List of Daredevil characters

Main cast members (L-R) Cox, Woll, Henson, Bernthal, and Yung at the 2015 New York Comic Con.

Daredevil is an American web television series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is the first in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. The series stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, as well as Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Toby Leonard Moore, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Bob Gunton, and Ayelet Zurer join them for the first season, while Jon Bernthal, Élodie Yung, and Stephen Rider join them for the second. In addition to original characters, several other characters based on various Marvel properties also appear throughout the series.

Overview

Key:

     = Does not appear / is not yet confirmed to appear

Character	Portrayed by	Appearances
		First	Season 1	Season 2
Main characters
Matt Murdock Daredevil	Charlie Cox	"Into the Ring"	Main
Karen Page	Deborah Ann Woll		Main
Foggy Nelson	Elden Henson		Main
James Wesley	Toby Leonard Moore		Main
Ben Urich	Vondie Curtis-Hall	"Rabbit in a Snowstorm"	Main
Leland Owlsley	Bob Gunton	"Into the Ring"	Main
Vanessa Marianna	Ayelet Zurer	"Rabbit in a Snowstorm"	Main
Claire Temple	Rosario Dawson	"Cut Man"	Main
Wilson Fisk Kingpin	Vincent D'Onofrio	"Into the Ring"	Main	Main
Frank Castle Punisher	Jon Bernthal	"Bang"		Main
Elektra Natchios	Élodie Yung	"Penny and Dime"		Main
Blake Tower	Stephen Rider	"Dogs to a Gunfight"		Main
Recurring characters
Lantom	Peter McRobbie	"Into the Ring"	Recurring	Guest
Turk Barrett	Rob Morgan		Recurring	Guest
Brett Mahoney	Royce Johnson		Recurring
Carl Hoffman	Daryl Edwards		Recurring
Christian Blake	Chris Tardio		Recurring
Gao	Wai Ching Ho		Recurring	Guest
Nobu Yoshioka	Peter Shinkoda		Recurring
Vladimir Ranskahov	Nikolai Nikolaeff		Recurring
Josie	Susan Varon	"Cut Man"	Recurring
Doris Urich	Adriane Lenox	"Rabbit in a Snowstorm"	Recurring
Mitchell Ellison	Geoffrey Cantor		Recurring
Shirley Benson	Suzanne H. Smart		Guest
Elena Cardenas	Judith Delgado	"World on Fire"	Recurring
Marci Stahl	Amy Rutberg		Recurring	Guest
Stick	Scott Glenn	"Stick"	Guest	Recurring
Francis	Tom Walker	"Shadows in the Glass"	Recurring
Melvin Potter	Matt Gerald		Guest
Samantha Reyes	Michelle Hurd	"Dogs to a Gunfight"		Recurring
Louisa Delgado	Marilyn Torres	"New York's Finest"		Recurring
Hirochi	Ron Nakahara	"Kinbaku"		Recurring
Stan Gibson	John Pirkis			Recurring

• ^A For his first appearance in the second season at the end of "Guilty as Sin", D'Onofrio was credited as a "Special Guest Star" in the end credits, though he had main billing for his subsequent appearances in the season.

Main characters

Matt Murdock / Daredevil

Further information: Daredevil (Marvel Comics)

Matt Murdock (portrayed by Charlie Cox) was blinded in a car accident as a child, which heightened his other senses. Approached by the elderly and blind ninja Stick, Murdock trains to hone his senses so he can 'see' using them, and also learns martial arts, with Stick wanting a soldier for his secret war. Stick leaves Murdock when he realizes that the boy wants a father figure, and Murdock eventually attends Columbia University School of Law. Meeting Foggy Nelson, the two graduate and intern at the law firm Landman and Zack, but Murdock grows uncomfortable with the firm's lack of morals, just as he begins to take vigilante action against those he knows the law cannot prosecute. Murdock and Nelson decide to start their own law firm, and through their first client, Karen Page become embroiled in the politics of post Incident Hell's Kitchen. Murdock and his allies are able to take down crime lord Wilson Fisk using the law, and when Fisk escapes custody, Murdock defeats him as the vigilante, who is christened 'Daredevil' by the media.

