On April 15, the first season of «Daredevil: Born Again». It continues the story of the titular character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the previous «Daredevil», which had 3 seasons and aired on Netflix from 2015 to 2018. Along with Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, and, most notably, Jon Bernthal as the ruthless Punisher, have returned to their roles. Read the review below to find out whether the project can be considered a bright spot among the Marvel and TV darkness of recent years.
Pluses:
One of the best series from the line of Marvel TV projects on Disney+; the creators have retained the gloomy tone of the story and the earthiness of the previous «Daredevil»; the presence of Jon Bernthal's Punisher; adult rating and the presence of appropriate tough fight scenes;
Minuses:
The season doesn't feel cohesive; the stumbling around and dragging out of the story don't do it any good; the lack of a clear climax and the fact that all the most interesting things were saved for later; some people will definitely miss the action;
«Daredevil: Born Again»
Genre superhero action, criminal legal drama
Showrunner Dario Scardapane
Starring Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, John Bernthal, Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Wall, Elden Hanson, Wilson Bethel, Ayelet Zurer
Premiere Disney+
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb, official website
A year after Daredevil’s old enemy Benjamin Poindexter kills his best friend Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock decides to focus on his law practice and put the mask with the devil’s horns in the closet. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk is also trying to let go of the past. Thanks to his effective media activism, he becomes the mayor of New York City and promises to make the city safe by putting an end to the masked vigilantes once and for all.
Now, it seems, the fundamental confrontation between the two eternal enemies should have come to naught, as the former has hung up his superhero costume on a nail, and the latter has left the mafia and is determined to restore order in the long-suffering metropolis. But this shaky truce turns out to be nothing more than the calm before the next storm.
Given that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a roll in recent years, the path to Daredevil’s return to the screen is not an easy one. Initially, the series was conceived as a soft relaunch with a less dark tone of narrative, and screenwriters Christopher Ord and Matthew Corman were assigned to the project. However, when in 2023 the material was rejected Kevin Feige and other studio executives were fired, and the filmmakers were entrusted with showrunner Dario Scardepein, who had previously worked on «The Punisher», to fix the situation. Plus, the new «Daredevil» has become closer to the old Netflix one, in particular, it concerns the adult rating and the preservation of the severity of its predecessor.
And for this, perhaps, we should thank Feige and everyone involved because one of the most popular Marvel characters was not turned into a frivolous fool (hello, Thor Odinson!). Although the prerequisites for this were in the nonsense called «She-Hulk: Attorney at Law», where Matt Murdock had a relevant cameo. It is precisely because of this approach that «Born Again» stands out qualitatively against the background of many previous television projects within the framework of MCU, such as, for example, «Secret Invasion» or «Echo», where, by the way, Charlie Cox’s character also appeared.
Even so, not everything in this show goes smoothly, and it evokes quite contradictory feelings at the end. Let’s find out why.
From the debut episode, the creators make it clear that along with the appropriate imitation of the tone and style of «Daredevil» on Netflix, there is an attempt to refresh the story and give it a boost for further development. Thus, Foggy Nelson is mercilessly cut out in the first few minutes, and Karen Page gets little more screen time. At the same time, Wilson Fisk’s important role remains unchanged, and despite the authors’ attempts to dilute the narrative with side storylines, the central conflict remains unchanged.
This, in turn, convinces us that we are being offered some stalling, some stalling, wrapped up in a kind of serious but familiar superhero drama about difficult moral choices. But no matter how hard Daredevil» tries to seem down-to-earth and realistic, we have to understand that the events take place in a long-running comic book, which means that it has its own laws and a certain world order that implies conventions and secondaryities.
To put it simply, the overarching theme of the entire season, which concerns the identity crisis of both Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, is neither exciting nor new. We’ve seen all these «you can’t escape your own self»s (or something) repeatedly — Peter Parker threw his suit in the trash, and a representative of a rival Batman’s office was looking for a replacement in the person of prosecutor Harvey Dent. Even Deadpool quit this thankless job, pulled a silly wig over his head, and started selling used cars. The difference is that in the format of a television show, no one is in a hurry and everything is chewed up for us.
Yes, the glass door reflects Daredevil’s silhouette when it is Matt Murdock who is in the frame. Yes, the filmmakers use parallel editing to emphasize that the local protagonist and antagonist are similar, at least in that they have no chance of escaping their true selves. Yes, Fisk tellingly refuses to eat a meager meal of healthy food and has a gigantic plate of much more substantial food on the table in front of him. But visual cues are unnecessary here because everything is clear without them. In addition, the main characters seem to be reset to get back to who they already were at some point, and this can hardly be called character development.
Because the original idea had to be reworked, the 9-episode season doesn’t feel cohesive. In its debut, it announces that newcomers have no place here because the events are rooted in conflicts from the Netflix series. Then we are presented with a courtroom drama that is quite exciting, but absurd from the perspective of common sense. Later on, a new villain seems to appear on the horizon, and this would have diluted the already tired Murdoch-Fisk antagonism, but it is a sporadic appearance. The episode about the bank robbery stands out in terms of tone, where you can even find reasons for a slight smile.
All of this does not make the series uninteresting, but at the same time it is hard to escape the idea that Fahey and company are in no hurry to develop the story and are holding on to the character as if it were a lifeline. And the original idea of 18 episodes deprives viewers of an expressive culmination — the final ninth episode is more about placing pieces on the chessboard for the upcoming game than about a meaningful ending. So it makes sense that they saved all the most interesting stuff for the next season, but it’s an unfair strategy to the viewer.
Of the interesting things here, we have the appearance of the Punisher, unfortunately, very short-lived; amazing costumes on Kingpin — Trump, from whom the character was partially copied, would have been delighted; flying from Poindexter’s high-rise following the example of the Marked Man from that old movie with Affleck and Colin Farrell (and the bad guy survived again) — whether it’s a reference or just a coincidence — decide for yourself.
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