A Complete Chronological List of Easter Eggs in Marvel's Daredevil

It's no secret that I've been a huge Marvel fan for as long as I can remember. So with Marvel's Daredevil (the first of five Marvel-based Netflix series set to contribute to the Marvel Cinematic Universe [MCU]) now out for the world to see, I figured it was an appropriate time to set my knowledge to the task of assembling a complete list of easter eggs I've found throughout the show's 13 episodes.

Of course, 13 hours worth of narrative is a lot of information to sift through and, seeing as the show is chock-full of minor/obscure references, I've no doubt missed or omitted a great number of them. However, to keep this list as complete as can possibly be, I'll continually update it if more secrets are discovered or brought to my attention.

With that being said, here's a complete list of easter eggs I've either found or heard of, in the chronological order that they appear in the show.

*WARNING*

SPOILERS AHEAD

Atlas

At multiple points throughout the series, the office adjacent from Nelson & Murdock can be seen sporting a logo that reads "Atlas Investments." The design bears a striking resemblance to the logo of Atlas Comics, the real-life company that would go on to become Marvel Comics during a rebranding in the early 1960's. 

Carl "Crusher" Creel

In Episode 2 ("Cut Man") Jack Murdock is booked for a big match with a man only referred to as Creel. A closer examination of the posters around the gym confirm this to be Carl "Crusher" Creel, a boxer from the comics who goes on to to become the super-villain known as the Absorbing Man. 

Bullseye

This one is a bit of a longshot, but popular speculation is that the sniper that shoots Detective Blake in Episode 6 ("Condemned") is our first look at the classic Daredevil villain Bullseye. I personally didn't catch this one on my first viewing, but it would certainly explain why one can see what appears to be a playing card in his bag. 

"The War"

Throughout Episode 7 ("Stick") Stick continuously refers to an ongoing "war" that he was trying to prepare Matt for. This war is briefly mentioned once again when Daredevil fights Nobu in Episode 9 ("Speak of the Devil"). In the comics, Stick is the leader of a secret warrior group known as the Chaste, that has rivaled a secret ninja society known as the Hand for many generations. Although neither the Hand nor the Chaste are ever directly mentioned, it is heavily suggested that their rivalry has always been in play even in the MCU.

Also, Nobu's attire during the fight in Episode 9 is a blatant reference to the uniform worn by Hand ninjas in the comics. I think by this point it's safe to assume that Nobu is the first Hand member we've encountered in the MCU, and I have no doubt his superiors will play a bigger role as we progress deeper into Daredevil lore in future seasons.

Elektra Natchios

Episode 10 ("Nelson v. Murdock") features a plethora of revealing flashbacks, one of which indicates that Matt took Spanish in college only to get closer with an unnamed Greek woman whom Foggy describes as "smokin'." Although this is a far cry from confirmation, it is widely believed that the Greek woman is none other than Daredevil's on-again, off-again love-interest/arch-nemesis Elektra, who is of Greek descent in the comics. She was also originally trained by Stick, who was introduced earlier in the series. And seeing as she goes on to become one of the lead assassins of the Hand, this season has done plenty to pave the way for her official introduction to the MCU. 

Roxxon Energy Corporation

In another flashback from Episode 10 ("Nelson v. Murdock"), the law firm at which Matt and Foggy interned is revealed to have at one point represented the Roxxon Corporation. This might be a rather obscure reference for most viewers, but comic book fans may recognize this as the name of a massive, ethically shady corporation from the comic book continuity. It had also been passively mentioned at other points throughout the MCU, including the Iron Man trilogy. 

The Steel Serpent

This symbol could be seen on all of the heroin throughout the show, but it was really put in focus when Daredevil brought it to the attention of Ben Urich in Episode 12 ("The Ones We Leave Behind"). 

Hardcore Iron Fist fans such as myself will probably recognize this symbol as that of Davos the Steel Serpent, one of Iron Fist's most prominent villains. 

Later on in Episode 12, Madam Gao tells Leland Owlsley that her home is "a considerable distance farther" than China. Aside from packing her drugs with a Steel Serpent label and managing to knock Daredevil on his butt, this is our biggest hint that she's an otherworldly native. But from where? Ku'n Lun? Ku'n Zi? Is she working with Davos? Crane Mother? Both? She mentions that the heroin business is not her primary purpose for being there, but then what is? Is she simply establishing the Steel Serpent's presence on Earth? The enigmatic Madam Gao and her business leaves us with plenty of unanswered questions. There are only a few things we know for certain: (A) Madam Gao is definitely from one of the seven capital cities of heaven, and (B) It's still possible that they are looking to base the upcoming Iron Fist Netflix series mostly on the Immortal Iron Fist by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, in which the Steel Serpent plays a very big role. 

Whatever the case may be, the set up they do in this show has gotten this Iron Fist fan excited! 

Gladiator

In Episode 11 ("The Path of the Righteous") Daredevil faces off against Melvin Potter, the man who was introduced earlier as the designer responsible for Wilson Fisk's armored suits. We also see him providing the same service for Matt when he later designs the iconic red Daredevil outfit. In the comics, the name Melvin Potter is also synonymous with a super-hero costume designer turned villain named Gladiator. As depicted above, one can see evidence of him designing the Gladiator suit in his shop during Episode 13 ("Daredevil"). 