At the end of May 2014, Cox was cast as Murdock. The idea of casting Cox as Daredevil came from Marvel's Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada in 2012, before Marvel Studios gained the rights to the character from 20th Century Fox. Cox wanted to be involved with the series after reading the first two scripts for the series, telling his agent "These are two of the best TV scripts I've read". Season one showrunner Steven DeKnight stated that "He's not super strong. He's not invulnerable. In every aspect, he's a man that's just pushed himself to the limits, he just has senses that are better than a normal human's. He is human." On the character's "grey" morals, he said, "He's a lawyer by day, and he's taken this oath. But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things. I really liked the flawed heroes, the human heroes." The character's Catholicism plays a large role in the series, with DeKnight calling him "one of the most, if not the most, religious characters in the Marvel Universe". Cox, who was raised Catholic, found that helpful, saying, "You grow up steeped in that. If you’re in church, standing in front of the altar, you sort of automatically know how to respond. It all kicks in – you genuflect, you sit in the pew. I didn’t have to pretend any of that.” On how the name Daredevil is revealed in the series, DeKnight explained that "We talked about, do we do one of the versions in the comics where when he was a kid people used to taunt him with the name Daredevil, but that didn’t quite feel like our world. At one point we were going to have Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall) give him the name, but the timing wasn’t right from where he’s in his black outfit and then gets his suit, which is after Ben’s untimely demise. There was something technically tricky of somebody actually saying the words, “Hey you’re some kind of Daredevil.” The solution was to play that off-screen and then hit it in the paper that he’s been given this name Daredevil." Skylar Gaertner plays a young Matt Murdock.

Matt Murdock disguised himself at night. One might say he also disguised himself during the day. Dark glasses or a mask always cover his eyes. The two looks have nothing in common on the face of it. However, consider that both are “uniforms” --practical, functional, and protective. Matt maintains a professional distance dressed as attorney. His vigilante uniform does much the same, although in disguise. He does his best not to get involved with the people he helps or who help him, with limited degrees of success.

Costume designer Stephanie Maslansky on the ideas behind Murdock's lawyer and vigilante costumes.

Murdock's suits are differentiated more by texture than color, with a limited palette, "Because, obviously, he can’t see his colors, but he has to know anything he chooses is going to coordinate with one another." Cox's size changed throughout the series as he continued to work out. For Murdock's sunglasses, Maslansky worked with series prop master Michael Jortner to make something that had to "be correct for this current, modern date and it also had to pay homage to what was familiar to fans". Close to 100 different versions of the prop were created for Cox to try.

Murdock begins the season wearing a black costume (called the "vigilante outfit" by production), inspired by the one worn by the character in Frank Miller's The Man Without Fear, rather than the more traditional red, horned suit. This was done to highlight the formation of Matt Murdock as Daredevil, with the costume evolving over time as the character develops. Quesada conceptualized the look based on DeKnight's specifications. Maslansky noted that they wanted the outfit to "look like something that Matt Murdock could put together himself, that he could either order off the Internet or shop around town. ... I went to army/navy stores. I went online. I looked at athletic clothing, compression clothing, military stuff and construction stuff....we wound up with pretty practical choices for him. His shirts are compression shirts and his pants wound up being from an army/navy store" Concerning the black mask, Maslansky noted that a balance between aesthetic and safety was required, and that "It’s made out of a cotton mesh. Layers and layers of it. It has to really conform to his head, but at the same time, he had to be able to see through it."

On the red suit that Murdock gets at the end of the first season, Maslansky said, "We wanted something that looked militaristic and functional, but also dramatic and sexy" adding that it was "tricky" making it practical. To begin the process of creating the suit, Quesada contacted Ryan Meinerding and the costume artists and design team at Marvel Studios, who all contributed design ideas, with one of Meinerding's ultimately being picked. Quesada, who previously worked as an artist on Daredevil comics, gave several suggestions, including the use of rivets and "architectural" shapes as a reference to the creation of New York City. The suit is intended to look like a Kevlar vest, and the black sections are an homage to comic panels where the artists highlighted certain areas with red, with "deeper portions" in shadow. On the mask, Meinerding noted the difficulty in designing the entire top half of a face that is intended to match the bottom half of an actor's face, "because half of his face has to be covered and has its own expression and the actor’s face is going to be doing something else". For the billy clubs used by Daredevil in the series, which were designed by Andy Park, "There was a discussion early in the process, because Charlie Cox [and his stunt double] Chris Brewster are both right handed, of having the billy clubs holster on the right leg. But Daredevil wears those billy clubs on the left hand side. So while it would have been easier to place the holster on the right we all felt that we had to keep to the classic profile and keep them on the left."

Talking about why the traditional 'DD' doesn't appear on Murdock's red suit, and other difficulties with adapting the suit to live action, DeKnight explained that "he got the suit before he got the name. We talked a lot about DD on the suit, which is one of the more problematic emblems in superhero-dom. It’s a little wonky. His suit in the comics is very difficult to translate to screen, especially in this world that is grounded and gritty. There are some practical difficulties. The Daredevil outfit in the comics, his mask only covers half his nose. It doesn’t come all the way down to the tip. We discovered when we were trying to design it that if you didn’t bring it all the way down, you could clearly tell it was Charlie. Not only did we have the suspension of belief that nobody would know “hey, that’s Matt Murdock” we also had the practical problem of it becoming almost impossible when it came to switching in and out our stunt double. So we had to make that adjustment."

