Since the first episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil premiered on Netflix about ten years ago there’s been a major element that has been intertwined with the series, the extensive “one take” hallway fight scenes. The first of these arrived with the second episode of Daredevil, and it proved to be so popular with Marvel fans that it became a core tenant of not only every season of Daredevil that would follow but would be used in the Defenders crossover as well. Even after the Netflix era ended and star Charlie Cox returned as Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his appearance in Marvel’s She-Hulk would also pay homage to the hallway fight scenes that defined the hero on the small screen.
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Ahead of the premiere of Daredevil: Born Again, we’re looking back at the fight hallway fight scenes that have featured Daredevil and narrowing them down from the worst to the best. Though arguments could be made for any of the first four slots, it’s pretty clear what the best of the entire lot really is.
5) The Defenders Hallway Fight Scene
As great as it is to finally see Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage all together in an action scene, The Defenders‘ take on the hallway fight scene fails to clear the bar set by everything that came before it. Though it’s obvious in every fight that these “one take” sequences are actually composed of several different takes stitched together pretty seamlessly, The Defenders‘ version of the hallway fight not only fails to have much compelling action but it’s composed and edited in such a sloppy manner that it fails to be visually appealing at all.
That said, the best thing that can be said about The Defenders‘ version of the hallway fight is that is has two good moments: Luke Cage making his entrance to Run the Jewels’ eponymous single, and Daredevil confronting Elektra in a major bout. Overall the sequence doesn’t really work and fails to meet the promise that was made to the audience, just like The Defenders TV series overall.
4) She-Hulk’s Daredevil Fight Scene
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Charlie Cox’s return as Matt Murdock in the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law TV series on Disney+ had a mixed reception from fans upon its release, in part because Daredevil’s appearance embodied the tone of the show and leaned more into comedy than brooding drama. As a result, She-Hulk naturally put its mark on the “hallway fights” that made Daredevil a fan-favorite TV show but did so with a twist.
It’s worth noting that the Daredevil hallway fight in She-Hulk only falls this low on the list because it’s so short. The fact that the scene is a satirical idea that subverts audience expectations is not only a great joke but something that shows the She-Hulk writing team were fully aware of what kind of series they were making, and how to fit the rest of the MCU into that framework. It didn’t work for some fans, but just because it’s on the lower half of this list doesn’t mean it’s all that bad either. Even Daredevil gets a moment where he’s a little disappointed that he didn’t get to have a hallway fight.
3) Daredevil Season 3 Hallway Fight
While posing as Foggy, Matt gets inside a prison to try and figure out Fisk’s endgame. Naturally the thing he wasn’t counting on was the amount of cops and prison staff that were still in Fisk’s pocket. This leads to the Season 3 take on the Daredevil hallway fight scene, which may very well be the most unique version out of them all. Since Matt is posing as Foggy in the scene he of course does not have his costume or any kind of mask, and actually isn’t even wearing sunglasses. This is a bare faced Charlie Cox taking and receiving punches throughout the scene, which is just as gritty as the others on this list, though not as “fun” of a fight scene as the others.
One unique facet to the Daredevil Season 3 hallway fight is that even though it clocks in at almost ten minutes long, it’s not entirely an action scene. There’s a major break in the fighting halfway through the sequence that sees Matt befriending the Albanian prisoners who help him secure his way out of the prison. It’s a quieter and dramatic moment that is sandwiched between pulse-pounding action, and fills in major gaps of the story. What sets it apart of course is that it maintains the “one shot” shooting style of the entire sequence with no visible breaks in the footage.
2) Daredevil Season 2 Hallway Fight
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The bar was set really high by the first Daredevil hallway fight, and the Season 2 team managed to nearly exceed what came before them. What makes the Daredevil Season 2 fight unique are the circumstances of Daredevil’s hands, as most of the episode leading to the scene has him bound by The Punisher with chains and a gun taped into his palm with his finger on the trigger. So when Daredevil finally finds himself in a hallway ready to take on the Dogs of Hell, he has one hand that’s unable to form a fist because a gun is taped into it and he has a length of chain bound to the other. His hands are literally tied, and he still makes it work.
The two weapons that Daredevil has in his hands force him to get creative in unique ways that really make this one of the best moments in the entirety of Marvel’s Daredevil. He uses the chain to break lights and hook some of his foes around their necks, sending them flying down stairs and straight to the Emergency Room. What makes this Daredevil hallway fight fall to this position on the list and not the top is that it has a lackluster ending, but it really does come out swinging and manages to be a highlight of the entire series.
1) Daredevil Season 1 Hallway Fight
The first remains the very best, in part because the Season 1 hallway fight in Marvel’s Daredevil is one of the best looking scenes in the series. What makes the Daredevil Season 1 hallway fight scene so crucial to the DNA of the entire series is that it is not only a technically well-crafted sequence, but at the same time that it’s entertaining the audience with action, it’s a character building moment. Even when the action isn’t directly visible because Daredevil has been thrown into a room off the hallway we’re captivated by what we can hear happening and what we’ll be able to see next.
Before this scene, which happens at the end of Daredevil’s second episode, there’s really only one action scene before it, the rain sequence at the end of the first episode. So when the hallway fight scene kicks off it’s the first time that Daredevil as a hero has really gotten the chance to show off his skills.
Throughout the scene Charlie Cox is throwing himself against the Russian gangsters that have set this trap to try and catch him. In the scene he’s not only showing us what he’s capable of pulling off as a gritty street level MCU hero, but the world at large is being introduced to the character. Every foe that limps away from that fight tells a story to the rest of the New York underworld, the devil is here and he does not play nice.
All three seasons of Marvel’s Daredevil, plus The Defenders and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, are now streaming on Disney+. Daredevil: Born Again premieres on Tuesday, March 4th.
