Disney+Daredevil: Born Again is the most brutal the MCU has ever been. It’s also messy, ambitious, and knuckle-whiteningly thrilling beyond my wildest dreams; after years of stagnation and anticipation, this could be what a franchise without fear looks like.
Even with an Avengers double-bill on the horizon, Marvel is in trouble. Nobody cares where it’s going, nobody knows why anything is happening, and (excusing Loki and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3), it’s been stuck in a creative rut; even Deadpool & Wolverine’s soft-balled, weightless R-rated exploits felt relatively safe.
As its audience has grown up, the studio’s mistake was thinking it was immune to real darkness. As Kingpin says, sometimes peace needs to be broken, and chaos must reign – and Daredevil: Born Again is that chaos; bloody, emotional, and even with its flaws, it’s the most exciting the MCU has felt since the end of the Infinity Saga.
One line in the new series feels especially apt: “Not nostalgia: reverence for the past and hope for the future.”
What is Daredevil: Born Again about?
The series picks up where Season 3 of Daredevil left off: Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), and Foggy (Elden Henson) are back together and running their own law firm. Suddenly, a “line is crossed” that changes Matt’s life forever, and he ditches his vigilante mantle (I expect this to be divisive, but it’s a genuine stakes-raiser that breathlessly sets the tone).
Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) runs for mayor of New York as he tries to mend his relationship with Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer); the question is, does he actually want to serve the city, or is he just a “monster trying to rewrite his legacy”?
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“Good people can do bad things, bad people can do good things”: this is the duality of Daredevil and Kingpin, and the series challenges and tempts them in grim, shocking, and occasionally delightful ways (Episode 5 is a standout, sort-of standalone showcase of Matt Murdock I hope people enjoy as much as I did).
I can’t say anything about why they’re in the show – nor do I want to! – but Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes), Frank Castle aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and Muse all play significant roles in reflecting the show’s conflict between wrath and mercy, cruelty and temperance, and most of all, justice and vengeance.
Born Again embraces the dark side of Marvel
Disney+“It’s hard to come to terms with the violent nature… hating the power it has over us,” Fisk tells Matt early in the series. Born Again embraces it – and it’s glorious (there’s one kill in here that made me yelp out loud, and one set piece is maybe the goriest and greatest action scene in the whole franchise to date).
But as well-choreographed (there’s some iffy punches here and there) and ruthless as its violence is, it doesn’t coast on its bloodshed. This is a meaningful and admittedly muddled narrative and thematic evolution of the MCU, tackling corruption, the hypocrisy of the justice system, and police brutality (Punisher logos with the words “triggered” are graffitied across the city) across nine punchy episodes.
As a West Wing fan, I have little patience for half-baked politics – but Born Again doesn’t shy away from the realities of Fisk’s red-tape-tearing campaign, and it still threads the dramatic, timely needle.
Even if the core story and those themes lose some of their potency, you can feel it striving to be something more and different from its acclaimed predecessor; that daring spirit is worth applauding, even if it doesn’t always work. At its best (and worst), even with its overhaul, you can tell it comes from one of the minds behind Netflix’s The Punisher series, Dario Scardapane.
The credit lies with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. If you’ve seen their work, you wouldn’t have paired them with the MCU – but time (Moon Knight) and time again (Loki), the directing duo has proven to be the greatest asset of the franchise’s Disney Plus empire.
There’s a texture to Born Again that’s tangibly distinct. Don’t roll your eyes, but New York does feel like its own character; vox-pop vignettes offer on-the-fly (and sometimes on-the-nose) commentary, and in one superbly pitched moment, Matt hears screams of peril lost in the cheers of the masses; this is a living, breathing city, not just a random location that “babysits chaos.”
Is it as good as Netflix’s Daredevil?
Disney+Daredevil: Born Again is a tremendous successor to the Netflix series, even if it has some teething issues as it finds its footing.
It can fall victim to the MCU’s aversion to gimmickry; Muse is a disgusting villain, but the show doesn’t make him icky enough, nor does it utilize what makes him such a great foil for Daredevil. The Newton Brothers satisfyingly tinker with John Paesano’s amazing theme (with a little touch of Ramin Djawadi-esque sounds in there), but it’s ultimately a do-over of something better.
It’s not always as visually dynamic, falling somewhat awkwardly between gloss and grit that feels neither televisual nor cinematic (the CGI is a bit janky); you could say Marvel has established a new small-screen visual language, but that’s rarely a compliment. That said, some hyper-stylized flourishes really work; for example, the letterboxing tenses and releases when Matt hones in on his super-senses.
But – and this is what matters – it understands Daredevil, and it feels spiritually in tune with its foundations. Cox is spectacular, making jaw-dropping acts of savage athleticism, icy remarks, and courtroom drama seem effortless. D’Onofrio is a towering singularity; every time he enters a room, it shifts the gravity of everything around him (and when you get them both in one scene – and you do – you’ll feel spoiled).
There’s little I can say about Bernthal’s return as The Punisher… apart from this: he may be the best casting decision the MCU has ever made, and his return left me starving for more. “One batch, two batch, penny and dime.”
Dexerto Review Score: 4/5 – Very Good
Daredevil: Born Again feels like a rebirth for the MCU. It’s bold, grown-up, and as teeth-clinchingly ferocious as you could ever hope. The Man Without Fear is back, and he could be the franchise’s savior.
“I cannot see the light, so I must be the light.”
Make sure you know when to watch every episode with our Daredevil: Born Again release schedule. You can also find out when Born Again takes place in the MCU, if you need to watch Netflix’s Daredevil first, and you should read our ranking of the best Marvel shows to date.
For more information on how we score TV shows and movies, check out our scoring guidelines here.