Daredevils always existed a bit on the fringes of the Marvel world—a red-clad, guilt-wracked Catholic ninja who spends as much time brooding on rooftops as he does throwing punches in dirty hallways. When the original Daredevil series landed on Netflix in 2015, it seemed like Marvel was at last ready to get its hands dirty.
The series adopted a darker, more realistic tone that was every bit as inspired by Frank Miller’s classic comic book runs as it was by the Dark Knight trilogy of Nolan. Charlie Cox brought actual depth to Matt Murdock—tough and tortured—and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk gave one of the most memorable villainous performances in the Marvel universe. That first season had grit, intelligence, and an actual adult edge. This wasn’t your typical Marvel fare. There was blood, profanity, and even the occasional sex scene. And somehow, it worked.
But the Netflix experiment with Marvel ultimately was a mixed bag. Daredevil got off to a strong start, but the shared Defenders universe soon ran out of steam. As spin-offs mounted and subsequent seasons struggled to maintain momentum, the quality became spotty. By the time season three attempted to get the ship back in order, Marvel was already beginning to walk away from the Netflix era, leaving audiences with a sense of something unresolved, like the tale had more to tell, but never got the opportunity.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Daredevil is back—or at least, a part of him. Daredevil: Born Again has arrived on Disney+, welcoming back Cox, D’Onofrio, and a few other familiar players. The title nods to the iconic Frank Miller tale, but don’t anticipate page-for-page fidelity. Rather, we see Matt Murdock in mourning following a personal tragedy, while Fisk—purportedly reformed—has set his aim on becoming the mayor of New York.
It’s a setup that might have potential, but the series rapidly becomes bogged down with a mess of plots: serial murderers, bank robberies, prison escapes—storylines that tend to appear haphazardly stitched together instead of meaningfully tied together.
The off-stage drama isn’t helpful. Production had commenced in 2022, but halfway through 2023, Marvel dismissed the key writing and directing staff. Then comes a Frankenstein of a show, where the stitches are difficult to overlook.
Characters and plotlines pop off the screen, vanish, and change tone without notice. And while the series attempts to find a middle ground between the dark feel of the Netflix shows and the lighter, more family-oriented feel of Disney+’s MCU, it ends up stuck in the middle, never quite knowing what it is.
All that aside, there are still scenes of note. The acting is good—Cox and D’Onofrio haven’t skipped a beat—and when the fight choreography kicks in, it kicks in. There’s a bit of excitement to be found in seeing these actors reprising their roles, even though the narrative doesn’t always quite know what to do with them.
The real problem is that Born Again never quite commits to a clear identity. It wants to honor the darker legacy of the original show while also playing by the rules of the broader MCU, and that tension shows. The result is a series that’s entertaining enough but often feels disjointed. Easter eggs and cameos are sprinkled throughout, but they start to feel like distractions rather than meaningful additions.
Daredevil has long been one of Marvel’s richest, most nuanced heroes—a man as defined by his shortcomings as his virtues. Born Again is an earnest effort to bring him back home, but it falls short of what made the character—and the original series—so effective. Rather than allowing Daredevil to be Daredevil, the show insists on trying too hard to make him fit into a more general MCU. And in doing so, he loses a lot of what made him unforgettable in the process.