Daredevil: Born Again

Rated TV-MA • Disney+

For years Marvel Studios remained ambivalent about whether the comic book shows it created for Netflix were part of its Marvel Cinematic Universe. Headlined by the character Daredevil, these six interconnected series (2015–2018) offered a grittier, street-level look at the world of superheroes that featured more violence and foul language than Marvel’s cinematic offerings. Now with the new Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel officially acknowledges those brutal Netflix stories as part of the MCU.

Born Again picks up where the old show left off, with Charlie Cox returning as Matt Murdock, the blind defense attorney who moonlights as the vigilante Daredevil. After a personal tragedy, Matt vows to give up his alter ego, but his resolve is put to the test with the return of his nemesis Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), the crime boss known as the Kingpin, who manages to win the election for mayor of New York City. It’s hard not to think of Kingpin’s rise to political prominence as some sort of commentary on Donald Trump’s presidency, but the showrunners don’t get too preachy with the politics.

The show has numerous failings, but many fans of the original series will applaud it because it possesses much of the same vibe that came before. Bones break and blood splatters. Both heroes and villains endure an incredible amount of punishment. And for this series Marvel leans into the TV-MA rating by ramping up the profanities.

While Daredevil: Born Again replicates the gritty vibe of the original series, Marvel fails to reproduce the most engaging aspect of Netflix’s Daredevil. The original show contained brutal action, but the interpersonal relationships of Matt’s closest friends provided the charm. There’s never a scene in Born Again in which we actually care about the new cast of secondary characters surrounding Matt.

This first season of Born Again—yes, Marvel’s setting up Daredevil for a follow-up—comprises two main arcs in which Matt must defend a fellow vigilante in court and then track down a serial killer. (A filler episode in the middle of the season feels like an ill-conceived attempt to link Daredevil to one of the MCU’s less popular Disney+ shows.) The final episode of the season ties all the events together in a manner that might snap the credulity of anyone who thinks too hard about the denouement.

Daredevil has always been something of an anomaly in the world of comic books because the character has a religious component. I suppose legendary comics creator Stan Lee thought it would be ironic to put a Roman Catholic character in a red devil costume. The conflict between piety and violence became a staple in the comics and featured prominently in the original Netflix series.

With a name like Born Again, one would expect to see similar religious themes play out in the Disney+ series, but despite the question of whether Fisk has reformed, this angle remains largely unexplored. Murdock is still Catholic, and at one point he says, “I was raised to believe in grace.” But these moments feel like afterthoughts designed to lend some continuity with what came before. In one episode, we see a moment of selfless sacrifice, probably an allusion to Jesus, but it’s a sacrifice that doesn’t lead to any redemption.