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Daredevil: Melvin Potter Will Become Gladiator

By Steve Lam

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Remember the guy who made Daredevil his much improved red suit at the end of Season 1?  Yep, Melvin Potter, the mentally-challenged tailor who was forced to work for Kingpin, will be transforming into the villain known as Gladiator for Season 2 of Daredevil.  Via a tweet from Daredevil‘s Twitter feed, a message seemingly written by Potter was sent out to followers.  With the image prominently displaying a circular saw blade adorned with the character’s initials, it seems that Potter’s alliance with Daredevil will only be short-lived.

In Netflix’s Daredevil, Melvin Potter, who is played by Matt Gerald, was responsible for Kingpin’s armored wardrobe.  When Daredevil confronts Potter, the Man Without Fear learns that Potter, though a savant at engineering things, had the mental capacity of a child, and was forced to work for Kingpin under the threat that someone named Betsy would be hurt if he didn’t.  Daredevil made a deal with Potter that if he engineered an armored suit for him, he would make sure that Betsy would be safe.

In the comics, Melvin Potter’s origins are a bit different.  He starts out as a costume designer who hated costumed heroes.  Designing a suit that was armed with blades and cutting implements, Potter gave himself the moniker “Gladiator.”  One day, Foggy Nelson — not knowing about Potter’s hate for heroes — goes to Potter for the purposes of making a Daredevil suit.  Foggy wanted to pretend to be the famous hero so that he could impress Karen Page.  Potter, mistakenly thinking that Foggy is actually Daredevil, battles Foggy as Gladiator.  When Matt Murdock arrives as the real Daredevil, he defeats Gladiator.  Later, Gladiator would ally himself with the Masked Marauder.

It’ll be interesting to see how Potter, in the Netflix series, will turn into Daredevil’s foe.  It wouldn’t be a surprise if something happens to Betsy, making Potter blame Daredevil for not carrying out his promise in protecting her.

Season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil is being executive produced by Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez, replacing previous showrunner Steven S. DeKnight.  Both Petrie and Ramirez also served as writers for the first season.  Confirmed returning cast members are Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Elden Henson as Franklin “Foggie” Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple.  Jon Bernthal and Elodie Yung join the series as Frank Castle / The Punisher and Elektra Natchios, respectively.  Bullseye is slated to appear, but has not been cast yet.

Daredevil is one of four Marvel/Netflix shows centered around events taking place in Hell’s Kitchen.  The other three will be Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones.  Like the cinematic universe, all four characters from each show will later converge together in a miniseries event called The Defenders — another superhero team akin to The Avengers.

Daredevil Season 2 is set to premiere sometime in 2016.

Next: Daredevil: First look at Jon Bernthal as The Punisher

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