There was this issue of Daredevil, near the end of [writer-artist] Frank Miller's run. Our hero is fighting with a professional assassin named Bullseye, on a wire. The bad guy starts to fall; Daredevil catches him. He has him by the hand, high above the city....and then he decides to let him go. Daredevil drops him to his death—or what he thinks is his death—because he doesn't ever want this guy to kill again. I remember reading that when I was a kid and thinking, Oh my god. When we started working on our show, that scene from the comics kept coming up. We all thought, this is a hero who is one bad day away from permanently crossing a line.

Steven S. DeKnight on the version of Daredevil that he wanted to create.

On portraying the character, Cox said, "There are so many aspects. There’s the blindness and physicality. Making a show is about human emotion, conflict and turmoil. When meeting a man who's a lawyer by day and believes in law and justice and then a man by night is someone who takes the law into his own hands. He deals with battles dealing with that concept." Elaborating on the difficulties of playing the character, Cox said, "I put on a shirt but I can't look where the buttons are, because Daredevil wouldn't know where the buttons are, but I also can't fumble." Cox worked with blind consultant Joe Strechay, and was conscious of what his eyes were doing at all times, to ensure they would not look at or react to something unlike a blind person. Cox later explained that, unlike the Marvel comic book character, his version of Daredevil would not be a "man without fear", saying "Someone who does not have fear – literally does not experience fear – is not that interesting. The way I like to think about it is that he is a man with fear, but he on a daily basis decides to confront that fear and to overcome it. So the title of 'the man without fear' is almost a title that the public in his world gives him just because of what he does. But inside himself, he's very afraid at times. And he finds a way to confront those fears and punch through it." Cox "had to do a lot of gym work" to change his physique to equal that of the more muscular character as drawn in the comics.

With the introduction of Elektra in season two, Loeb talked about how Élodie Yung's portrayal of the character, with which "you never quite know if Elektra’s telling you the truth", would affect Murdock, saying, "Matt, who has this sort of ability to be a human lie detector, because he’s emotionally attached to her, it skews his ability to be able to know whether or not she’s telling the truth or he’s being manipulated, or is she actually not manipulating him? That kind of interaction, and I think the natural emotion that was going on between Charlie and Elodie that we captured on film, added a great deal of spark to it."

Karen Page

Further information: Karen Page

Karen Page (portrayed by Deborah Ann Woll) discovers corruption in her place of employment, Union Allied, and is subsequently framed for murder, and then subject of attempted murder, with Murdock and Nelson helping her with the former, and the vigilante with the latter. Joining Murdock and Nelson, Page is determined to take down the corruption in Hell's Kitchen, and works with reporter Ben Urich to expose Fisk. When Fisk's assistant James Wesley discovers their investigation, which lead to Fisk's beloved mother, Wesley kidnaps Page and attempts to blackmail her. Page kills Wesley with his own gun and escapes, but becomes traumatized by the incident.

Woll was cast as Page in July 2014. On creating the character of Karen Page, after portraying Jessica Hamby in True Blood from 2008–14, Woll said, "I'm already starting to notice huge differences between the two characters ... I can feel myself go, 'Oh, if this was Jessica she would do this,' but wanting to kind of steer differently than that. It's always going to be me in some way. I think, as an actor, that's part of it." Woll had not previously read any Daredevil comics, and turned to her boyfriend who is "a huge comic book fan" for guidance. She also added that Page's backstory would be different than the one from the comics, saying, "In the comic books, in the beginning Karen is very innocent, and then towards the end she's really swung a full 180, she's in a lot of trouble, so I wanted to find a way to make her both of those things at the same time. Can she be a really wonderful, kind person who is a little bit attracted to danger? She's not just always getting into trouble because 'Oh, silly woman!' Karen is actually looking for it, and she won't let her fear stop her from finding the truth." Woll does not watch the series, which helped in the second season where Page was unaware of Murdoch's role as Daredevil, as she never saw Cox acting as Daredevil in the costume.

Maslansky looked to Page's backstory within the show when designer her costumes, with Page having dreams and fantasies of a life in New York along the lines of Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall, and dressing according to those thoughts ("retro, slim skirts, tighter fitting tops and slim dresses"). Maslansky also said that "Page embodies innocence and knowingness. We referenced the comic illustrations and updated them, then built her wardrobe with the same retro nod as for the other characters....Her look is body conscious and professional."

Explaining why Page does not tell Murdock and Nelson that she has killed Wesley, DeKnight said, "There’s something that happened in Karen’s past — we allude to it, Ben alludes to it — and when she grabs the gun she says, “You think this is the first time I’ve ever shot somebody?” That's a secret from her past that she doesn’t want anyone to know. The fact that she shot him once, you can explain that as self-defense; but then she pretty much unloaded the gun into him. That crosses a bit of a line. The last thing she would want is for those two to be horrified by what she’s done."

