two, “Dogs to a Gunfight”)– Daredevil’s onto the new vigilante in town, Frank Castle, and there’s no way a fight’s not going to break out. The two seem evenly matched, but under a hail of police sniper bullets, Castle one-ups Murdock and sends him crashing through a skylight from the rooftop they’ve been fighting on. Down below, both men try to grab a few precious breaths, but Daredevil took a worse pounding and everything goes up while he goes down.

That Stairwell Fight (Episode Three, “New York’s Finest”) – Thought they couldn’t top that hallway fight from Season 1, huh? Well, this one begins in a hallway, too, with Daredevil fighting a small army of gang members with nothing but an empty gun duct-taped to his hand and a chain. The battle quickly shifts to a stairwell and in one long shot, our hero fights his way down the stairs, tumbling and punching up a storm. At the bottom, a flickering red light accentuates a devil who’s had enough of thugs for a long, long while.

Eight Guys in Orange (Episode Nine, “Seven Minutes in Heaven”) – Frank Castle, now known as “The Punisher,” ends up in prison and under a death sentence by the also-incarcerated Wilson Fisk. Paid-off guards open cell doors and angry prisoners bear down on Castle like a swarm of bees. In stark white, Frank man-ups and chops a path through them with a knife and his fists, even pausing long enough to gouge out an eye here and there. The brutal battle ends with eight dead guys in orange and a much bloodied Punisher.

Something About Rooftops (Episode Thirteen, “A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen”) – Daredevil and Elektra and Nobu and the Hand. What did you think would happen? The final fight of the season proceeds almost like a dance as Murdock and Elektra whirl and twirl with their opponents, throwing kicks and punches left and right as they struggle to save their very lives against a man, Nobu, who came back from death itself. Matt loses his scuffle with Nobu and just as he’s about to feel his opponent’s blade, Elektra takes the killing blow, leaving a grieving Matt -- with a timely assist from Frank Castle -- to face his enemy once more. 

SEASON 3

That Prison Scene (Episode Four, “Blindsided”) – Faced with the daunting prospect of outdoing the epic fight scenes from the two previous seasons, “Marvel’s Dardevil” Season 3 Executive Producer/Showrunner Erik Oleson and his collaborators pulled out all stops with a prison sequence that excels in so many ways. Matt Murdock gains illicit access to a prisoner to question him, but ends up a target of Wilson Fisk. Fisk sends a small army of men after Murdock, first in the form of a nurse with a syringe, then several prisoners, and finally a duo of riot gear-garbed guards, all on Fisk’s payroll. The scene plays out in a continuous shot  -- lasting nearly 12 minutes! -- with Matt fighting for his life in the prison’s sickbay, down a corridor, and eventually into the not-so-tender arms of Albanian gangsters. It all explodes from there into a full-blown prison riot with our hero right in the middle of it, bloodied, bruised, and bewildered, but dead-set on escaping to continue in his planned takedown of Fisk. 

The Battle of the Bulletin (Episode Six, “The Devil You Know”) – Can a man fight himself? Matt Murdock gives it the old college try when fallen FBI Agent Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter dresses up like Daredevil by command of Wilson Fisk and invades the New York Bulletin offices to stop an ex-con from spilling his guts about Fisk. At first the two Daredevils seem evenly matched as they trade blows in the darkened space, but the faux hero begins to use everything he lays his hands on as throwing weapons and his deadly accuracy turns the tide. Matt goes down defeated with a pair of scissors stuck in his chest and Dex marches to his mission endgame: the cold killing of the snitch.

Holy Terror (Episode Ten, “Karen”) – Karen hides out in a church and brings a holy terror down upon it in the form of Agent Poindexter dressed as Daredevil. Matt Murdock’s there, too, and goes in with fists blazing, taking on his rival point-blank to stop him from murdering Karen. The battle’s fierce and the pews take a beating, but poor Father Lantom takes the worst of it, dying after he leaps in front of a billy club Dex hurls at Karen. When Dex pursues Karen into the choir loft and Matt fails to stop the false Daredevil, it falls to Karen to see to it that Dex takes a fall to the floor far below.

In Final Combat (Episode Thirteen, “A New Napkin”) – At the end of Season 3, the viewer expects a final showdown—but between who? High up in Wilson Fisk’s penthouse, Matt as Daredevil confronts Dex as Daredevil, while both confront Fisk as well. It’s the true definition of a Battle Royale, with all three men trading blows until Matt’s temporarily stunned and Fisk ends Dex’s rampage by brutally breaking his back. Then, the two old enemies face each other and blood and fists fly until the big, bald man’s on the ropes and the one, true Daredevil exacts a promise from his enemy: stay away from Karen Page and Foggy Nelson or Fisk’s beloved new wife, Vanessa, pays the price. One bloody handshake on the deal later and Matt leaves Fisk to the tender mercies of the police…

"Marvel’s Daredevil” Season 1, 2, and 3 are now streaming on Netflix!

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