Who are the 25 greatest Marvel Netflix characters?
When we were first introduced to the darker corner of the MCU that the Marvel Netflix shows inhabit, none could have anticipated the impact that they’d have. While the actual connections to the MCU have become an afterthought over the years, that hasn’t stopped some great stories being told. From Daredevil’s battle with the Kingpin, Jessica Jones’s psychological struggle with Kilgrave to the team-up in The Defenders, we’ve seen the peak of comic-book storytelling unfold.
While the films concentrated on superpowers and huge action sequences, the Marvel Netflix shows tried to stay more grounded. The street-level heroes battled with villains who weren’t out to conquer the universe or destroy Earth, instead, they battled with crime lords or villains with a personal connection. Even though the characters have superpowers, they were secondary to the story. We were given an exploration into the mind, into the psychological aspects of the characters.
They were broken. None of them can be described as perfect but still, they had depth. Now, I’m going to list the 25 greatest Marvel Netflix characters across all of the shows. It certainly wasn’t easy and there may be some that you think are missing, but read on and you shall see
25. Madame Gao
We first meet Gao in Daredevil as one of the Hell’s Kitchen gang leaders, but she swiftly grows into something much more. Very quickly, we learn that the gang leaders are actually the founders of The Hand, a clandestine group of ninja who controlled New York’s criminal underground. Gao ran the heroin trade and used it to gain influence throughout the city.
The Hand seek to gain the power of immortality and it seems that Gao has gained this power. During her early life in K’un L’un, Gao teamed up with the other four leaders of the Hand to gain this power and succeeded. They discovered that the key to immortality was in the bones of dragons and used this to gain power across the world.
Eventually, Gao was banished from K’un L’un along with the other leaders and found her way to New York.
Not only does she play a part in the first two seasons of Daredevil, but she also features in Iron Fist and goes on to have an important role in The Defenders. It’s for this reason that Gao makes the list. After being a thorn in the side of all four of the Marvel Netflix series’ main characters, she eventually meets her end during the battle for Midland Circle.
24. Mariah Dillard
First introduced as the cousin of Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes, it soon becomes apparent that Mariah is a formidable woman in her own right and will do anything to get what she wants. Mariah fashions herself as Harlem’s savior, a politician who will let Harlem rise up and become a true force in New York. However, as with all politicians, not everything is as it seems.
Though the police are well aware of her cousin’s extralegal activities, Mariah puts on a front; she’s a force for good and wouldn’t dream of doing anything wrong to meet her ends. However, she’s actually a ruthless woman who constantly finds herself in Luke Cage’s crosshairs.
As she finds herself dragged deeper and deeper into criminal activity, Dillard’s actions become more and more erratic. She eventually reaches her breaking point when she kills Cottonmouth after he brings up her past; Dillard was abused when she was younger and Cottonmouth had accused her of leading her abuser on. Because of this, Dillard pushed him out of a window in Harlem’s Paradise and beat him to death with a microphone stand.
Truly, Dillard is a woman who will do anything to get what she wants and will not allow anyone to stand in her way.
23. Claire Temple
The character who connected all of the four initial Marvel Netflix shows. Claire was first introduced when her friend alerted her that a man in black was injured in a dumpster just outside her apartment. As a nurse at Metro General Hospital, Claire took it upon herself to help this mysterious man and took him into her apartment to treat his wounds.
When he awoke, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen stopped her from calling for an ambulance as the men who did this to him would burn down a hospital in order to kill him. The two spoke long into the night and eventually grew to trust one another, particularly as Matt Murdock has realized that she had seen his face. Throughout the rest of Daredevil Season One, Claire became a confidant for Murdock and helped to treat his wounds.
She next appeared in the finale of Jessica Jones Season One in her day job as a nurse. Thanks to her ability to attract strange patients, she discovered a doctor working on Luke Cage who was unable to break his skin. She took it upon herself to find another way to treat him before the two eventually began a relationship in Luke Cage.
When she appeared in Iron Fist, Claire was learning martial arts from Colleen Wing and was then drawn into Danny’s battle with the Hand. She was the key to uniting the four heroes when the Hand tried to take over New York in The Defenders.
22. Davos
Danny Rand’s closest friend and greatest enemy. Davos grew up alongside Rand in K’un L’un and the two became thick as thieves. At the completion of their training, Danny and Davos had to fight to see who would gain the right to meet the dragon in order to acquire the power of the Iron Fist. Danny won the battle and gained the power and Davos became incredibly jealous.
