Daredevil has been having a rough time for a while now. In 2003 he headlined an atrocious film that stained the careers of everyone involved.

For the next decade the franchise languished at 20th Century Fox. Director Joe Carnahan (“Smokin’ Aces”) attempted to reboot the character as a seedy crime story set in the 1970’s but when the project wasn’t greenlit quickly enough, Fox’s contract expired and the film rights to the character came home to Marvel Studios.

It’d seem those dark days are behind us, however. “Marvel’s Daredevil” is the first in a slew of TV shows developed by Marvel Studios to be distributed as a Netflix exclusive.

While technically inhabiting the same world as the Avengers, this is a markedly different product. The tone and style of the series feels more in line with HBO’s “The Wire” than any superhero franchise. The other most obvious influences are the nasty, mob-infested streets of Gotham in “Batman Begins.”

The series follows Matt Murdock: lawyer by day, vigilante by night. Blinded by mysterious chemicals as a child, Matt discoveres his other senses were heightened to superhuman levels.

Fed up with corruption in his neighborhood, he takes the law into his own hands as “The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” to punish those who escape justice in New York’s corrupt legal system.

In short, they’ve done it again. Marvel Studios has proven their pedigree truly breeds greatness regardless of the format. The series is stylishly directed with a dark grimy look to the city at night, and the writing is equally filled with sharp banter as it is with arresting twists and turns.

The show’s gritty tone is actually appropriate for the character, rather than ringing false as in 2013’s “Man of Steel.” Charlie Cox brings a sincerity to The Man Without Fear.

The supporting cast is uniformly excellent. But special mention must be payed to Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. Never before, in any media, has the character been drawn with this kind of complexity.

He’s a simmering volcano of rage, barely contained, constantly threatening to boil over. He’s at once a horrifying villian, and a tragic figure, and a pathetic shattered ego. He’s never romanticized nor cliche. It’s a masterful performance.

“Daredevil” is an extremely violent show. There be no aliens or gods here. This is a story of a man fighting his city with his bare, bloodied knuckles. The fights have a visceral, grounded feeling.

Our hero is constantly being beaten, stabbed, cut, bruised, fractured and knocked down. He may wobble on his feet as he gets up, like a clown that won’t stay down, but the important part is that he continues to get up.

The real star of the show, however, is its sound design. Escaping the cheesy CGI trap of the 2003 film, Murdock’s powers are represented with clever uses of camera focus and sound design that focuses the audience’s attention on small details that let us hear the way he does. If you have access to any kind of surround sound setup, it should absolutely be a priority when viewing this series.

The new Daredevil is a hero for 2015. He fights for the little guy on the street against very real problems: urban decay, gentrification, media manipulation, and a corrupt legal system that benefits the 1 percent. Let’s hope we see him again soon.