It’s well-established on this page that I will always do my homework. Even when I tell myself I’m not going to, it still ends up happening somehow. This is mostly only relevant when it comes to the MCU, a franchise famous for requiring homework. Charlie Cox’s Daredevil was first introduced in the 2010 Netflix series Daredevil that ran for 3 seasons on the platform. Despite the positive reception to the show, I never watched it. It came out before my investment in the MCU and was also never canonically part of the universe. Until now, I guess. I was under the assumption that Daredevil: Born Again would revive the central character for a new set of adventures so I didn’t feel the need to go back and watch the original series. After watching the first few episodes of the new show, though, it was clear my assumptions were wrong. They definitely made Daredevil: Born Again assuming viewers had seen the Netflix show. And it did make it hard to follow. Upon reading reviews of the series, it was apparently advertised as “not a spinoff of the Netflix series, but a straightforward continuation.” This advertising never reached me, I guess. But then one also said, “In practical terms: No, you don’t have to rewatch the original Daredevil before diving into this one.” Hard disagree. How can you call it a continuation and then say that? Long story short: I thought I could get away with not watching the original Netflix series and just jumping in for Daredevil: Born Again. But any of us could have predicted my completionist nature would get the best of me and I would feel compelled to fill in the blanks. So I did. I went back and watched all 3 seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil from 2010. I had high hopes from everything I had heard about it and the way I know people feel about it, but I thought it was just fine. It kept me entertained, but I didn’t find it so special. But this isn’t a review of that show. I will say it was better than the new show. Daredevil: Born Again felt like it never really knew what it wanted to be. If the intention was to be a continuation of the original series, then why not just try to recapture that vibe instead of doing something different? Neither the character or the show ever meant so much to me, but I know that people who loved the original series were very unhappy with the differences between old and new versions.

Daredevil: Born Again struggled to carve out its own identity from its initial construction. The series entered development in early 2022 with the intention of being a new series with a lighter tone than the Netflix show. Marvel then decided to overhaul the series in September 2023 to make the approach more serialized and directly connected to the Netflix series. You can feel all of this in the show. The tone shifts, the storytelling is patchwork. Some of the bones of the primary show still poke through while the updated version tries (and often fails) to pull the pieces together. The Netflix series had one villain and essentially one storyline that stretched over each 13 episode season. Daredevil: Born Again attempts to be more episodic with a “case of the week” for Matt Murdock. “Dick Wolf’s Daredevil” someone jokingly called it which, honestly, doesn’t sound half bad to me as a hardcore Law & Order fanatic. But the character of Daredevil and his villainous opponents have to come in somewhere. Neither version of Matt feels entirely satisfying. It’s all over the place. There doesn’t seem to be a singular vision for the show. What story is it trying to tell? What is it trying to say? The series seems to be attempting to figure that out in real time. 

As for the actual throughline plot of the series, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, otherwise known as Kingpin, is back as the big bad. Except instead of underground crime boss, this time, he’s the mayor of New York City. It’s clear the intention was to show both Matt and Fisk in parallel stories trying to be on the straight and narrow but falling back into their old, violent ways. Sometimes this reads more than others. I needed more introspection and resolution after a key interaction between the pair. But, honestly, I’m just really over Kingpin. He’s shown up as the villain in Hawkeye and Echo and has been referenced in other properties as well. And I don’t know if Vincent D’Onofrio’s performance is bad or if I just don’t enjoy watching it but, either way, it brought down the show for me. Additionally, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t want to see more storylines revolving around politics in my escapism content. Especially ones that so closely mirror reality. I wonder if they knew how prescient this show would be when they made it. A criminal being elected to public office, causing problems and then taking credit for fixing them, taking control of various sectors of the government piece by piece. All straight out of the [redacted] playbook. I don’t want it. I don’t want to watch it, I don’t want to think about it. Living through it is hard enough. The highlight of the season was Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake, Fisk’s protégé and member of his mayoral campaign. He could always be counted on for a humorous moment, bringing light to a darker show.

The final episode didn’t feel like a season finale. But I guess it’s not really. These 9 episodes were just the first half of a planned 18-episode series with the second season set to premiere in March 2026. Feels like a long wait for just a part 2 instead of a season 2. So far Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t been a bad show. Some episodes and plotlines worked better than others. I felt fairly ambivalent about most of the season. But still I’m interested in the characters and interested to see where it all goes. Hopefully the show will find its groove more in the back half.

2025 Count: 27 movies, 20 seasons of television, 3 specials