Netflix Lost Daredevil in 2022, but 1 Year Later Its True Successor Arrived (And It’s Only Getting Better)

The superhero cinema climate of 2015 was largely loaded with quippy Marvel films well before their later installments’ reception began to sour. However, for a brief window, Marvel’s moodiest, grittiest live-action storytelling was licensed to Netflix, with Daredevil being easily the best and first project to come out of it. While it left Netflix in 2022, a different successor emerged.

Daredevil contained the best of both worlds, juggling the lovable friendships of Nelson, Murdock & Page’s central players. It’s also loyal to the grounded, brutal renditions of crime-fighting in Hell’s Kitchen by Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis. For those too excited to wait to hop onto Disney+ for Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Bloodhounds is a phenomenal alternative.

Bloodhounds first debuted in 2023 as one of Netflix’s many new K-drama additions of the year, ranking near the top of its most popular additions alongside other greats like King the Land. But for those perhaps unfamiliar with K-dramas and their potential for high-octane action, Bloodhounds is a stellar reminder that the medium is far more than its fantastic romance offerings.

Netflix Never Truly “Owned” Daredevil, but Bloodhounds Appears Intent to Stay

Daredevil left Netflix for Disney+ in 2022 once the House of Mouse regained its license, with Netflix suddenly lacking an iconic content library beloved by its loyal fans. But partnering with Studio N, a Naver Webtoon subsidiary, Netflix’s release of Bloodhounds carries an impressively similar premise and action-packed experience Daredevil fans will love, with season 2 on the way.

The new trailer for Bloodhounds season 2 confirmed the reunion of its central stars, Kim Geon-woo and Hong Woo-jin, as they’re roped into an illegal boxing ring racket run by a dangerous global organization. As a largely original story spinning out of the already-loose manhwa adaptation, Bloodhounds is one of the rare recent K-dramas getting a new season.

However, outside of the coincidental link of its key stars, Geon-woo (Woo Do-hwan) and Woo-jin (Lee Sang-yi) being fellow boxers much like Matt Murdock, who followed in the troubled footsteps of his father, Bloodhounds has surprising amounts in common with Daredevil.

Daredevil Fans Owe It to Themselves to Check Out Bloodhounds

It’s true that Bloodhounds will never reach the silly extremes of Daredevil season 2 or Defenders, with plans strictly to keep the series relatively grounded, so no radar sense or ancient ninja syndicate. Its more accurate connections, though, arguably cut to Daredevil at its best, with loyal friends teaming up to take down vast criminal enterprises with horrifying body counts.

In Bloodhounds season 1, the series introduces fans to a side of South Korea recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, small business at the mercy of predatory loan sharks. One such organization, Smile Capital, clamped its jaws into Geon-woo’s mother, prompting him and his new best friend and former rival, Woo-jin, to team up with a moneylender seeking to topple the organization.

The series features energetic fight choreography, including traditional fistfights against hordes of goons, motorcycle-mounted knife fights, and more. For those doubtful it can match the horrific violence seen in Daredevil, rest assured: outside of Kingpin’s insane “glory kill” moment in Born Again season 1, Bloodhounds spares no gore in conveying its villains’ brutality.

Korean Cinema and Daredevil Were Already a Perfect Mix

Everybody who has even slightly researched Daredevil with good taste in cinema has already drawn its iconic hallway fight, and its subsequent one-take battles, were inspired by Oldboy. The Park Chan-wook masterpiece, itself a manga adaptation, was similarly a loose transformative work like Bloodhounds on Netflix, albeit on an all-time great scale.

This isn’t to say the connection is just to one film. Daredevil fans will similarly appreciate other Park films, like the recent Decision to Leave having a particularly immaculate chase scene they will enjoy. Bloodhounds captures that similarly intense direction, trading Hell’s Kitchen for the criminal underbelly of Seoul.

It’s impressive just how much Daredevil fans will appreciate in K-dramas like Bloodhounds. It has a bromance easily rivaling that of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, grudge matches with hulking behemoths capable of killing others with their bare hands, and criminals willing to slay and destroy the remains of those unable to escape their clutches.

Plus, the most exciting connection between Oldboy, Daredevil, and now Bloodhounds, is in how they adapt, but more accurately, transform their source material, three different countries’ approach to comics and graphic fiction. They’re often far from what was put to the page, but in every case, it’s only been better, save for Spike Lee’s 2013 remake.