“Daredevil: Born Again” Season 1 (March-April, Disney Plus) – aside from the “missing seven years” elements wherein Wilson Fisk had disappeared and Matt Murdock had focused on lawyering – could be Season 4 of the original Netflix show.
This spinoff that’s still essentially the same thing has that 2010s feel where it’s warning us about a grim future of a brickbat state. That future is now here in the USA – but in “Born Again” it’s contained to New York City.
Genre shows and movies used to exaggerate current events, but “Born Again” shrinks them, at least geographically. Fisk, the crime Kingpin turned mayor, aims to get an iron grip on the Big Apple only. The Trump parallels are obvious, with the Task Force representing ICE, caged vigilantes representing the immigrant camps, and lots of muddled talk about masks. I’m suspicious that some of the directors unflatteringly emphasize Vincent D’Onofrio’s neck wattle as it comes through his collar.
“Daredevil: Born Again” Season 1 (2025)
Disney Plus, nine episodes
Showrunner: Dario Scardapane
Stars: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva
But this fourth overall season of “Daredevil” could’ve (and perhaps should’ve) come out before Trump’s second term so it could feel ominous rather than like a documentary. The president is doing these things on a national scale with international implications, whereas Fisk has no such ambitions.
It’s safe to say he never will in “Born Again,” as the MCU is generally continuing its policy wherein the TV shows can react to movie events, but not vice versa. That said, Kingpin sometimes goes up against Spider-Man in the comics, so maybe he’ll run for the presidency in one of those movies.
He’s back … initially in lawyer form
Though the time for warnings has passed, it’s instructive to see how Fisk’s tactics work in practice, such as scaring the citizenry with a bogeyman (with vigilantes as stand-ins for immigrants) and then declaring a state of emergency. We see how some are drawn into Fisk’s sphere; he recruits disgraced former police officers for the Task Force. People who care about individual rights and due process – like the police chief and a the reporter niece of the late Ben Urich — are neutralized via fear, threats, blackmail or worse.
As a fan of “Daredevil” Seasons 1-3, it was initially tough to decide whether to scoff at or rain praise on “Born Again.” Disney took it away from us for seven years. But now they’ve brought it back. None of the writers or directors are the same (although “Punisher’s” showrunner comes over), but they continue the storylines.
The fights are not what they used to be, but would we rather have the show in a slightly cheaper form or nothing at all? The 2010s and their expensive streaming shows – as the Netflix and others went all-in to compete with traditional TV – are gone and they ain’t coming back.
In Seasons 1-3, “Daredevil’s” deliciously choreographed, long-take fights – often in hallways – were enough that people looked up from their phones. (Or if they didn’t, they hit rewind.) The first episode of “Born Again” features an obviously CGI Daredevil leaping across rooftops as if the “Catwoman” team was hired, but it never gets that bad again.
The fights hit a comfort zone of “serviceable,” although – especially when Frank Castle/Punisher (John Bernthal) enters or when Kingpin loses the cool that’s always primed to burst from his tailored suit – we sometimes see a level of gore-encrusted violence that would make 1970s David Cronenberg squirm.
I miss a good brooding session
When listing “Born Again’s” positives, best of all is Charlie Cox, a short-lister for best superhero of the screen superhero age. His movements and knack for looking at nothing are such that I could believe the actor himself is blind. He clearly has studied visually impaired people’s nuances. The writers and directors show off Matt’s heightened other four senses in “Isle of Joy” (the eighth of the nine episodes), when he’s at the mayor’s ball, particularly using his ears.
“Born Again” is more jittery than the slow-burn Netflix era, and it’s not always the right fit for hero Daredevil, frenemy Punisher and villain Fisk, all brooders. The season uses many instances of cross-cutting between two intense sequences – for instance Daredevil and Punisher fighting the Task Force while Fisk and wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) decide what to do with a captive in their basement. The threads inform each other, but the style slightly intrudes on the substance.
I especially notice how “Born Again” will plant a plot point then move to something else; granted, the Netflix show did this to a lesser extent. It eventually gets back to the plot point it set aside, but for a while the writers pile up story threads rather than playing them out.
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
For instance, Foggy (Eldon Henson) is murdered in “Heaven’s Half Hour” (1), and we know Season 3 villain Poindexter/Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) shot him, and technically we’re supposed to think he went rogue. But – unless this has become a horribly written show (luckily, it hasn’t) — we know someone must’ve hired Poindexter. And obviously that person is Fisk.
Credit where it’s due, though: Vanessa is actually the one who hired Poindexter, and I didn’t see that coming. Maybe I should have, as it answers the question of “Why would anyone want to be with Fisk?” with the obvious: Because she’s as evil as he is. However, for the sake of that twist, we don’t wallow in Vanessa’s evil the way we do Fisk’s; maybe we can in Season 2.
To cite less effective example, a vigilante (Kamar de los Reyes’ White Tiger), is murdered by someone in Punisher garb, and we’re not shown the killer’s face. Obviously, it’s not Frank, but the delay in the answer makes for another non-mysterious “mystery.” And the answer here isn’t a great twist; it’s the Task Force.
(END OF SPOILERS.)
Never fear
The “Daredevil” saga is not what it used to be (the Drew Goddard-overseen show was among TV’s best from 2015-18) but still pretty great (helped because showrunner Dario Scardapane knows Hell’s Kitchen’s mean streets – he comes from “Punisher”).
While it has been Disney-fied with the lower budget and the alteration in pacing/editing, everything else feels like “Daredevil.” There’s no censoring of swearing and violence; just as the fears of “Alien” and “Predator” fans have mostly been assuaged, “Daredevil” fans won’t notice much softening of Matt and Frank.
Disney seems to respect the Man Without Fear within its larger Marvel cash cow, and it generally knows what fans want. Although it’s true that the details of Fisk’s missing seven years are fleshed out in “Echo,” making that series a prequel to “Born Again” (in addition to being a sequel to “Hawkeye,” which spins off from the “Avengers” saga … whew), these nine episodes are easily accessible if “Daredevil” Seasons 1-3 are all you’ve watched.
Well, you probably should’ve watched “Punisher,” too. And for 2026’s “Born Again” Season 2, you’ll want to have watched “Jessica Jones,” as Kristen Ritter’s character will return. This is all to the good, though. Street-level MCU is back. Yes, in Disney Plus form, but it’s not the dropoff I feared.