He always believed that he was destined to hold the power and couldn’t believe that an outsider was the person deemed worthy of the fist. So, eventually, his jealousy of Danny turned to anger. His anger was fueled further when Danny abandoned K’un L’un to return to New York.
Davos was furious as Danny had left K’un L’un unguarded in order to satisfy a personal affair. As such, he followed him to America to try to convince him to return. But Danny wouldn’t be convinced. His time back in New York had changed him and he was no longer willing to kill the Hand, so Davos accused him of being a traitor.
During Season Two, he took matters into his own hands, literally. Davos acquired the corpse of a previous Iron Fist and used an ancient ritual to steal the power from Danny. During this time, he travelled the city murdering criminals in his own twisted brand of justice. Danny eventually defeated his old friend who was then arrested, vowing that he’d have his revenge.
21. Ward Meachum
Before Danny lived in K’un L’un, Ward was his closest friend. However, when he returned, Ward was nothing like the boy he remembered. Ward and his sister, Joy, had taken on Rand Enterprises during Danny’s disappearance and when he did reappear, they didn’t believe it was truly Danny.
What makes Ward so interesting is his broken mind. As a child, Ward was beaten by his father, sometimes very brutally. Harold Meachum was grooming his son to take over his business but did so in completely the wrong way. If Ward stepped out of line, Harold would beat him but Ward still loved his father.
This was shown when Harold was diagnosed with cancer and Ward did all he could to find a way to prolong his father’s life. He even went as far as making a deal with the Hand to keep Harold alive and became his only confidante after his apparent death.
Ward suffers from an inferiority complex; beneath all of his smug bravado, deep down, he always believes others are better than him. This, coupled with the strain of keeping his father’s secret, led him to take drugs to calm himself. However, the drug abuse started to affect his sanity and as his grip on reality faded, Ward killed his father.
His journey in Season Two is one of redemption. Though he doesn’t always make the right choices, Ward is constantly trying to better himself and do the right thing. Particularly after he finds out that he has impregnated his sponsor.
20. James Wesley
The trusted right hand of Wilson Fisk, he would do anything that his boss asked. Wesley was a complex character who seemed to be harmless but was actually cold and calculating. He often behaved arrogantly and with a belief that he was above other people but would stop at nothing to fulfil Fisk’s wishes.
While outsiders saw him as Fisk’s lap-dog, Wesley himself considered the Kingpin to be his friend. As such, if anyone disrespected Fisk, Wesley was quick to correct them. He took care of anything his boss desired and because he considered himself a friend, he even delved into Fisk’s personal life. While others were sceptical of Fisk’s relationship with Vanessa, Wesley encouraged it and did everything he could to help the relationship prosper.
He was the face of Fisk’s business empire before Fisk became a public figure, so had plenty of dealings with shady clients. This gave him the belief that he was above others but also allowed him to remain professional during all clandestine acts.
His loyalty to his boss would prove to be his undoing. Wesley is tasked with interrogating Karen Page because she’s working with Ben Urich to investigate the Kingpin. While doing so, a momentary lapse in concentration when Fisk calls him allows Page to take his gun and fire six shots into his chest.
19. Misty Knight
Mercedes Knight was a detective in the NYPD who became embroiled in Luke Cage’s affairs. While investigating Cottonmouth, she encountered the man with unbreakable skin and wondered why he’d been involved in every step of her investigation. From this point on, she became close friends with Luke and often teamed-up with him on investigations.
After Cottonmouth is murdered by his own cousin, Knight became fixated on finding out the truth about Mariah Dillard. Her intuition told her that Dillard wasn’t as clean as she appeared on the surface and, of course, we know she was right.
After Cage was freed from prison, Knight became involved with him once more. She had requested his help on another case, but eventually, this spiralled into the battle against the Hand at Midland Circle. Here, she lost her right arm while defending Claire Temple from being beheaded, though she never let this disability stop her.
During Luke Cage Season Two, Knight continued her efforts to investigate Cottonmouth and Dillard’s family. Because of this, she actually ended up having to protect Dillard from Bushmaster, who had targeted her for assassination. Knight is a fearless detective who strives to uphold the law, so it was no surprise that she was offered the captain’s position in Harlem.
