BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Marvel’s Daredevil is about to get a whole lot more crowded when Season 2 of the superhero drama debuts Friday, March 18, on Netflix.

The series, which introduced Kingpin (played ominously by Vincent D’Onofrio) in Season 1, is adding Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Elektra (Elodie Yung) to the superhero mix. On the heels of Jessica Jones’ debut season last fall, the continuing adventures of The Man Without Fear will further set the table for upcoming Marvel/ Netflix collabs Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders (which will see all four Marvel/ Netflix characters teaming up together on one show). A Punisher spinoff is also a possibility.

The series follows a blind lawyer, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), who fights crime by day in court, and battles criminals with his fists and super senses by night — all while asking himself if it’s okay to take the law into his own hands.

Season 2 finds Murdock reuniting with an old flame, Elektra Natchios, to battle The Hand, an organization of supervillain ninjas taken from the comics.

And if that’s not enough, Daredevil has to battle vigilante the Punisher and the Yakuza in the series’ first half. For the uninitiated, Punisher (a.k.a. Frank Castle) is a former soldier who takes to killing criminals after his wife and children are murdered by a gang of thugs. The character has been brought to the big screen three times (with Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson in the title role) with little success. Marvel is hoping to reverse that trend with Bernthal taking the reins.

Postmedia Network went on the set of Daredevil last summer during a climactic scene involving Punisher in New York’s Forest Park. Here are four secrets we uncovered during our visit:

DAREDEVIL’S PUNISHER WON’T PULL ANY PUNCHES

With the show airing on Netflix, Marvel’s Daredevil will continue dabbling in grit and violence — and that extends to the murderous Punisher. “You will definitely see the Punisher being the Punisher,” the show’s stunt coordinator Philip Silvera tells Postmedia Network, adding that the inspiration for the show is coming from the Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis comic book arcs. “Frank Castle has a military background and fans will see this at play,” he continues. But there will be no action for stunt-y reasons. “We’re making sure we’re delivering on last season,” Silvera says.”People are going to see heroes where one is willing to cross a line the other won’t.”

The scene we saw being filmed is a vulnerable moment for Castle. He’s not armed, and he’s on a park bench watching families go round-and-round on a carousel. The lights go out and a villain only described as “an Irishman” — played by Tony Curran — arrives.

“Thanks for thinning out the herd,” the Irishman snarls after Castle puts down two of his henchmen. The scene ends with the Punisher being Tased. But as we leave, Charlie Cox is spotted nearby (his Daredevil suit is kept under lock and key) as camera operators set up for the next scene. It’ll be up to audiences to decide for themselves whether they are #teamdaredevil or #teampunisher.

ALL THE MARVEL PROPERTIES ARE CONNECTED

It’s all connected — we’re in the same New York that Tony Stark’s building is in; it’s the same New York that the “incident” happened in the first Avengers and it’s the same New York as Jessica Jones.

But it turns out the filmmakers don’t have complete control over who pops up where. Whenever co-showrunners Marco Ramirez and Douglas Petrie want to introduce a Marvel Easter egg, it has to run past the Marvel brass to make sure it won’t interfere with their bigger plans. Writers can’t decide to just put a reference in to another character because — believe it or not — Marvel does have plans for “all of it.” And if you’re thinking, ‘They probably haven’t said no to anything,’ guess again. On Season 1, producers wanted a fight poster to tease ‘Murdock vs. Carl Creel’, but it turned out to be a big deal because Creel (a.k.a. Absorbing Man) shows up in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

IT’S LIKE ONE LONG MOVIE

Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Netflix shows are being viewed as one, 13-hour movie. Season 2 introduces Daredevil’s ex, Elektra, who herself spawned a comic book series and had her own standalone film (with Jennifer Garner in the lead). Bernthal’s Punisher isn’t a glorified cameo — he appears throughout. Elden Henson’s Foggy, Scott Glenn’s Stick, Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen and Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple also make appearances.

MARVEL LIKES TO RECYCLE

When we toured Broadway Stages in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, Daniel Hank, vice president of Marvel Television, pointed out how the company has a great way of repurposing and recycling sets. “Reuse as much as possible — it’s the Marvel way,” he says. A conference room doubled for the gallery that Kingpin first appeared in during last season’s Rabbit in a Snowstorm episode. Scenes that depicted Fogwell’s Gym are used to house production offices. Murdock’s apartment is almost fully functioning, and then there’s the makeshift torture chamber. “We’re in it for a few days,” Hank says with a wicked smile. “Bad things happen.”

Twitter: @markhdaniell

mdaniell@postmedia.com