Check out our thoughts on the whole season of Daredevil Born Again! All Photos Courtesy of Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures PR.
Hey All!
Daredevil Born Again is the newest Marvel Studios production on Disney Plus and of all the live action Marvel Disney Plus productions, this is the one which we have looked forward to the most. Since the announcement of the new show Daredevil Born Again, fans of the Daredevil series that originated from Netflix have pondered and discussed how much this iteration would align, if at all, with its predecessor. I can say, having the immense fortune to have seen all nine episodes of Daredevil Born Again, that this new show is, more than anything, a sequel to the original “Netflix show.”
This live action version of the Daredevil Universe has existed since 2015 and has carried through 3 seasons which initially only existed on Netflix, until a cameo by Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock made the first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in Spiderman No Way Home. From there, Vincent D’Onofrio’s character of Kingpin Wilson Fisk appeared in the Disney Plus series Hawkeye and then Echo.
Charlie Cox’s Daredevil appeared in the Disney Plus series She-Hulk, which sadly is not acknowledged at all in this new series and even voiced the Daredevil appearance in Disney Plus’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, which exists outside of the live action continuity. All that being said, Daredevil Born Again does factor in a lot of what has come before and as such a little bit of homework is required for anyone who has not been watching over the last ten years and wants to know what is happening. The good news is that all the homework, which includes all three seasons of Daredevil, the series Hawkeye, and the series Echo, now exists on Disney Plus.
Returning in Daredevil Born Again are of course the stars Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. Also returning are Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, Wilson Bethel as Bullseye, Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, Susan Varon as Josie, and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson.
Newcomers include Genneya Walton (Candy Cane Lane) as B.B. Urich, Margarita Levieva (The Lincoln Lawyer, The Acolyte) as Heather Glenn, Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street) as Cherry, and Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of New York, The Deuce).
In addition to the cast listed above, Daredevil Born Again brings the same level of quality in fight choreography, mature language (lots of swearing), and graphic violence of which the original series was known. The mix of courtroom drama, crime drama, and action thriller carries over as well. The grounded tone also is carried over. Again, this is so much a sequel to the original Netflix series that it might as well be season four with just a seven-year hiatus.
As for things that are different; the look and pacing are different in a way that is visually noticeable but not in tone. The music and opening credits for the show have been changed from the red bleeding city to the same images cast in a kind of crumbling rubble or ash; so as to reflect the return of Daredevil both in form and on the screen. The actual episodes include many exterior shots of New York as an emphasis of making the city itself a character in the show. Another addition to the format of the show is the inclusion of clips which show people of the city being interviewed on their thoughts of vigilantism and the new mayor of New York: Wilson Fisk.
That brings us to the story itself. So much happens in the first episode but it would be a travesty to reveal everything. I can say that the show opens with the three leads we know and love: Matt, Karen, and Foggy. They are in New York, and they go to Josie’s bar. All of the staples of the show and the Daredevil lore are present at the start before the changes happen. Through a series of events within the first half of the first episode all the shocks begin and by the end of the first episode a time jump occurs. Within the first two episodes, Matt Murdock has a new love interest, the Nelson and Murdock firm is no more, Wilson Fisk is the mayor of New York, and Daredevil is no longer patrolling the neighborhood and has been replaced with several new hero vigilantes.
Daredevil Born Again may be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but its tone, connection to the previous series, and lack of continuity within the show to the overall MCU is the closest to a self-contained Marvel related series that we have. It would be a lie to say that this show was not designed for the fans of the original series but for the fans who carried the torch for so long, we got our Daredevil back and it is very satisfying.
For anyone interested in checking it out, if you love this show as much as I and many others do, there is a wealth of prior episodes that, as aforementioned, are now all available in one location on Disney Plus. For younger, or more sensitive audiences, do not watch. This is the most violent and most vulgar language that has ever existed in a Marvel Studios production. Daredevil Born Again is fun, action packed, and wholly for mature audiences only.
“Daredevil: Born Again” launches on Disney+ on March 4, 2025. You don’t want to miss a single episode!
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