Before the days of Disney+, Marvel Studios struck a deal with Netflix to bring several of their street-level heroes to the small screen. There were several, but the first of them was Daredevil, a master acrobat and vigilante who wears a red combat suit adorned with devil’s horns and who is, by day, a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock. The shows were a mixed bag, but Daredevil was mostly a success. Fans loved the darker tone the series embraced. In particular, both Charlie Cox’s portrayal of the titular character and Vincent D’Onofrio’s portrayal of the series villain, Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, but the series felt like they were at an arms length to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and suffered some pacing problems as well.
Fast forward to today and the MCU is in full swing on the small screen once more, and Charlie Cox has now reprised his role in three other Marvel projects. The question remains, though: how much of his original series is canon to the overall universe? And as it became clear that Daredevil was going to get a new series, the other question became how well will the darker tone fit within the much lighter Marvel universe?
In the true spirit of comic books, the answer to both questions is that it doesn’t really matter! The first episode of Daredevil: Born Again does a soft reset of the series. Matt Murdock suffers a terrible personal loss and, though his best friends, Foggy and Karen (Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll) are featured, they are no longer ever-present. He’s hung up the horns and is concentrating on the law, starting a new firm with Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James), and becoming devoted to a new woman, Heather Glenn (Margaria Levieva). At the same time, his nemesis Wilson Fisk, freshly returned from his recovery after the events of Echo, wins an election for Mayor of New York, placing the two of them on an inevitable collision course.
It’s a standard setup for a show like this: a hero with just his wits and allies facing off against a villain residing in a position of power they manipulated themselves into. If you’ve watched TV or read comic books before, it will feel more than familiar, but the creative team makes several smart choices that keep it both elevated and interesting.
First and foremost, this means keeping Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in the roles, as they now wear them like well-fitted gloves. D’Onofrio is once again a powerhouse as Fisk. His sheer size makes him impressive and intimidating, but he is also vulnerable when the script calls for it—primarily when interacting with Ayelet Zurer as his wife, Vanessa, with whom he has a strained relationship.
Cox is the real standout this time, though, playing a version of Matt Murdock that is slightly lighter in tone but just as heavily burdened with guilt. This is a Matt Murdock that worries about how much he craves the dark of his vigilante life and the darkness of his nature and spends much of the series denying that part of himself rather than facing it. It’s an excellent and nuanced performance in these moments and an infectiously fun one in the lighter moments, too, when he is sweet-talking a DA or casually foiling a hostage situation.
The new, less gritty tone suits the material well and allows the show to exist in both of the dark brooding mode and the fun hero more a little more fluidly. The series also solves another major issue that plagued the Netflix series: pacing. Where each of the previous series’ seasons felt like they had about nine episodes worth of content spread across 13, and occasionally felt like it didn’t respect its own structure, Born Again is a solid nine episodes, each with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. It features several more minor storylines that weave in and out of the larger storyline in organic and satisfying ways; some of these are a few episodes, and others are only one, and the show really benefits from the slightly more episodic nature.
Last but not least, it no longer feels at arm’s length from the greater Marvel Universe, as it features several guest appearances and cameos from characters we’ve met before in other MCU projects.
Born Again does hang on to a couple of things from that previous series—namely a reluctance to put Dardevil in his superhero costume. In most episodes, he doesn’t put on the costume at all, and while this works for the series’ themes, it’s still disappointing not to see a superhero in his complete persona for the bulk of the series. Also, while there is a good long-take fight in a hallway, some of the fights aren’t as visually impressive as one might hope for a show about a master acrobat with near-perfect situational awareness.
Still, these are not significant gripes. Born Again is a good show with solid performances and writing. Not only are the arcs and stories woven together well, but the series has much to say about the American justice and political systems through its presentation of the police and suspects, as well as those who seek out power in society, why they seek it, and what they do with it when they have it.
It’s not the same dark series it was, but it’s not as light as the greater MCU, either. It manages to land in a perfect middle ground. The lack of costumed shenanigans may even add to the broader appeal for those suffering from MCU fatigue, too. Either way, fans of the character will be pleased to see him return in what is one of the strongest Marvel series in recent memory.
The all-new series, Daredevil: Born Again, premieres on March 4, 2025, exclusively on Disney+.
