- "She used to say, 'Be careful of the Murdock boys. They got the devil in 'em.' And you'd see it sometimes in the ring. His eyes would go dead and he'd start walking forward real slow, hands at his sides, like he wasn't afraid of anything. And the other guy, he'd see that look, and he'd try to get away from him. Nah. My dad, he'd catch him and trap him in the corner. Let the devil out."
- ―Matt Murdock to Paul Lantom
Into the Ring is the first episode of the first season of the television series Daredevil.
Synopsis[]
Murdock's vigilante crime fighting and his new law practice find equally dangerous challenges in a murder case tied to a corporate crime syndicate.
Plot[]
In 1994, while saving an elderly man from being run over a truck, nine-year-old Matt Murdock is blinded when hazardous chemicals spill into his eyes. Matt's last vision is of his father Jack comforting him.
In the present day, Matt Murdock visits Clinton Church to make a confession to Paul Lantom, asking forgiveness for what he is about to do. Later that night, Murdock wears a black vigilante suit and a black mask, and stops the trafficking of several kidnapped women by Turk Barrett and the Russian Mafia.
The next morning, Murdock is awakened by a phone call from Foggy Nelson who talks about the upcoming meeting with the real estate agency. Nelson talks to Brett Mahoney, giving him cigars for his mother and asking to give him a call of NYPD comes across of some interesting case. Nelson and Murdock then meet with Susan Harris to rent an office and start their own law firm.
Karen Page wakes up in her apartment near the corpse of Daniel Fisher, holding a bloody knife, which results in her being arrested by the police. Mahoney tells Nelson about it, so he and Murdock arrive at the 15th Precinct Police Station and introduce themselves as her lawyers. Page tells them that she has no money to pay for the legal services, and although Nelson wanted to leave, Murdock decides to help her regardless, since they had no clients at the time. Page tells Nelson and Murdock that no matter how the situation looked, she did not kill Fisher, and Murdock believes in her innocence by listening to her heartbeat.
Sitting in the park, Clyde Farnum gets approached by James Wesley and assumes that he came to collect the money he loaned from Don Rigoletto. Wesley informs Farnum that Rigoletto is no longer in business and his employer has taken over. Wesley shows Farnum a video recording of his daughter Tracy being watched by Rance, who is ready to kill her by Wesley's order. Wesley makes it clear that his employer is not concerned about the loan but instead wishes to use Farnum's position.
Discussing Page's case, Nelson considers making a deal to evade the court hearing and reduce the punishment for Page, but Murdock is against that. Murdock is adamant that Page is innocent, although Nelson points out that she was found in a very incriminating position. Murdock, however, notices that despite the case looking too clear, the police and the DA's office are hesitant on pressing charges, suspecting that the case is more complicated than it seems. Nelson reluctantly agrees to go with Murdock's line of thought, but points out that Page is not telling the whole truth.
That night, Page gets attacked in her cell by Farnum who is ordered to kill Page and make it look by suicide, however, Page manages to survive and scream for help. Nelson and Murdock meet with Christian Blake and Carl Hoffman and pressure them into releasing Page, in exchange for keeping silence on the attack at her cell. They bring Page into their office, where she tells Nelson and Murdock how she discovered embezzlement in the financial records of Union Allied Construction and that she told her boss about that. He refused to listen to her, so she talked to Fisher about it, but the next morning, Fisher was found dead in her apartment.
Page is afraid that people who targeted her and killed Fisher might come for Nelson and Murdock, but Murdock convinces her to stay in his apartment for the night until they figure something out. Murdock thinks about the case and wonders why the people in charge tried to frame Page the first time, not kill, until she was arrested. Murdock concludes that Page must have kept the pension file and her attackers could not kill her without getting it first. Page lies that all the information was wiped out and she did not get the file, but Murdock already knows the truth.
At Union Allied property, Wesley meets with Leland Owlsley, Nobu Yoshioka, Madame Gao, Vladimir and Anatoly Ranskahov to discuss their situation, although his employer is unable to come. Wesley expresses his concern over the trafficking fiasco, and the Ranskahov brothers tell him about the vigilante who liberated the women. Owlsley tried to defuse the situation and points out that the Union Allied situation is attracting an unwanted attention, so it must be handled as soon as possible.
