10 Most Shocking Deaths In TV History
6. James Wesley – Daredevil
Daredevil was a shot in the arm to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stripping away the snark and casual apocalypses of the films and offering something much darker. The setting was grittier, the subject was more adult, and the violence was much, much more brutal.
Titular hero Matt Murdock can barely go an episode without getting beaten to a bloody pulp, and numerous criminals are dispatched, by Murdock and by their associates. The show is also not shy about killing off major characters, and while the murder of fatherly reporter Ben Urich was devastating, it is the death of James Wesley, Wilson Fisk’s right hand man, that shocked the audience the most.
When Wesley confronts Murdock’s secretary Karen Page to stop her exposing Fisk’s criminal empire, it is her safety we fear for. Yet, when Wesley is distracted, Karen grabs a gun and points it at him. He taunts her, saying she cannot kill him, and we believe him. Yet she pulls the trigger, killing the show’s secondary antagonist and shattering the viewer’s expectations in one fell swoop.