Foggy Nelson

Further information: Foggy Nelson

Franklin "Foggy" Percy Nelson (portrayed by Elden Henson) met Matt Murdock at law school and became best friends with him. After interning together at Landman and Zack, Nelson and Murdock start their own law firm in Hell's Kitchen, where Nelson wants to fight for 'the little guy'. His friendship with Murdock falters after he discovers the latter's vigilante activities, but they become close again following their defeat of Fisk.

Henson joined the cast as Nelson in June 2014, and in April 2015 he spoke of his excitement for the character's role in the series, saying "I was really excited as I was getting the scripts and reading that Foggy wasn't just a useless sidekick. He's not just comic relief. I mean, he is some of those things. He does have comic relief, but it was exciting to know that these other characters would have their own path and their own things that they're dealing with." Maslansky noted that "In the original comics illustrations Foggy wears a bowtie and his color palette is lively. We updated his look but didn’t stray from his overall distinctive style—quirky but not flamboyant. He favors warm colors and printed shirts. His ties are patterned with animals or objects. Even his socks are patterned and colorful. The audience may never see them, but the actor does. Foggy has one particular accessory that helps define his look, a vintage tie-bar w/ the letter ‘F’. We imagine it was a gift from his father."

James Wesley

James Wesley (portrayed by Toby Leonard Moore) is Wilson Fisk's right-hand man and friend who does a lot of his hands-on work. After discovering that Page met with Fisk's beloved mother while investigating Fisk, Wesley confronts Page in an attempt to blackmail her and is killed by Page with his own gun.

Moore was announced as cast in the role of Wesley in October 2014. Moore described Wesley as an "interesting character to play, because in one moment he can be incredibly charming, and in the next, dastardly as all hell, manipulative and Machiavellian, but always loyal to Wilson Fisk." Talking about the killing of Wesley by Page, and if it was due to carelessness on the behalf of the former, DeKnight said "It was a moment of underestimating Karen Page. We always knew he was going to die; that was decided at the beginning of the season that Karen was going to kill Wesley at some point but the mechanics of “how” were tricky. It’s not so much a moment of carelessness as it was underestimating Karen. He dies because Wilson Fisk is worried about him. That moment when Fisk calls him is the split-second distraction that allows Karen to grab the gun."

Ben Urich

Further information: Ben Urich

Ben Urich (portrayed by Vondie Curtis-Hall) is an investigative journalist for the New York Bulletin, struggling with the lack of interest in the crime pieces that made him successful during his youth, and with his sick wife for whom he can barely afford to keep in hospital or move to a retirement home. He agrees to work with Page in her investigation of Fisk, but after he learns that Urich met with his mother while investigating him, Fisk breaks into Urich's apartment and strangles him to death.

Curtis-Hall joined the series as Urich in October 2015. The decision to kill off Urich, an iconic comic book character, was made by Marvel before DeKnight joined the show. He explained that Marvel "really wanted to show that toward the end of the season because we knew we’d get some sympathy for Fisk, to have him do something truly terrible that would propel Matt into that final endgame in the confrontation with Fisk. And to let the audience know that the gloves were off: just because he was a beloved character in the comics, doesn’t mean he’s safe....Urich gets murdered because he committed the unforgivable sin in Fisk’s mind: he went to Fisk’s mother. The last thing you want to do with Fisk is at all involve, insult, drag through the mud the women in his life he loves. That will be a serious trigger for him."

Leland Owlsley

Further information: Owl (Marvel Comics)

Leland Owlsley (portrayed by Bob Gunton) is an accountant who works for Fisk, controlling the money for all of Fisk's allies as well. Owlsley disapproves of Fisk's relationship with Vanessa Marianna, and he works with Madame Gao to have the former killed in an assassination attempt made to look like an attempt on Fisk. Though the attempt fails, Fisk is extremely angered by the event, and when he discovers that Owlsley has been taking Fisk's money for himself, Fisk throws Owlsley down an elevator shaft, killing him.

Gunton was added to the cast in October 2014.

Vanessa Marianna

Further information: Vanessa Fisk

Vanessa Marianna (portrayed by Ayelet Zurer) is an art gallery curator who catches the eye of Fisk, and is acceptive of his line of work. Growing close with Fisk, Marianna helps him come out to New York as an apparently legitimate businessman, and when Fisk's true dealings are revealed, she accepts his offer of marriage. When Fisk is defeated by Daredevil and imprisoned, Marianna leaves the country on her own.

Zurer joined the cast as Marianna in October 2014. Clinical psychologist Dr. Andrea Letamendi noted that Marianna "allows us to see the compassion Fisk has, and it's genuine that he's so loving and heartfelt and compassionate—he has this sense of connection to humanity. It's so interesting to have that dynamic and that this incredibly intelligent, powerful woman brings it out in him." Maslansky looked to Marianna's backstory in the show, with the character coming into the series as a mysterious yet glamorous femme fatale, dressing in high-end, couture clothing; "she needed to appeal to [Fisk]. He wouldn’t go for just any chick in a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt."