18. Jeri Hogarth
When we first meet Jeri Hogarth, we discover that she’s a lawyer who hired Jessica Jones to get information about a client. She clearly respects Jessica and knows that she will get the job done in ways that other private investigators won’t necessarily think of. Hogarth works from her own firm and is clearly a resourceful person; she’s not afraid to use unorthodox methods to win cases.
She prioritizes winning over everything, whether in business or her personal life. As a result, this makes her seem cold to others. Ultimately, she looks out for herself and her only interest is her own success. However, this also makes her quite susceptible to manipulation. For example, during her divorce, she chooses to accept Kilgrave’s offer to give her an easy way out.
Though she’s extremely successful in her professional life, Hogarth’s personal life is much rockier. As already mentioned, she goes through a divorce during Jessica Jones Season One after she cheats on her wife with her younger assistant. Because of her cold persona, she finds it difficult to maintain friendships.
This is particularly apparent during Season Two when she is diagnosed with ALS. As she has nobody to turn to, she ends up facing this life-altering disease by herself. Slowly, she comes to realize that pushing everyone away won’t help and she has to open up and let others in. However, her mind remains as strong as ever and she fights to set up her own law firm.
17. Elektra
Elektra Natchios was an old girlfriend of Matt Murdock’s who stumbled back into his life during Daredevil Season Two. They were both trained by Stick and initially met when he asked Elektra to recruit Murdock into their organization. The two began a romance but grew apart after Murdock refused to kill a mark they were both assigned.
When she returned to his life, the sparks began to fly again and they rekindled their romance. But once again, their values conflicted. Elektra was in favor of killing her targets while Murdock had a personal code never to kill.
During their conflict with the Hand, it was revealed that Elektra was a candidate to be the Black Sky, a powerful assassin who was supposed to lead the group. However, at Murdock’s request, she chose to forgo this destiny and join Daredevil in the fight against the Hand. This ended with Elektra being killed by Nobu, but that’s not the end of her story.
The Hand recovered her body and performed a ritual to revive her. When she eventually rose from the dead, Elektra was a mindless drone whose only purpose was to fight. Truly, she had become the Black Sky. However, the more she battled the Defenders, the more she began to remember her old life. Once she regained her memories, she joined the four heroes in the battle of Midland Circle and was buried under the rubble of the building in the final showdown with the Hand.
16. Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes
Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes was the owner of Harlem’s Paradise and also a criminal of influence in Harlem. He was able to run his criminal activities from the club while operating under the cover of a legitimate business. However, once Luke Cage arrived on the scene, things began to unravel for him.
Cottonmouth never truly wanted to be a gangster. As a child, he showed tremendous potential as a piano player, so much so, that he was offered a place at Julliard; often, he’d be found playing the piano in Harlem’s Paradise. Mama Mabel, the matriarch of Harlem, had other ideas for her grandson and groomed him to be a cold, calculating man who believed that power came through money and demonstrations of force.
Stokes was trained to take over Mama Mabel’s criminal empire and maintain the Stokes family’s hold over Harlem. She was very successful in this as he gained a reputation as a man to be feared as well as a successful businessman.
Unfortunately, his cousin, Mariah Dillard, killed him mid-way through Luke Cage‘s first season. While this was a great twist, Diamondback wasn’t anywhere near as compelling as Cottonmouth and the series lost a little bit of momentum after his death.
15. Ben Poindexter
Ben Poindexter was introduced in Daredevil Season Three as an FBI agent who was initially charged with protecting Wilson Fisk as he was transported from prison. He gained Fisk’s attention when he killed all of the attackers who tried to intercept his transfer. Fisk noticed that he showed an incredible talent for marksmanship and spent his time trying to get to know him.
As we learned more about Dex, we discovered that he suffered from a mental illness from a very young age. He was unstable and suffered from psychopathic tendencies and the Kingpin attempted to exploit this. In order to control himself, Dex had a very structured life, he needed the rules and structure to keep his mind sane. Fisk noticed this and gradually began to tear it apart.
When Dex was most vulnerable, Fisk moved in and manipulated him to become his personal assassin and bodyguard. Fisk gave him a copy of the Daredevil costume and sent Dex out to dirty the name of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. This came to a head when Dex went to the New York Bulletin offices and began to brutally murder all of the staff.
