Having just finished watching the third season of ‘Marvel’s Daredevil’ on Netflix, I can’t help but think about possibilities for future Marvel live action stories including (if it happens) upcoming plots for the next Daredevil season.
So, be forewarned, a spoiler alert is in play for this post. If you haven’t watched or finished the third season of Daredevil, plot twists are revealed in what follows.
Okay, so hopefully - if you’re still reading - you’ve either watched 'Daredevil Season 3' or don’t mind knowing how the season ends.
In a previous post here on GoCollect.com, I speculated, based on then-circulating rumors, that the third season of Daredevil would incorporate elements of Miller’s ‘Born Again’ story arc and the later Brian Michael Bendis ‘Murdock papers,’ narrative.
Indeed, the season not only retold those classic stories but, in my opinion, did it quite successfully staying true to the spirit of the original comics.
Even if I didn’t get my hoped for Stilt-Man appearance (maybe next season), I was still quite satisfied with this serving of Daredevil-related drama and action.
However, as is often the case with the Marvel movies and television live action series, details from the comics get changed. One of the most evident was the crippling of Bullseye (played as Ben Poindexter by Wilson Bethel).
In the comics, it’s Matt (Daredevil) Murdock who breaks Bullseye's back, but in the Netflix Marvel universe Bullseye is crippled by the Kingpin: Wilson Fink (brilliantly portrayed by Vincent De’Onofrio) after he attempts to kill Fink's beloved Vanessa (portrayed once again this season by Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer).
It’s only after Bullseye has his spine shattered that we get an interesting Easter-egg.
As the two spinal surgeons work at lacing his spine with a 'special metal' (Adamantium? One would think, but it’s not called that here), in the final moments of the the closing episode, one of the two speaks to the other and addresses him as 'Dr. Oyama'. If you’re a Marvel comics and X-Men fan, you’ll know that the only Dr. Oyama this could possibly be is Dr. Kenji Oyama who appears in various incarnations in the X-Men and Daredevil universes and is also known on the 'X-Men animated series' as ‘the Professor’ and in the comics as ‘Lord Dark Wind.’
Daredevil #196 (July 1983) - First appearance of Kenji Oyama aka Lord Dark Wind
Oyama or Lord Dark Wind is the father of Yuriko Oyama aka Lady Deathstrike and the mysterious Lord Deathstrike is his son. In the Marvel Universe, Oyama was also indirectly responsible for starting the ‘Weapon X’ program that originally gives Wolverine his adamantium-laced bones. The program is started through a process based directly on his research and he is the first person to adjoin adamantium to human bones. Oyama’s first appearance is in the sleeper key Daredevil #196, which is actually a great read and currently trending at a price of $60.00 in 9.8 graded condition, in other words, at the moment, quite affordable but also showing mixed returns.
What Oyama’s appearance in 'Daredevil' Netflix series does is connect Daredevil to the X-Men universe and indirectly to Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike. We know the X-Men are now officially part of the MCU, will Daredevil be the vehicle that introduces them?
Well, given the cancellation of both Iron Fist and now Luke Cage, the answer is probably not. This possibility is rendered even more unlikely when we keep in mind how separate the Marvel small screen series are from their big screen featured cousins. Nonetheless, there have been various crossovers, and so Oyama’s appearance in a movie is not impossible. If that happens, keep an eye on Daredevil #196.
