Buena Vista Pictures
If it seemed like the Netflix Daredevil series had been missing something that you couldn’t quite put your finger on up until now, it should all make sense when you hear that, according to Variety, Rosario Dawson is joining the show in a “critical” female role. That’s it, everything is good, proceed with production now.
Dawson will join the already-announced Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin) in the series, which is hitting the streaming site in 2015. Though her role hasn’t been exactly spelled out yet, she’ll be playing, according to Marvel, a young woman who crosses paths with Matt Murdock/Daredevil in her valiant attempts to help the citizens of Hell’s Kitchen and heal the broken cracks of her fair city. Her presence in Daredevil’s life “forever alters” the way in which he tackles the injustices of the city, as well.
“Rosario Dawson is one the most charismatic, talented and powerful actresses in Hollywood, so she was always at the top of our list for ‘Marvel’s Daredevil,’” said Jeph Loeb, the head of Marvel TV to Variety. “Her role in the series is absolutely critical to Matt Murdock’s journey to become the hero we know as Daredevil.”
So she’s Elektra, right? Right??
That’s where the mind would go first, to Daredevil’s main squeeze and the female lead from the Daredevil movie. But the Elektra from the comics is a little more violent and ruthless, a little less “heal my wounded city” than the character description released by Marvel suggests about Dawson’s character. An intense Greek assassin wielding a pair of knives, Elektra is trained as an assassin but is also one of the “good guys” who works alongside Daredevil and company against their mutual enemy, Kingpin.
Isn’t that how these things always work? The character description is vague enough that Dawson could very well be playing Elektra, especially with that “critical” indicator, but there are also other women in the Daredevil universe who play key roles to his success, and stand out on their own.
Like Echo. Also known as Ronin, or Maya Lopez, this superheroine’s father was killed by Kingpin when she was a child. As he died, her father left a bloody handprint on her face, and now, as a disguise, she wears a white handprint in the same spot in remembrance. She happens to think that Daredevil was the murderer, though, as she grew up raised by Kingpin, and because the Marvel world always needs a little juicy drama here and there. There’s clearly plenty to work with in this story, and a rich backstory to mold around Dawson as well.
The main takeaway here is that Marvel has hired an incredible badass lady who might actually get to be a superheroine, meaning Black Widow and Scarlet Witch aren’t going to be so lonely anymore.
Daredevil hits Netflix sometime in 2015.
