Daredevil: Born Again – a return of blood and shadow
Seven years after its Netflix cancellation, Daredevil is back. Uncompromising, brutal and full of moral quandaries, Born Again interweaves old strengths with a new identity. The result is a tough, gripping reboot.
Fear not, this TV review contains zero spoilers. I won’t be mentioning anything here that hasn’t already been revealed in trailers.
There are some series that fade into obscurity. And then there’s Daredevil. The acclaimed Netflix production ended in 2018; it was brutal, uncompromising, unforgettable. No other Marvel hero had ever suffered so much, fought so hard and fallen so low.
Now, seven years after Netflix pulled the plug on Daredevil, the series is back – and trying its luck on Disney+. Daredevil: Born Again attempts to mingle the past with a new beginning. To build a bridge between its former glory and the new MCU. But does it work? Or is the devil of Hell’s Kitchen no longer who he used to be?
What’s Daredevil: Born Again about?
New York is on the verge of a new beginning. At least, that’s how things appear when Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) reemerges from the shadows. Not as a criminal mastermind this time, but as a man of the people. His goal? To become mayor, bring peace to the city and give New York the leader he believes it deserves. Anyone who knows Fisk, however, knows that there’s more to it than that.
Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) is one of those in the know. But the blind lawyer with superhuman abilities has left his old life as Daredevil behind to fight for justice in court. Without his masks or his fists. That is, until New York descends back into chaos and failure looms over the system Matt stands for.
As Fisk’s grip on power becomes ever more ruthless, Matt is faced with a decision. Will he stay on his new path? Or is it time to face the shadows again as the devil of Hell’s Kitchen?
A merciless return
Three minutes. Maybe a little longer. That’s how long it takes for any fears that a family-friendly Disney format could render Daredevil toothless to dissolve into spatters of blood. Daredevil: Born Again gets off to a flying start. It’s dramatic. Ruthless.
And uncompromising.
It starts with a montage seemingly made without a single cut. The camera trails the characters so closely, it’s as if it’s breathing with them. No choppy editing, no over-stylised choreography. Just raw toughness, hurling us back to Hell’s Kitchen with every iron fist and every breaking bone. Brutal. Relentless. Painful. Real.
And then, finally, the opening credits roll and the first notes of the iconic Daredevil theme song begin to play. I sink back into my sofa, exhausted, as if I’d joined in the fighting myself. Less than 15 minutes have gone by, but it feels like I’ve watched an entire season.
I’m not the only fan who feared things could turn out differently. Marvel and Star Wars series on Disney+ have always suffered from the same issue. Rather than well thought-out stories with a rounded episode structure, they’re just two-hour films stretched into four hours with half the budget.
But Daredevil: Born Again has set out with the promise to do better. We’ll get nine episodes, almost all of which are about 50–60 minutes long. This gives the season time to both introduce its characters and tell their stories.
As it turns out, Daredevil: Born Again manages to capture the essence of the old Netflix-era show astoundingly well. The fight scenes are as unadulterated as they once were. Hell’s Kitchen’s gritty atmosphere is just as palpable. And Daredevil himself is still a hero made of flesh and blood. One who, instead of swiping his way through hordes of enemies with CGI precision, lies gasping and bleeding on the ground after every confrontation.
A wolf in a tailor-made suit
Don’t get me wrong. Daredevil: Born Again isn’t just fistfights in dark alleys and corridors.
Take Wilson Fisk, for example. He’s always been about control. But never before has his mask, which hides the evil lurking behind his almost kindly face, fitted as perfectly as it does now. As the newly elected mayor, he presents himself as a visionary and the last beacon of hope for a city yearning for a leader. The scary thing? He does it seriously well.
You see, Fisk understands how frustration works. He knows how to whip up fear and turn it into power. How to make the common people feel like he’s fighting for them, all while secretly shoring up his own position and making himself untouchable. Fisk no longer needs raw brutality to bring his opponents to their knees. A subtle threat is enough. He’s the man who never raises his voice – because he doesn’t have to. His raspy, gravelly voice sends an icy shiver down the spine of his opponents.
