NYCC 2014 Revelations! Something's Different About Powers' Deena Pilgrim, We Just Can't Put Our Finger On It & Rosario Dawson's Role in Netflix' Daredevil

Hot off the presses from New York Comic Con!  Check out the latest trailer of the upcoming TV adaptation of a writer Brian Michael Bendis' popular Powers graphic novel series (on the Playstation Network).

And even more crucial news has been revealed from today's NYCC 2014 Daredevil panel.  It has been known for a few months that actress, Rosario Dawson was cast in an unspecified role in the highly anticipated Netflix series.  Many blogs and media outlets speculated that perhaps the Sin City actress might play Electra, Typhoid Mary or the Latin superheroine, White Tiger.  Well the wait is finally over and Ms. Dawson will be portraying Claire Temple, a night nurse who will be instrumental in Matt Murdock's (Daredevil's alter ego for the uninitiated) journey as the irradiated savior of New York's crime ridden Hell's Kitchen.  Stay tuned for more information as NYCC 2014 continues....


And as expected, there's a lot more to unpack as it relates to Dawson's "night nurse" portrayal and Marvel Comics mythology. It appears that I know longer possess an encyclopedic rendering of pulp fiction lore. Here's more on Marvel's Night Nurse, thanks to Vulture.com:

Coming soon: Rosario Dawson is... Night Nurse! But also Claire Temple! Exciting, but confusing.

Back in June, we found out Dawson had been cast in the upcoming Netflix original series Daredevil, and speculation abounded about what Marvel Comics character she'd be playing. At a Saturday afternoon New York Comic Con panel, we got an answer (and got to see some footage): she'll be playing a woman named Claire Temple. Now, that's the name of a long-unusued Marvel character who was a love interest of superhero Luke Cage (soon to be the star of his own Marvel / Netflix series).

But here's the exciting wrinkle: Marvel television head honcho Jeph Loeb introduced a clip of Dawson by saying Claire is a "nurse who works at night." That's a delightful little dog whistle for comics nerds, because he was obviously referencing Night Nurse, a mantle held by many characters throughout Marvel's publishing history. Short version: in the 1970s, Marvel launched a short-lived series called Night Nurse, all about nurses who worked in superhero-violence-plagued Manhattan. In the 2000s, writer Brian Michael Bendis re-introduced the concept in the pages of his run on Daredevil, bringing us a busty nurse who secretly tends to bloodied heroes who can't compromise their secret identities at hospitals.

And sure enough, in the clip aired at the panel, we saw Claire tending to a beaten-up and unmasked Daredevil (he fell into the dumpster outside her apartment), who refuses to give his name or go to a hospital. He asks if she's a doctor, and she says, "Something like that." She nicknames him "Mike" for convenience and seems reluctantly charmed by him. The whole situation fits the Night Nurse archetype very comfortably. And although they didn't make out in the clip, this is television, so they probably will eventually.