Stilt Man

It seems Melvin Potter's workshop is a haven for easter eggs, as a prototype for Stilt Man's legs can also be seen in the background of Episode 13 ("Daredevil"). 

Stan Lee Cameo

It was a lot easier to miss, but it seems Stan Lee's tradition of Marvel cameos lives on. Though the legendary Silver-Age writer is usually given a walk-on role with at least one line, this time he was limited to a framed picture in the background of the police station in Episode 13 ("Daredevil").

- Ralphael Pacheco -

April 14th, 2015

Behind the Scenes: Snowscape

In reviewing my previous post, I came to realize that it was rather rushed and had ultimately become just a shameless promotion blurb. Of course, I began this blog with the intent of having more opportunities to write and share details/insights on my creative endeavors, so I was rather disappointed with myself to say the least. While broadly summarizing recent events was in fact the purpose of that post, I can't help but feel there were things I wanted to get into with more specificity. Particularly the brief paragraph I'd allotted to discuss my newest short, Snowscape.

With that being said, Snowscape was a simple idea that had come across my mind sometime in mid February. Being in Central Pennsylvania, there was a lot of snow coming down around that time, and I wanted to shoot a film that takes advantage of the seasonal aesthetic. I also knew that my sibling, Loryn Pacheco, was very eager to choreograph some more fight scenes, as it had been a good 6 months since our last live action collaboration on Duel.

Anyway, I came up with a concept that would make heavy use of the beautiful snowy landscapes that our area has to offer. I set aside an entire morning to write out a rough script and send it over to Loryn. Before I even started writing, I had a definite location in mind. Stover's Dam is a wonderful open park only a few miles from our home. As you've probably already noticed, the frozen lake and wooden bridge play an integral part in our imagery at the start of the short. Even while writing I was already imagining the compositions we could capture with the location.

From there, I started working with Loryn on action design. The scenarios had already been written in the script, but it was her responsibility to choreograph the fight scene that follows the "snowball shootout." In the script I described our characters as fighting with Mixed Martial Arts, with my character specializing Jiu-Jitsu/Boxing, and Loryn's character specializing in Jiu-Jitsu/Judo. I catered to her strengths when deciding what fighting styles to include, since her studies were mainly focused on Judo at the time. Anyway, with that information she choreographed a great fight scene that comprises the meat of the film. 

With the script and choreography in place, we continued rehearsing the fight until a fresh layer of snow had fallen, at which point we made our trek to the park and began principal photography. Needless to say, the frigid temperatures made production a nightmare. We were appropriately clothed, but the strong winds and the Jiu-jitsu ground-fighting made us numb at regular intervals. Whenever it became too much, we walked back to the car, defrosted ourselves in the heater, and went right back to filming. During the writing phase, the idea was to make the fight ridiculous and messy, with both of us rolling around in the snow as we tussle. Clearly, that idea had come back to bite me, but hopefully it came across well on-screen. 

Anyway, we continued filming one day at a time. We utterly refused to shoot on days when the temperature went below freezing, which unfortunately happened more often than not. Sometimes there would be whole weeks between filming for this very reason. We wrapped principal photography in early March and focused on editing and post-production from that point on. 

As there were often days of downtime between shoots, I'd already edited much of the footage before we even wrapped. Nonetheless, there was still a lot of work to do. 

For the first time, I put a lot of thought into color correction for this project. I was originally considering taking the traditional coloring route of lowering the saturation so I can have greater control. However, I quickly found that this aesthetic didn't match the comical mood we were going for (not to mention, a lower saturation doesn't make too big of a difference when most of the screen is white). So instead I over-saturated the colors with blue shadows and yellow-ish highlights. Of the two pictures above, the one on top has no color correction, and the one on the bottom has the full correction seen in the finished project. 

Since we filmed at different times on different days, the lighting would often be drastically different between certain shots. I tried my best to compensate with color correction and gamma adjustment, but ultimately there were still some things that couldn't be fixed in the final product. However, for the average viewer the differences are negligible and would probably come off as a minor continuity errors at most. 

The rest of the post-production is pretty self-explanatory. I cut the scenes together, recorded dialogue, put in music, sound effects, foley, Wilhelm screams, etc... I also dedicated a day to animating a quick intro for our production group in Blender, which ultimately turned out pretty "meh" but it serves it's purpose. 

On the soundtrack front, I can't say enough good things about Ross Bugden. He's an independent musician who creates royalty free orchestral music on his YouTube channel (linked on his name above). As you can see in the credits, I used quite a few of his tracks in this short, and it's an understatement to say that he provides a valuable service for low-end content creators such as myself. Also, fans of Payday 2 may recognize the music during the fight scene as the track from the Death Wish trailer, composed by the ingenious Simon Viklund. I had a lot of trouble finding music that wouldn't receive a content ID match while also matching the tempo of the fight, but thankfully Viklund's awesome work came to the rescue. 

Anyway, that's the story of how Snowscape came to fruition. I hope this provides some insights for those who were curious. The obligatory closing statement is that it was a fun time and a blast to create, but honestly: it was freezing and painful and I hope to never do it again. Thanks for reading! 

- Ralphael Pacheco -

April 11th, 2015