Page sneaks out of Murdock's apartment and returns home where she collects a flashdrive with the Union Allied pension file but gets ambushed by Rance. He takes the flashdrive and prepares to kill Page, only to be stopped by the vigilante in black, who defeated him in a fight. Page says that going to the police with the evidence is pointless, but the vigilante dumps Rance with the flashdrive at the New York Bulletin. The paper then publishes the story about the Union Allied embezzlement, which results in a huge scandal and public uproar.
Wesley speaks to his employer, in regards of the Union Allied situation, and assures him that the necessary actions will be taken. The employer decides to let Page go, since everything she knew was already in papers, and voices his interest in Nelson and Murdock.
As Page gets cleared from all charges, she thanks Nelson and Murdock and decides to stay to work in their firm, to repay for their help.
At night, Murdock comes to Fogwell's Gym, where his father used to attend, and starts training with a punching bag.
Owlsley clears the money trail left by Union Allied, and both Farnum and Rance get killed, seemingly by suicide.
Meanwhile, Gao keeps running her sweat shop for heroin production, and Yoshioka and his men make plan about the certain place in the city they need.
The Russian Mafia, led by the Ranskahov brothers, attack the man on the streets and kidnap his son. Murdock hears the boy's screams and wears his vigilante suit, before rushing in to save him.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Masked Man
- Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
- Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
- Toby Leonard Moore as James Wesley
- Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk (voice only)
Guest Stars:
- Peter McRobbie as Father Paul Lantom
- Daryl Edwards as Detective Carl Hoffman
- Chris Tardio as Detective Christian Blake
- John Patrick Hayden as Jack Murdock
- Skylar Gaertner as Young Matt Murdock
- Gideon Emery as Anatoly Ranskahov
- Nikolai Nikolaeff as Vladimir Ranskahov
- Peter Shinkoda as Nobu Yoshioka
- Wai Ching Ho as Madame Gao
- Rob Morgan as Turk Barrett
- Royce Johnson as Sergeant Brett Mahoney
- J. Tucker Smith as Officer Clyde Farnum
- Tonya Glanz as Susan Harris
- Elise Kibler as Tracy Farnum
- Erick Abbate as Boy
- Richie Allan as Elderly Man
- Raul Dedos as Officer #1
- Jessica Park as Brunette
- Craig Henningsen as Rance (uncredited)
- Ilan Krigsfeld as Gun Dealer (uncredited)
- Lynn Marocola as Hell's Kitchen Bar Patron (uncredited)
- Roberto Lopez as Russian Driver (uncredited)
- Dennis Lauricella as NYPD Officer (uncredited)
- Pedro Marcelino as Bomb Blast Victim (uncredited)
- Patrick Michael Walsh Jr. as Irish Gang #1 (uncredited)
- Unknown Actor as Daniel Fisher (uncredited)
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Clinton Church
- Matt Murdock's Apartment
- Nelson and Murdock Law Office
- Karen Page's Apartment
- 15th Precinct Police Station
- Abe Lebewhol Park
- New York Bulletin Building
- Fogwell's Gym
- Madame Gao's Warehouse
- Farnum Residence
- Jack Murdock's House (flashback)
- Three Roads Bar (mentioned)
- Hudson River (mentioned)
- Per Se (mentioned)
- Samara, Russia (mentioned)
- Chechnya, Russia (mentioned)
Events[]
- Rescue of Kidnapped Women
- Murder of Daniel Fisher
- Attack on Karen Page
- Rand Enterprises Truck Crash (flashback)
- Battle of New York (mentioned)
- Creel vs Murdock (mentioned)
Items[]
Vehicles[]
To be added
Organizations[]
- Nelson and Murdock
- New York City Police Department
- Russian Mafia
- Hand
- Union Allied Construction
- Midtown Property Solutions
- New York Bulletin
- Rand Enterprises (flashback)
- NSA (mentioned)
- Kitchen Hellions (mentioned)
- Brooklyn Bolts (logo)
- Xining Airways (logo)
- Avengers (mentioned)
Mentioned[]
- Matt Murdock's Grandmother
- Bess Mahoney
- Don Rigoletto
- Gary Feinstein
- McClintock
- Prohaszka
- Ben Urich
- Carl Creel
- Claude Monet
- Brady v. Maryland
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fogwell's Gym | John Paesano |
|
Awards[]
- This episode was nominated for a Camerimage award for Best Cinematography – Pilot.
Trivia[]
- This episode has the distinction of being the first original Marvel production on Netflix.
- On one of the chemical barrels is written the code 0464XXXX, a reference to the first Daredevil comic which debuted on April (04) 1964 (64).