Source: Marvel Television / Disney+
At a time when populism and abuses of power are rife, his character feels almost uncomfortably topical. He isn’t just a gangster boss anymore. At least, not officially. Instead, he pitches himself as the solution to a problem he created.
The story leaves us in no doubt: Fisk is still a monster. He may make nice speeches, disguise his unscrupulousness with words and hide his actions behind a new image. But his dastardly nature is still very much in tact. He’s incapable of being any other way. And he doesn’t want to change either. While Fisk retains all this from the previous series, changing only the narrative around it, Matt Murdock stumbles into another conflict:
He really wants to leave his daemons behind him.
Between the law and lawlessness
Matt believes in the law. He has to. After all, he gave up Daredevil to finally defend the rule of law instead of undermining it. However, New York doesn’t live by the law – it lives in a grey area. And this is what makes Matt one of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel universe. He’s the very contradiction he’s trying and failing to reconcile.
A man who conforms to the system, and yet operates outside it at the same time.
Source: Marvel Television / Disney+
As a lawyer, blind as Lady Justice herself, Matt defends the law. But as Daredevil, he makes his own rules. This raises a central question: what does the mask really mean to him? Matt wrestles with the answer. Maybe the mask is his true face. Or a burden. Or just an excuse to give his anger an outlet, hoping that it only affects people who deserve it.
Matt sums up his inner conflict by telling Fisk in the first episode: «I was raised to believe in grace...but I was also raised to believe in retribution.» Words that serve as both a warning and a threat.
He wants to forgive. Himself. The Kingpin. The world. He wants to bring light into the darkness. But he can’t let go. And sometimes, when things go quiet, he wonders whether he himself became the darkness a long time ago.
Needless separation between antagonists
Yes, Daredevil: Born Again starts out strong. But not everything in this season is perfect. Especially not the middle section. In the beginning, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk are portrayed as two men who’ve revolved around one another – and defined one other – for years. Their first encounter is a quiet back-and-forth in a diner.
Two opponents who understand each other, but can never accept each other.
But then they end up going their separate ways, and stay that way for several episodes. Matt wonders if he can leave Daredevil behind for good. Meanwhile, Fisk has to assert his power in the face of a stuck-up establishment in order to gain control of New York as mayor. Both have great scenes, and the characters are portrayed with depth and nuance. The thing is, there’s no connection between them. Too often, they seem like two characters in two different series. Almost as if they could exist without one influencing the other.
And that’s a problem. After all, Daredevil and the Kingpin are more than just opponents. They’re two sides of the same coin. Two men fighting for their own version of justice in a corrupt city, using completely different methods. But for long stretches of the series, this conflict – this inevitable collision of their ideals – isn’t expressed.
Source: Marvel Television / Disney+
The middle section of the series in particular doesn’t always feel like it’s been made in the same vein as the rest. The tone wavers between the raw, psychological thriller style of the first three or four episodes and the formulaic patterns of a typical MCU series.
This is probably down to the show’s similarly chaotic production process. The original vision was canned as a result of the writers’ strike in 2023. Marvel fired showrunners Chris Ord and Matt Corman, sent large sections of footage back to the cutting room and reshot a lot of material. The new creative director, Dario Scardapane (known for The Punisher), has certainly brought Born Again closer to its gritty Netflix roots. Even so, there are still moments when you can feel the remnants of the old version, as if they’ve tried to merge two different shows.
It’s only in the final episodes that the separate storylines involving Matt and Fisk converge again, promptly unleashing their true power.
In a nutshell
In conflict with itself
Daredevil: Born Again isn’t simply a reboot. It’s an identity struggle – both for the character and for the series itself. The show’s trying to develop further, but it’s also trying to hold on to what makes it unique. It’s aiming to be more than just a nostalgic comeback, but still wants to stay true to its roots. And that’s precisely where its strength – and its dilemma – lies.
When Born Again is at its peak, Daredevil’s at his best: raw, intense and conflicted. Still, there are times when the show hovers between two identities. It’s as if it has to decide between becoming MCU fluff and carrying on its untamed Netflix legacy.
However, in the end, it’s the result that counts: a powerful, emotionally charged comeback that shows Daredevil for what he always was. A hero who walks in the shadows because nobody else is willing to.
Header image: Marvel Television / Disney+
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Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
