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Photo Illustration/Exstreamist.

A lot of people were watching this fight very closely.

Eventually something had to knock House of Cards, Breaking Bad and Sherlock out of the top spot on Netflix, and this weekend, Netflix original Daredevil did just that — achieving the top average rating from users of the popular streaming service.

The comic book superhero was given another chance after the mediocre film from 2003 didn’t leave critics or fans of the series particularly impressed. Netflix, in a partnership with Marvel to produce four superhero originals, launched Daredevil in April 2015, immediately impressing fans and critics alike as both the production and acting in this television series gave it a very authentic feel remaining true to the original Daredevil creation.

GoScoop.tv caught the change this weekend that Daredevil had just become the highest rated content on Netflix — with 4.6 out of 5 stars — dethroning House of Cards, a mainstay on that list for years since its first season launched in 2013. This might not rival the debate between The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather on IMDB’s top 250 film list, but we could certainly see the two shows continuing to duke it out on Netflix as they progress.

A few general theories:

  1. Daredevil has a more fanatical fanbase that felt Netflix respected their love for the Daredevil franchise and didn’t cheapen the experience at all, thus they rewarded the streaming service and show by taking the time to rate it positively to express their satisfaction.
  2. The third season of House of Cards was arguably the weakest yet, leading to an increase in lower ratings of the show.
  3. Some recency bias has come into effect, resulting in Daredevil having an inflated rating that will likely balance out when “casual observers” start streaming the series and giving it more modest ratings.

The overall high ratings of Daredevil have certainly been well deserved, but even the biggest fans are slightly worried that expectations have now become too high. In other words, the second season is almost set up to fail just because of how impressed people were with season one.

No matter who is at the top of the list, Netflix is clearly a winner either way.

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