Claire Temple

Further information: Claire Temple

Claire Temple (portrayed by Rosario Dawson) is a nurse who helps Murdock when she finds him beaten and injured, and after he saves her from some Russians who are using her to get to him, she becomes his confidant and near-full-time nurse. The two have a falling out when Murdock explains that a relationship between the two would not work, but she still helps him on occasion when needed.

Rosario Dawson joined the cast in June 2014, and her role was revealed to be that of Temple in October of that year. The character is an amalgam of Temple and Night Nurse. DeKnight noted that the character was originally "going to be the actual Night Nurse from the comics...we had her name in a script and it came back that it was possible [the feature side] were going to use her" and "had plans for her down the road," necessitating the team to use the more obscure comics character Claire Temple as her name. Maslansky revealed that "Claire Temple’s look is effortless and casual; she exudes an unstudied sensuality. She wears slim boyfriend jeans and shirts that skim rather than hug the body. Her clothing might indicate a woman who has travelled or at least has an interest in cultures other than her own."

Dawson explained that "[her] character is a normal person and she becomes more heroic in a way that she maybe didn't expect", and went on to state that "She’s not a love interest – she’s this skeptical eye looking at this strange situation. She’s the one who can be like, “You’re not really good at this.” That makes it feel more real." On her character's relationship to Murdock, Dawson said that "The show explores how necessary it is for two people to finally have their masks off with each other. For Matt Murdock, this is the first person he has that’s going to be able to see that transition for him. For her, she’s someone who also throws herself into the fray and had made it her life mission to help, even if that means risking her own life. But she gets confronted with the question: How far will you go? What does it mean if you’re helping someone who is maybe going to hurt other people?"

Dawson reprises the role in Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.

Wilson Fisk / Kingpin

Further information: Kingpin (comics)

Wilson Fisk (portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio) was abused alongside his mother by his father, until he killed him as a boy and his mother helped him cover it up. Fisk grew up wanting to make Hell's Kitchen a better place, where there are no people like his father, and planned to buy the entire neighborhood, demolish it, and build a new and better Hell's Kitchen. He received opposition from Murdock as both a lawyer and a vigilante, and began to lose the trust of his allies after he began seeing Marianna. His dealings are exposed to the FBI by a whistle-blower that Murdock protected, and when he attempts to escape custody he is defeated in combat by Murdock as Daredevil.

D'Onofrio, who was cast as Fisk in June 2014, stated that he hoped his portrayal of Fisk was a new way to look at the character, and that it would be the definitive portrayal of the character. "Our Fisk, he's a child and he's a monster," D'Onofrio said. "Every move that he makes and everything that he does in our story comes from his foundation of morality inside himself." In December 2014, DeKnight detailed that "Fisk has very many different aspects so it’s not all, "I want to conquer the city and make a lot of money". In our story, we tell the story of how he met his wife Vanessa and how they fell in love – our antagonist actually has a love story. That's the love story you're following, the one you’re invested in, and seeing how that affects him and changes him." He also said that "if you’re looking for a juicy, multi-faceted crime drama, Wilson Fisk was the obvious choice to play the antagonist ... [he] really felt like the right yin to the yang for Matt, and for what we wanted to do this season." Concerning Fisk not being called Kingpin during the first season, like he is in the comics, DeKnight explained that "I think there is a, dare I say, critical mass where things get a little bit silly. You know if in the last five minutes we went, “Oh they called him Daredevil! Oh they called him Kingpin!” It’s a little too much. Also there was no real natural way to get to Kingpin. It felt a little off. There is a point down the line to get there." Discussing Fisk's fighting style, compared to Daredevil's, series stunt coordinator Philip J Silvera said that, "I feel like they’re almost two sides to the same coin. They’re both doing things for their city. And it’s a tricky thing with their two characters. I think when you get the Fisk character to a certain point, it just becomes pure rage, and all thought process is out the window. ... The brutality is just relentless with him. When he gets into this mode, he just keeps going until he’s done. And that’s it. He will drive for you. That is the Kingpin, that is D’Onofrio. He’s a very smooth, calculating individual, but when you bring the rage out in him, he’s like a bulldozer." Cole Jensen plays a young Wilson Fisk.

Maslansky explained that "Wilson Fisk has a specific look. His choices reflect the man he is and the man he’s become. As with Matt Murdock’s costumes, I was influenced by the comics with the same stipulation that they feel authentic and modern. We dressed Fisk in current style, embracing a slim silhouette. It’s classic and consistent. His clothing was custom-made by a highly skilled tailor, Michael Andrews who’s well versed in modern design details." Significant props used for Fisk in the series are his father's cufflinks, on which Maslansky said, "[Fisk's father] would have bought them in the 1950s or ‘60s—a mid-century design. We searched for the perfect vintage cufflinks. We finally landed on a sterling silver pair with interesting negative space. We knew from reading ahead we’d need many duplicates. I redesigned them, adding more detail—a tiger’s eye stone and a portion of it cast in gold. They retained a mid-century look, enhanced to become unique in the world."

