Most wanted: The Daredevil villains we’d like to see onscreen

Although he doesn’t have quite as impressive a rogue’s gallery as Spidey or Batman, Daredevil has battled more than his fair share of iconic baddies over the years. From also-rans like Mysterio and The Spot, to heavy-hitters like Bullseye and Elektra, there’s no shortage of evildoers for The Man Without Fear to lock horns with should Marvel and Netflix decide to return to Hell’s Kitchen for a second series.

Below, we shine the spotlight on a variety of villains we’d love to see test themselves against Daredevil’s billy club in live action-- some serious and some not-so serious. Read on for our most wanted, and then let us know what other Marvel malcontents you’d like to see tear up the MCU:

Bullseye

He may look like a cross between a gimp and a crash test dummy, but Bullseye is no joke. One of the Marvel universe’s most unhinged cape killers, this tightly wound ball of neuroses, paranoia and good old fashioned psychopathy, is the kind of guy you cross the street, charter an airplane and go into witness protection to avoid. Although he has no actual superpowers, Bullseye never misses his mark, and can just as easily kill someone with a potato peeler as an M16. If there’s any villain who’s almost guaranteed to appear should Daredevil get a second series, it’s Bullseye.

Stilt-Man

One of the most impractical villains ever to grace the printed page, Wilbur Day, AKA Stilt-Man, commits acts of petty villainy with the help of his robotic battlesuit. Unlike Tony Stark, who outfits his shiny steel pajamas with cool things like jet boots, repulsor rays and uni-beams, Day’s suit’s main attraction is a pair of giant, retractable hydraulic stilts. Despite his joke status, Stilt-Man has wobbled his way through battles with everyone from Thor to Spiderman through the years, but is best remembered for his appearances in the pages of Daredevil. Whether or not a villain of this ilk would work in Netflix’s gritty take on Daredevil is up for debate, but we’d love to find out.

Ikari

Almost every hero comes up against an evil version of themselves at some point in their crime fighting career. Spiderman has Venom, Batman has The Wrath (Google it), and ol’ Hornhead has Ikari. A relatively recent addition to Daredevil’s roster of villains, Ikari shares Matt Murdock’s enhanced senses, and peerless grasp of martial arts. Garbed in a costume that evokes The Man Without Fear’s original rhubarb and custard-coloured get up, Ikari would look great on the small screen, and his ninja skills would provide the kind of brutal, intricate chop-socky showdowns that make martial arts fans brains melt.

Mr. Fear

Another old-school Daredevil villain that’s just begging for a live-action makeover is Mr. Fear. Sort of a mix of Scarecrow and Mysterio, this skull-faced supervillain employed illusions and psychotropic drugs to make poor old Matt Murdock’s life a misery. Oh, and he’s accomplished wax sculptor -- who said supervillains can’t have hobbies? Like Scarecrow in Batman Begins, Mr. Fear’s penchant for mind-altering substances could lead to some trippy, visually arresting set pieces

The Hand

There ain’t no ninja like an undead ninja, and if there's one thing The Hand doesn't lack, it's undead ninjas. This shady organisation has been dogging Daredevil’s heels for decades, and is usually called upon whenever a writer needs a big flashy fight scene depicting our hero engaged in an epic beatdown. What they lack in quality, they more than make up for in quantity.

Punisher

Depending on which side of the fence you stand on, Punisher is either an avenging angel, or a gun-toting whackjob every bit as bad as the criminals he’s so devoted to filling full of holes. When it comes to dispensing justice, Frank Castle and Matt Murdock rarely see eye to eye, and our budding attorney at law would sooner have Punisher behind bars than at his back. Castle fans have been crying out for a Netflix-powered Punisher TV series ever since Marvel announced their partnership with the streaming provider, and an appearance on Daredevil could be just the thing to start the ball rolling.