Netflix’s Daredevil Will Play Like “A Very Large Movie,” Says Joe Quesada

Quesada is excited to apply the Netflix model to creating a Marvel show. Discussing the benefits of working on a television series, he stated:

“One of the advantages is really from the planning stage — obviously it’s much easier to work with a smaller number of episodes than it is with a larger number of episodes. We can sit there and look at 13 episodes and plan it out as a very large movie. It makes seeing the bigger picture a little bit easier.”

In the interview, Quesada also addressed one of the inevitable results of producing Daredevil through Netflix:

“You can’t deny that there will be binge-viewing. You know that there are going to be some Marvel fans that when this show premieres, they are going to go on to Netflix, and they are going to sit there for 12 to 13-plus hours, and watch the entire thing all the way through. It’s going to happen. The Netflix model offers us the advantage of being able to construct the show in a manner that is very different than a weekly network TV show… With weekly TV, you sit there and go, “The audience may not want to wait two or three weeks to get this particular bit of information.” Whereas with Netflix, we might be able to hold onto a particular piece of information, because they may just watch it two hours later.”

With the incoming Netflix series, upcoming Marvel films and many competing studios churning out their own superhero flicks, the question of over-saturating the market came up. Quesada had a clear answer, explaining his stance that:

“This is something I’ve been hearing now for over 10-plus years. “When is the wave going to die? When are people going to say, ‘I’m sick of comic book movies’?” You know what? I’m sick of people saying that… Everybody who is in our industry, everybody who loves what we do, from the creative side to fandom, we’ve been here forever, and we keep coming back for more, as long as the books are good, as long as the stories are great, regardless of whether they are Marvel, DC, Image, Dynamite, superheroes, alternative, indie, corporate-owned, creator-owned, licensed, paper, digital — it doesn’t matter where they’re coming from. People just want great stories.”

Quesada has been one of the key players in Marvel’s resurgence as one of the most powerful entertainment conglomerates in the world, and his personal connection to Daredevil makes me very excited for the upcoming Netflix series. Though a lot still needs to be determined about Daredevil (who’s playing him, for example?), I’ll be counting down the months until its release.