Frank Castle / Punisher

Further information: Punisher

Frank Castle (portrayed by Jon Bernthal) is a vigilante who aims to clean up Hell’s Kitchen by any means necessary, no matter how lethal the results, which earns him the name 'The Punisher' from the media.

In June 2015, Marvel announced that Jon Bernthal was cast as Castle for the second season. DeKnight and the writers had discussed introducing the character in a post-credits scene during the first season finale, but were unable due to the way that Netflix begins the next episode during the credits of the current one. The scene would have seen Owlsley escape rather than be killed by Fisk, only to be killed by Castle, whose face would not be revealed, but whose iconic skull insignia would have been featured. DeKnight felt that this "was the right decision. I think there’s a better, more organic way to introduce him to the world." DeKnight also noted that this version of Punisher would be "completely the Marvel version," as previous portrayals did not appear under the Marvel Studios / Marvel Television banner. He also felt Bernthal's Punisher would not be as "graphically violent" as in Punisher: War Zone. Goddard felt that television was the best fit for the character, as the writers are "able to do things on the small screen that fit that character better than if we had to water him down for the movies." Season two showrunners Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez talked about creating their version of the character following the film versions, with Ramirez saying, "even if you know the character, you’ve never seen him like this. That was the big thing we wanted. There are four movies, eight hours and four actors. We’ve seen this guy. We think we know who he is, but even we learned that he’s so much more." Petrie said, "We hope to make people forget what they’ve seen before, whether they’ve loved it or not."

Petrie stated that Son of Sam, Bernard Goetz, and Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver were influences on the character, as well as current events, saying, "Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky shit. We have not shied away from the rich complicated reality of Now. If you've got a gun and you're not the police you're going to incite strong feelings." He added that the writers hoped to "stir the pot" and "get people to think" when watching Punisher. Bernthal added that "This character has resonated with law enforcement and military....and the best thing about him is that if he offends you, he just doesn't care." In order to get in the correct mindset to portray Castle, Bernthal trained with military members, along with receiving weapon training. Bernthal also "had to put myself in as dark of place as possible" to connect with "the emptiness inside" Castle, and isolate himself, including walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to get to set "to shed any outside influence of joy."

Rosario Dawson, who felt Matt Murdock behaved like the Punisher in season one, felt it would "be really interesting to see how [the writers] differentiate" the two in the second season. Describing the character, Bernthal said, "As a man who put his [life] on the line and really went through the ultimate sacrifice for this country in his involvement in the military. He’s a guy who brought the war home with him [in] the worst possible way. There are a lot of iterations of this character and in all of them it’s a man who’s gone through this unbelievable trauma and what’s interesting about our take on him is how this trauma reshapes his own philosophy." Bernthal also talked about the character's 'superpowers', saying, "If I got one thing from the comics, I think, as far as superpowers... his superpower is his rage. His superpower is that he is not going to quit, and he is going to go forward no matter what. And that's as human and grounded a quality as I think as this sort of genre could have".

Elektra Natchios

Further information: Elektra (comics)

Elektra Natchios (portrayed by Élodie Yung) is a mysterious and dangerous woman from Murdock's past.

In July 2015, Marvel announced that Yung had been cast as Elektra for the second season, after the character had initially been referred to in the first season. Describing Elektra's effect on Murdock, Petrie called her "the best bad girlfriend you can possibly have. She does everything wrong and attractive, she's [Matt's] id, the wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side. Elektra just lets it out. He's both repulsed and deeply drawn to that." Talking about the character, Yung said, "What I tried to capture by reading the comics is I wanted to keep the coldness that Elektra has. And I had conversations at length with Doug [Petrie] and Marco [Ramirez]. We think Elektra is kind of a sociopath. This world is a game for her. It's like a chess game, and what motivates her is what she wants. She'll use anything she needs to use to get to her goal, and if she needs to kill people, she would." However, "we wanted to create a character with different layers. I think Elektra isn't a bad person. She's not a good person. She's a person with different traits, with layers, and she's seeking for who she is." Lily Chee plays a young Elektra.

Blake Tower

Further information: Blake Tower

Blake Tower (portrayed by Stephen Rider) is a New York assistant district attorney who assists Daredevil "with information to help track down and capture criminals."

In September 2015, Rider joined the cast of the second season as Tower.

Recurring characters

Lantom

Father Lantom (portrayed by Peter McRobbie) is a Catholic priest and confidante for Murdock.

McRobbie appears throughout the series as Lantom. Series writer Ruth Fletcher Gage called Lantom "almost Matt's therapist. He was used in a lot of different ways. We wanted him to be someone who would actually discuss the things Matt brought to him." Writer Christos Gage added, "Father Lantom really was supposed to be a catalyst to force Matt to question his own view on things and his own feelings about what he was going to do."