His mental state continued to deteriorate as the season progressed and he eventually turned against Fisk. As the real Daredevil confronted the Kingpin in his penthouse, Dex had also made his way there with the intent of killing the villain. However, Murdock’s code said that Fisk needed to face justice, so he also had to stop Dex in his tracks. This led to Murdock breaking Dex’s spine.
14. Agent Nadeem
Ray Nadeem was introduced in Daredevil Season Three as a frustrated FBI agent. He worked hard throughout his life to try to provide the best life for his family, but was often passed over for promotions. When he confronted his boss about this, she relented and allowed him to take charge of the transfer of Wilson Fisk and his life was changed forever.
Nadeem was a family man who cared very deeply about providing for them. But, his dealings with Fisk dragged him deeper and deeper into a darkness that he wasn’t aware he had. He made a deal with Fisk that he’d meet his demands in exchange for information on other crime syndicates. This led to the Kingpin living in a penthouse suite with a heavily armed FBI task force guarding him.
Of course, this was not met with approval by the general public, but Nadeem did what he felt was right. It was only when his friend Dex started behaving erratically that Nadeem noticed something suspicious was going on — Fisk had actually managed to take control of the FBI and he had become a pawn for the Kingpin.
Eventually, Nadeem turned to Nelson and Murdock for help. He gave evidence in court to try and take down the Kingpin, but Fisk’s connections ran too deep. The evidence was dismissed and Nadeem returned home. It was here that he filmed his heartbreaking death-bed confession that leaked online and was able to finally take down Fisk’s operation.
13. Trish Walker
Jessica Jones’s best friend and confidante. Trish was a former child star who was trying to escape her former life and be respected as a serious journalist. Her past as ‘Patsy’ lingered, but she had forged a successful radio show for herself in ‘Trish Talk’.
Trish’s mother took Jessica in after her accident and the two girls formed a strong bond. While Jessica didn’t seem too friendly, she could always rely on Trish. This is partly because Trish will do anything for people she cares about. She’s a determined woman who’ll do whatever it takes to protect her loved ones — this is why she works so hard with Jessica to take down Kilgrave.
As a child star, Trish lived an unusual life and as she got older, her behavior became more erratic. She spiralled into a cycle of self-destruction that only Jessica was able to get her out of. Jessica identified that the problem was her mother, Dorothy, who was over-bearing and constantly meddling in Trish’s affairs. Once she broke free, she vowed to leave Patsy behind forever.
It seems that Trish is jealous of Jessica’s abilities; during Season Two, she begins taking the inhaler used by Will Simpson to enhance her strength and focus. As such, she becomes addicted to the power and undergoes an experimental procedure to gain powers for herself. At first, it seems this hasn’t had any effect until she catches her phone on her foot. Perhaps Season Three will feature more of Trish’s fledgling abilities and her journey to becoming Hellcat.
12. Danny Rand
The first of the Defenders on the list and yes, it is slightly controversial that he doesn’t make the top 10. Danny Rand was the son of a billionaire whose plane went down somewhere over the Himalayas. As the sole survivor, Danny was taken in by the monks in K’un L’un and began his training in martial arts. Eventually, he became good enough to challenge for the right to meet the dragon, Shao Lao, and claim the power of the Iron Fist for himself.
After gaining the power, he returns to New York City armed with a new destiny — to destroy the hand. When he first returns, nobody believes he really is Danny Rand. This is because he went missing years earlier and was presumed dead, so, people believed that he was simply a con-artist trying to gain Danny’s fortune.
Eventually, he was able to prove his identity and went on to take his place in Rand Enterprises. It was here that he learned that the company was being used as a front for Madame Gao to sell heroin. Of course, this enraged Danny and he set off to put this right.
He met a martial arts instructor named Colleen Wing and the two started a relationship. However, this was stretched as Danny learned that she was actually a student of the Hand. Danny was able to convince Colleen to fight on his side as they defeated Madame Gao and Bakuto, before finally ridding New York of the Hand in the battle of Midland Circle.
After Matt Murdock’s apparent sacrifice, Danny went on to become a costumed vigilante who took on Daredevil’s mission to save the city.
11. Stick
Stick is an enigmatic man who was a martial artist and a member of the Chaste, an ancient organisation created to prevent the Hand taking control of the world. He might be blind, but he’s one of the most dangerous men in the Marvel Netflix Universe. After Matt Murdock was blinded, Stick took in the child and taught him to appreciate what he had. However, he also taught him how to be a very dangerous and capable man.
