The best fight scenes from Netflix's Daredevil

The episode: Season one, episode nine, “Speak Of The Devil”Even Nobu (Peter Shinkoda) recognizes how good this fight is. The judicious use of slow-mo emphasizes the viciousness of the scene, which is aided by Nobu’s mastery of his signature weapon, a kyoketsu-shoge. The blade attached to a long chain digs into Daredevil several times, leaving him seriously wounded. This fight is a good example of how adaptable Matt is as a fighter; he often changes his fighting style to suit his opponent. In this scene, that means he’s pulling off some seriously impressive acrobatic moves. Nobu’s acknowledgment of Matt’s skill is clearly a high compliment, coming from someone who continues fighting for several seconds even after his entire body is engulfed in flames.

The episode: Season two, episode three, “New York’s Finest”Season two’s riff on the hallway fight is without question beautifully composed, but it lacks the, well, punch, of the previous season’s iteration. Season two ups the ante by expanding the scope from just a hallway to a stairwell and an elevator as well, and Matt’s facing off against a biker gang with only a chain and an unloaded gun taped to his hand; on paper, it should add up to a better fight than season one. But this scene suffers an extremely common fate for sequels: it’s bogged down by self-consciousness, the awareness that it’s trying to improve upon something great. Here, that results in the emotional connection getting lost. Still, there’s a lot to love. The choreography and camerawork are still incredible, and you can see the influence of Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) on Matt through Daredevil’s just-a-touch-more-brutal-than-usual beatdowns.

The episode: Season two, episode nine, “Seven Minutes In Heaven”Here’s the thing about this fight: going into it, Frank knows he’s being used by Kingpin. It’s unclear, though, whether or not he knows he’s being played. His confusion when the guards refuse to open the door seems genuine, but the speed with which he’s able to adapt to an entire cell block coming for him is a brilliant moment of characterization. We know that Frank constantly expects the world, in general, to turn on him at any moment; whether he expected Fisk, specifically, to betray him at this moment is almost beside the point. His reaction is the important thing here. If he panics, he doesn’t show it; he just takes his shank and starts ruthlessly and efficiently carving his way through every inmate that tries to take him on. There are moments, too, when Frank makes it clear he’s going for a kill, not an injury: the way he stabs one enemy once, twice, three times in the gut in rapid succession does more to show the stark difference between him and Daredevil than any dialogue ever could.

The episode: Season one, episode two, “Cut Man”With this fight, Daredevil threw down a gauntlet. Metaphorically, it challenged other superhero shows—and action shows in general—to rise to this masterclass in direction and choreography. Literally, it forces Matt to make his way through a gauntlet of thugs in a cramped hallway. The one-shot take uses every inch of space to its advantage: the camera pushes down the hallway, pulls back, even spins 180 degrees a few times—and , even though those spins were built in just in case they couldn’t pull off the oner. Daredevil pops in and out of frame, ducking into doorways only to emerge, seconds later, fighting off more goons. Beyond the technical achievement, though, Cox’s acting is what sells this fight. Toward the end, you can feel his exhaustion as he leans against a wall and heaves for breath before pushing himself, hips first, forward to finish off the last enemy. The last few punches he throws are wild and almost languid; they’re telegraphed so far in advance that you wonder how the other guy didn’t simply step out of the way. It’s only momentum that keeps Matt going at this point, as he proves when he collapses, his whole body giving out, as he delivers the final blow.