Turk Barrett

Further information: Turk Barrett

Turk Barrett (portrayed by Rob Morgan) is a small-time criminal working for Wilson Fisk who Daredevil beats for information.

Brett Mahoney

Brett Mahoney (portrayed by Royce Johnson) is a police sergeant at the New York City Police Department's 15th Precinct who is friends with Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. Foggy regularly bribes him with cigars for his mother. He also is a reluctant ally of Matt's alter ego Daredevil, feeding him information on confidential matters. He is promoted to the pay grade of Sergeant—Supervisor Detective Squad in "Regrets Only," after taking credit for the arrest of Frank Castle.

Carl Hoffman

Carl Hoffman (portrayed by Daryl Edwards) is a detective and partner of Christian Blake that is secretly on Wilson Fisk's side. After regrettably poisoning Blake on Wilson Fisk's orders, Hoffman goes into hiding where he became a target of Fisk's. Upon being rescued by Daredevil, Hoffman turned himself over to Mahoney, leading to Fisk's exposure.

Christian Blake

Christian Blake (portrayed by Chris Tardio) is a corrupt detective with the New York City Police Department's 15th Precinct who is secretly in the employ of Wilson Fisk. Blake was poisoned by Hoffman on Fisk's orders.

Gao

Gao (portrayed by Wai Ching Ho) is an accomplished woman with her own heroin trade in Hell's Kitchen.

Nobu Yoshioka

Nobu Yoshioka (portrayed by Peter Shinkoda) is a Japanese businessman and head of a Yakuza branch who allies with Wilson Fisk. He is also a member of The Hand. Nobu is believed to be burned to death during a fight against Murdock.

It was originally reported by Deadline.com that the name of Shinkoda's character would be "Hachiro", a name that was given to a different character in the second season. On the character's motivations, Shinkoda said, "I think that he's driven almost religiously, like Matt, except that the stakes may be higher for Nobu than Matt. The way I played it, I assumed he may be a member of The Hand, he's part of some program that's been going for hundreds of years. I think he has global plans. They're huge. They're not only affecting him." In the ninth episode of the first season, the writers almost introduced Kirigi as the opponent Murdock would face, instead of Nobu.

Vladimir Ranskahov

Vladimir Ranskahov (portrayed by Nikolai Nikolaeff) is a Russian mafia member trying to make a name for himself in America with his brother Anatoly. He is later killed by the police officers on Wilson Fisk's side while buying Daredevil time to get away.

Josie

Josie (portrayed by Susan Varon) is the owner of a bar frequented by Murdock, Nelson, and Page.

Doris Urich

Doris Urich (portrayed by Adriane Lenox) is the sick wife of Ben Urich.

Mitchell Ellison

Mitchell Ellison (portrayed by Geoffrey Cantor) is the Editor-in-Chief of the New York Bulletin.

Shirley Benson

Shirley Benson (portrayed by Suzanne H. Smart) is an administrator at Metro-General Hospital.

Elena Cardenas

Elena Cardenas (portrayed by Judith Delgado) is one of the first clients of Nelson and Murdock. She lives in a housing tenement inhibiting Fisk's plan. Elena is later killed on the orders of Wilson Fisk.

There had been some intention for Cardenas' demise to be much more graphic, with the character being blown up and only her arms being found afterwards, though this was found to be "going too far". DeKnight explained, "We ended up killing her later to wrap it into the story. And at the time we were thinking ‘We can’t blow her up! That’s too much!’ And then of course eight months later I watch Jessica Jones and they blow up that old neighbor woman and all that’s left is like an arm, and I’m thinking ‘Hey, wait a minute!’"

Marci Stahl

Marci Stahl (portrayed by Amy Rutberg) is Nelson's ex-girlfriend who works for the corporate law firm Landman and Zach (where Nelson and Murdock once interned). She is hired by the law firm Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz after Nelson and Murdock take down Fisk.

Stick

Further information: Stick (comics)

Stick (portrayed by Scott Glenn) is a mysterious martial artist and Matt Murdock's mentor, who is in his late 90s. He is the leader of The Chaste, who wages a war against The Hand and its quest to retrieve the Black Sky.

Marvel announced in September 2014 that Glenn was joining the series as Stick. DeKnight initially wanted Sonny Chiba for the role, "but that didn’t quite work out." Glenn, who had been brought up in early conversations by the writers, was reconsidered following his performance in The Leftovers. Glenn had never played a blind character before, calling it a challenge to integrate the blindness, being a martial arts master, and the emotional aspect to the character. He also added that Stick was "on the high-volume side" of stunts for the show. To prepare for the role, Glenn had to "learn completely about the world of comic books ... and who Stick [was] in relationship to the Daredevil."

Francis

Francis (portrayed by Tom Walker) is the head of Fisk's security.