As a member of the Chaste, he trained a number of students, but none were more deadly than Elektra Natchios and Matt Murdock. He began training Elektra from a very young age, but she became too dangerous and he abandoned her moving on to Matt Murdock. There was an instant connection with the boy, perhaps because of their disabilities, and it led to the creation of Daredevil.
Stick was a man who was determined to bring down the Hand and became disappointed by his former student’s reluctance to take a life. He knew that the Hand were seeking to take over New York and felt that he had to defeat them by any means.
Everything came to a head during the battle of Midland Circle as the Chaste came face-to-face with the Hand. Stick’s destiny had finally come and he joined his pupils in the fight.
10. Colleen Wing
It says quite a lot about the first season of Iron Fist that Danny Rand wasn’t the most interesting character in the show. Colleen Wing was far and away the best character. She is initially introduced as a karate instructor trying to make an honest living, but when Danny Rand stumbles into her life, it’s safe to say it changes forever.
Danny stumbles into the Chikara Dojo and meets Colleen. Their relationship starts off on rocky ground as Danny criticizes her teaching methods, but she soon warms to him and helps him adapt back into life in New York City. From then on, the two become companions who investigate the clandestine actions of Rand Enterprises and learn the truth about it being a front for Gao’s heroin organisation.
Colleen was taken in by the Hand as a child and became a capable martial artist. When Danny discovers this, he’s horrified that someone he cares about could be part of his sworn enemies. Danny helps her realize the evil of the Hand and she defects and helps him defeat them, both in Iron Fist and as part of The Defenders.
In Season Two, Colleen attempts to put her vigilante actions behind her until she discovers a box with a symbol she recognizes. This sets her on a path towards fighting Davos alongside Danny once more. After Davos takes the Iron Fist from Danny, they plot a way to get it back. However, instead of Danny, they decide to give Colleen the power of the fist.
9. Foggy Nelson
One half of Nelson and Murdock, Foggy Nelson is the heart of Daredevil. Where Matt Murdock seeks to take action with his fists, Foggy will try to think his way out of problems. He’s a charismatic and engaging speaker, which helps in his line of work, so it’s no surprise that he runs for District Attorney in Daredevil Season Three.
We first meet Foggy as Matt Murdock’s best friend and colleague. The two men decide to set up their own law firm and they became well-known lawyers due to their success. Foggy was tremendously loyal to Matt and would go out of his way to help him, particularly after he discovered Matt’s nocturnal activities.
Despite his initial support of Murdock, the relationship soon became strained as Matt grew less and less reliable. His actions as Daredevil began to have an adverse effect on his personal life and Foggy tried to tell him that he didn’t approve of his vigilantism. The final straw was during their defence of Frank Castle when they had a huge falling-out and decided to go their separate ways. Foggy then began working with Jeri Hogarth’s firm.
Foggy seemed like an easy-going character and a bit of a joker, but he was very serious about his work. His intellect allowed him to defend his clients in creative ways and he was a very good speaker.
8. Billy Russo
Billy Russo was Frank Castle’s best friend. The two were inseparable during their time in the Marines and were a formidable team who were often called in to assassinate high-value targets. When they left the Marines, Frank and Billy had very different ideas about what they wanted to do. Frank wished for a quiet life with his family, whereas Billy couldn’t escape from the war.
As such, he created his own company, Anvil Securities, under the guise of it being a private security firm. However, the firm was set up by William Rawlins to train soldiers to be as deadly as Russo and Castle were. When Castle emerged as the Punisher, Rawlins sent Russo to kill his former friend.
Russo became close to Homeland Security agent Dinah Madani in order to learn of Castle’s whereabouts. This also exposed his time in the Cerberus unit and Russo became terrified that this information could be used against him and he would be arrested for the crimes. Because of this, he allowed Castle to kill Rawlins and then set out on a mission to kill Castle.
Returning to the Central Park carousel, Castle, Russo and Madani all engaged in a brutal battle which left Russo’s face horribly disfigured and his mind shattered. When he awoke from his coma months later he couldn’t remember why he was in hospital, nor could he remember any of the terrible things he’d done to Castle. All that he could remember was a skull. Truly, it was his mind that was the Jigsaw to be reassembled.
