Daredevil’s Costume Design Process Gets Revealed
When the Netflix/Marvel collaboration of Daredevil was revealed, many wondered just how much it would differ from the movie version that had been created a decade back. Many still had bad thoughts about it. As it turned out, a lot of detail was put into how it looked, felt, and the payoff it would give. Mainly, for Daredevil’s costume itself. In an interview with Marvel.com, the costume designer himself, Ryan Meinerding talked about how he got picked to help make this costume.
“Joe Quesada got in touch and asked if I could help out,” recalls Meinerding. “Our whole team actually did designs, [including] Rodney Fuentebella, Andy Park, Jackson Sze, Josh Nizzi, and Anthony Francisco. I think we all did a round of designs as fast as we could, and they settled on one of mine. Beyond that, we did our normal process of modeling the head and the cowl [in] 3D with Josh Herman, and then I was involved throughout the costume creation process.”
He also notes how the tone and feel of the costume was reflective of what the series was all about:
“The tone that was really communicated was the sense of realism that they were going for,” relates Meinerding. “I think the way that [manifested itself in] the costume was through the armor and making it feel a little bit more padded than you traditionally think of Daredevil being. When we do these designs, there’s a concept of grounded and a concept of reality. The grounded nature that they brought to the vigilante costume was the simplicity and effectiveness, because you’re trying to conceal your identity but also [have to be] mobile enough to fight.”
We truly did see that in the final episode in the battle with Kingpin, and hopefully we’ll get to see it in even more detail (and possibly with a few more upgrades and touches) when Season 2 arrives next year.