No one could have predicted the stellar success of the first season of Daredevil. The bad taste of the 2003 feature film “Daredevil” still remained in everyone’s mouths, and left many wondering how Netflix was going to succeed with expectations so low. Introduced to a gritty, dark underbelly of New York City, this violent film noir styled show was a fantastic concoction of great writing, compelling acting, and incredible action. This has led to many hungry for its second season, which comes out March 18^th.

Due to the popularity of Daredevil and a driven main female cast, Jessica Jones was also met with wide acclaim. The success of Jessica Jones’ first season set the standards high again for the second season of "Daredevil" and the upcoming "Luke Cage" premiere later this year. Instead of keeping most everything under wraps, Marvel hasn’t shown away from the fact that this latest season will be darker, more violent, and more troubling for our heroes.

Two new characters join the cast this season with Elektra Natchios and Frank Castle. Elektra is an old flame of Matt Murdock's who often toes the lines between ally and antagonist. Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher, of whom most of the hype for this season is based around, may just be Murdock’s most dangerous opponent yet. After the death of his family, Castle begins to hunt down and mercilessly kill criminals wherever he can find them. While their approaches are largely different, their goals of stopping criminals in their tracks are one and the same. Now that Murdock has become a hero, now he learns what to be a hero truly means: and that’s being thrown at by constant challenges and temptations and moral conundrums.

Other than developments of character, it’s unclear what the arc of this latest season will be other the obvious. We know that The Punisher is a new rival vigilante willing to go the one extra step toward murder that Daredevil won’t, and we know that Elektra is in town supposedly because The Hand is making trouble again, but to what end? How will this affect the main and supporting cast? It’s possible that we don’t know due to in-series crossover spoilers. Many of the things we’ve seen are alluding to the eventual Defenders crossover. The first season featured Daredevil dealing with some members of the Hand, plus a Chinese syndicate led by an inhumanly strong elderly woman of mysterious origin whose activities referenced “The Steel Serpent” – all of which heavily allude to Luke Cage and Iron Fist involvement. In less than a week, we’ll know for sure.

Daredevil season 1 and Jessica Jones season 1 are now available on Netflix. Daredevil season 2 will debut on Netflix on March 18th, 2016, followed by Luke Cage season 1 on September 30th, 2016. Release dates for Jessica Jones season 2, Iron Fist, and The Defenders on Netflix have not yet been announced.