7. Luke Cage
Carl Lucas is Harlem’s hometown hero. A man with unbreakable skin who’s softly-spoken and very calm most of the time. He’s a reluctant hero and doesn’t want to cause any trouble or get himself sent back to prison. But if he sees something wrong in his neighborhood, he can’t help himself.
He first appears in Jessica Jones as a bartender that hooks up with the troubled PI. But, as ever with Jessica, things weren’t as simple as they seemed. It turned out that she was involved in the murder of Luke’s wife, Reeva and the relationship was derailed. One she was able to convince him that she wasn’t herself when Reeva was murdered (she was acting under the influence of Kilgrave), Luke tried to help her again.
After leaving Jessica, he returned to Harlem to try and live a quiet life. But that was never going to happen once he became involved with Cottonmouth. After Cottonmouth had Pops murdered, Cage made it his mission to take down the crime lord and eventually became a vigilante. The people of Harlem loved him because he stood up for the little people. Using his unbreakable skin and super strength, he travelled throughout the city taking down gangs and drug dealers.
Luke’s powers gain the attention of Diamondback, his former friend, who wants to kill him. He develops a bullet that is capable of penetrating Luke’s skin and also creates a bodysuit that mimics his powers. Luke defeats him and then has to take on the Jamaican gangster, Bushmaster, who seeks to take control of Harlem.
6. Kilgrave
David Tennant is simply superb as the villain with the power to control people. We learn that he was experimented on by his parents as a child, which is how he developed his powers, so he does gain an element of sympathy. But his actions soon take away any sympathetic feelings.
Kilgrave is a man who is used to getting what he wants. Because his abilities allow him to control anyone, he gets anything he desires. This even extends to his psychological torture of Jessica Jones. When they first meet, Kilgrave takes a shine to her and they begin a relationship. However, as it progresses, it soon becomes very one-sided. Kilgrave controls Jessica to be his personal sex slave over a period of a few months.
In this time, he becomes infatuated with her and develops an obsession. The fact that she was able to escape his control only adds to this infatuation. Jessica used this to try and teach him to use his powers for good, but after she tried to have him arrested, he couldn’t forgive her betrayal.
He became obsessed with killing Jessica and tried to increase his abilities and stretch his influence further. With the help of Luke Cage and Trish, Jessica manages to capture Kilgrave and decides to bring his parents to see him. This isn’t a good idea as it ends up enraging him and he uses his powers to make his father kill himself.
Kilgrave is a villain who’s very different to the others. Instead of relying on brute strength, he relies on a more psychological style of villainy. As a result, we’re given a truly terrifying, yet softly spoken villain who definitely ranks among the greatest in the MCU.
5. Karen Page
Karen meets Foggy and Matt when she becomes their first client. From there, the three go on to form a great friendship. Though it’s tested many times, mainly due to Matt’s nightly activities, the bond they share is one of the divining rods of Daredevil.
Karen always sees the best in people and tries to be as optimistic as she possibly can be. As her story progresses, her faith in people is tested as she suffers a series of traumatic events. We first meet her after a man she was on a date with is shot in front of her and she is framed for his murder. Then, she is almost murdered while in police custody.
Things reach a boiling point when James Wesley kidnaps her and she shows her cunning side. After a momentary lapse in concentration on Wesley’s part, Page takes his gun and guns him down. From then on, she becomes a much darker and more determined character.
She starts working as Nelson and Murdock’s office manager but quickly becomes interested in pursuing a career in journalism. Her drive and determination impress Ben Urich (who was really unlucky not to be included in this list) and she eventually takes his place after he is killed.
When she meets Frank Castle, Page becomes a confidant to the Punisher as she sees his true self. She sees that he’s a man who needs help and someone to care for him. Her development over the series is something to be admired because she’s very different to the character we first met.
4. Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones is a private investigator who doesn’t really want any hassle, she just wants a simple life and to be left alone. But for some reason, she always ends up in trouble. Really, she just wants to do her job and get paid at the end of the day, but it’s never that simple with her.
As a child, Jessica was involved in a car accident that killed her family; she was the only survivor. When she awoke, she was taken in by Dorothy Walker and developed a friendship with her daughter, Trish. Shortly after, she discovered that she had acquired superhuman abilities and, after encouragement from Trish, decided to pursue a career as a superhero.
This led her to meet Kilgrave, a man with mind-controlling powers. It was here that Jessica’s life changed completely. Kilgrave kept Jessica under his control and mentally tortured her, using her as both a sex slave and a superpowered enforcer. When she eventually broke free of his control, she was left with post-traumatic stress disorder.
