Posted in: Cloak and Dagger, Freeform, Marvel Studios, Movies, Netflix, TV | Tagged: Cloak and Dagger, daredevil, freeform, hulu, marvel, netflix, runaways, The Punisher, tv

The Music Of Marvel Television: Daredevil, Defenders, And Runaways

The concept of teaming up The Defenders was something no one had ever done on television before. It was going to take a steady hand to come up with a theme for that series that was somehow its own thing but brought in elements from four very different series. In an interview with Variety composer for Daredevil and The Defenders John Paesano talked about his process while Siddhartha Khosla talks about bringing something new to Runaways

John Paesano has composed music for two of the Marvel Netflix series, Daredevil and The Defenders, but his approach for each series was very different.

For "Daredevil," "the fanfare-ish type of theme had previously been done," Paesano said. Showrunner Steven DeKnight "wanted the music to be dark, gritty and minimalist," although by the second season Daredevil had acquired a costume and the show was taking on more of a classic comic-book feel. "It was tricky to figure out a good balance: minimalistic but also epic," Paesano says.

When it came to The Defenders it was all about blending the various shows themes together the same way the cinematographer blended their colors.

"We're still geographically in New York's Hell's Kitchen, but now we're dealing with outright superheroes that our audience is familiar with," Paesano explains, "so there was more license to push the envelope and lean a bit more into the orchestral colors."

Runaways is set to debut in November and we still haven't seen anything from it. When it comes to the music we're going to get something we haven't heard in the Marvel universe yet; analog synthesizers from the 1980s, specifically the Juno 60 and the Oberheim synths "that you might have heard on Depeche Mode records," composer Siddhartha Khosla notes.

"There is something outside the norm about Depeche Mode; it felt 'outsider' to me, and 'Runaways' has a kind of alternative feel. There is an element of rebellion, so sonically going for something that is a little bit outside the box, non-traditional, I felt was an appropriate approach. I feel like I'm making art on this show."

As for Cloak and Dagger?

Still to come: Mark Isham's music for "Cloak & Dagger," on Freeform, expected to have a jazzy New Orleans flair.

Daredevil and The Defenders are available to stream on Netflix. Runaways will stream to Hulu November 21st. Cloak and Dagger will air on Freeform in 2018.

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