Melvin Potter

Further information: Gladiator (Melvin Potter)

Melvin Potter (portrayed by Matt Gerald) is a machinist who creates the Daredevil costume for Murdock. He continues to upgrade the suit for Murdock and provides a suit for Natchios.

Samantha Reyes

Samantha Reyes (portrayed by Michelle Hurd) is a New York District Attorney, who goes against Nelson and Murdock for the People v. Frank Castle trial. This is due to her playing a role in Castle's family's deaths and covered them up. Reyes is killed by the Blacksmith.

Hurd reprises her role from Jessica Jones.

Louisa Delgado

Louisa Delgado (portrayed by Marilyn Torres) is a nurse who works at Metro General Hospital with Temple. She is killed by members of The Hand.

Hachiro

Hachiro (portrayed by Ron Nakahara) is a high-ranking member of The Hand working as an Roxxon Energy Corporation executive.

Stan Gibson

Stan Gibson (portrayed by John Pirkis) is a Roxxon accountant blackmailed by The Hand through their kidnapping of his son. Stan leads Daredevil to the Farm, a drug factory which also turns children into Hand members. Daredevil rescues his son and Gibson, his son, and the children to Metro-General Hospital. Gibson is killed by his son with a scalpel.

Guest characters

The following is a supplementary list of guest stars that appear in lesser roles or make significant cameo appearances. The characters are listed by the MCU media or season in which they first appeared.

Introduced in other TV series

Further information: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series actors

• Jeri Hogarth (portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss; first appears in season two): A lawyer who hires Nelson after he breaks from Murdock.

Introduced in season one

• "Battlin" Jack Murdock (portrayed by John Patrick Hayden): Matt Murdock's father, a professional boxer who is murdered while Matt is young.
• Anatoly Ranskahov (portrayed by Gideon Emery): A Russian trying to make a name for himself in America with his brother Vladimir. He is beheaded by Fisk.
• Silke (portrayed by Peter Gerety): An associate of Sweeney.
• Semyon (portrayed by Alex Falberg): A Russian hitman.
• Santino (portrayed by Moisés Acevedo): Temple's neighbor.
• Roscoe Sweeney (portrayed by Kevin Nagle): Jack Murdock's corrupt boxing employer.
• M. Caldwell (portrayed by Kassia Miller): A corrupt secretary at the New York Bulletin.
• Stone (portrayed by Jasson Finney, voiced by David Sobolov): An ally of Stick.
• Bill Fisk (portrayed by Domenick Lombardozzi): Wilson Fisk's abusive father, who was murdered by a young Wilson to protect his mother.
• Marlene Vistain (portrayed by Phyllis Somerville as an elderly lady, Angela Reed as a younger adult): Wilson Fisk's mother.
• Parish Landman (portrayed by Richard Bekins): The corrupt co-founder of Landman and Zack.
• Randolph Cherryh (portrayed by Jonathan Walker): A corrupt senator.

Pat Kiernan appears as himself throughout the series, while Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance through an on set photograph. Bonale Fambrini appears as a Black Sky.

Introduced in season two

• Jimmy "The Bear" (portrayed by John Bianco): A member of the Dogs of Hell biker gang.
• Elliot "Grotto" Grote (portrayed by McCaleb Burnett): A survivor of a Punisher attack seeking witness protection. Castle murders him when Murdock refuses to.
• Jerry (portrayed by Ray Ianicelli): A war veteran.
• Finn Cooley (portrayed by Tony Curran): An Irish mobster whose son is killed by the Punisher. Curran also portrays Bor in the MCU films.
• Thompson (portrayed by Katt Masterson): Mahoney's Detective Sgt. partner.
• Cynthia Batzer (portrayed by Deirdre Madigan): The judge assigned to the People v. Frank Castle trial.
• Gregory Tepper (portrayed by Eric Michael Gillett): The lead medical examiner on the Castle murders.
• Ray Shoonover (portrayed by Clancy Brown): Castle's commanding officer in the Marine Corps who became the drug lord "Blacksmith" and was responsible for the murder of Castle's family.
• Dutton (portrayed by William Forsythe): The "Kingpin" of Ryker's Island before Fisk.
• Benjamin Donovan (portrayed by Danny Johnson): Fisk's new lawyer and assistant.
• Daniel Gibson (portrayed by Lucas Elliot Eberl): Stan's son, an incubator for The Hand's chemical farm.
• Jacques Duchamps (portrayed by Gilles Marini): An associate of Stick's sent by him to kill Elektra.
• Star (portrayed by Laurence Mason): A member of The Chaste murdered by Stick to protect Elektra.

Allison Winn, Doug Plaut, Massiel Mordan, and Shari Abdul play incubators for The Hand's chemical farm alongside Daniel Gibson.

References

Season 1

Season 2

External links

• Full cast and crew of Daredevil at IMDb