When Kilgrave returned to her life, Jessica felt that she had to do everything in her power to stop him as she couldn’t allow another woman to go through the same things she did. This leads to her taking the decision to snap Kilgrave’s neck.
Her trauma increases further in Season Two when she discovers that her mother is alive. Jessica goes on a journey with her to try and quell her murderous tendencies. Unfortunately, she was unable to and Trish Walker shot her mother in the head.
3. Frank Castle
Perhaps the most complex character in the whole Marvel Netflix Universe, Frank Castle is a former Marine who ends up waging a war to clean up his city. Unlike Daredevil who lives by a code of not killing, Castle is unafraid of taking a life. He’ll do whatever it takes, however violently, to administer justice. This leads to him becoming feared by the general public and a man with a huge bounty on his head.
This wasn’t always Castle’s mission, however. He returned home from a mission disillusioned by his commanding officer and had decided that he wasn’t going to return. Unfortunately, the day after he returned, tragedy struck. Castle and his family were enjoying a day in Central Park when a massacre took place.
William Rawlins had placed a hit on Castle and sent a team of mercenaries, led by Billy Russo, to kill him. Castle survived, but his wife and children were killed in the crossfire and he vowed to clean up New York City by any means necessary.
We first meet him as he comes into conflict with Daredevil. Though the two men share a goal, their ideologies couldn’t be any more different. However, once Murdock catches Castle, he realises that there’s much more to him than meets the eye.
Frank Castle’s own series proves the nuances to his character. He’s a broken man, much like all of the other heroes in Netflix’s corner of the MCU, but as well as that, he’s an honourable man. He’ll do anything to protect those that he loves.
1. Matt Murdock (tie)
How could I separate these two? Charlie Cox IS Daredevil. Matt Murdock is such a damaged character, but you root for him all the same. It goes to show that even his friends think he’s crazy to have this vendetta against Fisk, but they still stand by him.
As a boy, Murdock was blinded when a truck carrying chemicals spilt into his eyes. However, instead of merely robbing the boy of his sight, these chemicals heightened his other senses to superhuman levels. This meant that Murdock can hear a heart beating and feel the print on a newspaper.
After meeting Stick, Murdock began to learn to deal with his newfound disability, and in doing so became the most capable blind man in the world. Stick also crafted Murdock into a warrior, training him to be able to take on the Hand. This is shown during The Defenders when he easily matches Danny Rand, supposedly the greatest martial artist in the world, in hand-to-hand combat.
Daredevil set a new standard for superhero television when it came out and a lot of this was down to Matt Murdock. One of the most endearing things about him is he actually gets tired while fighting. Watch the corridor fights and you’ll see that he’s exhausted, but his sense of justice implores him to carry on. The same can be said from his battles with the Kingpin.
Matt Murdock is flawed, no doubt about it, but he will always try to do the right thing and save his city. That is why we love him.
1. Wilson Fisk (tie)
Every great hero needs a great villain, and Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin provides that in spades. Fisk is the perfect foil to Matt Murdock as deep down, he’s just as broken as Murdock is. As a child, Fisk brutally murdered his father, beating him to death with a hammer after his father made him listen as he beat his mother. Rather than chastise her son, Fisk’s mother comforted him and helped hide the body.
After he returned to New York as an adult, Fisk began a series of criminal businesses and developed a plan to level Hell’s Kitchen before rebuilding it. Much like Murdock, Fisk’s desire was to save his city, he just believed that the only way to do it was to destroy it first.
Despite his criminal activities, Fisk was actually a very shy character; he didn’t like to speak in front of crowds and very much kept himself to himself. Once he met Vanessa, he began to come out of his shell a bit more.
In light of all of this, he was brutal. At the end of the first episode he appears in, Fisk kills a member of the Russian mob by smashing his head between a car door, proving that though he might be shy, he certainly wasn’t one to be messed with.
His battles with Daredevil rank as some of the best fight scenes in the whole MCU and the psychological war between the two of them is a truly fantastic sight. There’s an argument that Matt Murdock is the best character in the Marvel Netflix Universe, but there’s no argument that Wilson Fisk is quite simply, the best villain in the whole MCU.
Did your favorite Marvel Netflix character make the cut? Which Marvel Netflix character’s ranking were you most surprised by? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!