Daredevil: Born Again's "creative overhaul" has been a major talking point among fans since the news broke that Marvel Studios was going back to the drawing board in late 2023.
Since then, we've learned of at least some changes, whether it's through the very public reshoots which took place in New York last year or in recent interviews with the cast and creatives while they were promoting the show's Disney+ premiere.
@MyTimeToShineH has shared an in-depth breakdown of all the changes made to Daredevil: Born Again and they're undeniably significant. However, as expected, those middle episodes mostly just received some tweaks, with the premiere and final two episodes going through the biggest alterations.
"Episodes 1-6 were mostly kept intact but were shifted to become episodes 2-7 instead," the scooper explains, adding that all of Vanessa Fisk's scenes were reshot when Ayelet Zurer was asked to reprise her role and replaced Sandrine Holt. The script, however, remained unchanged.
The new pilot added more background, covering Matt Murdock's first meeting with Heather Glenn and Wilson Fisk's Mayoral run (original plans called for the series to begin with him already in office).
Touching on yesterday's episode, it's revealed that, "White Tiger’s death scene was reshot to make it clear that he was killed by a dirty cop wearing the Punisher symbol. In the original version he was also killed by a dirty cop, but the symbol wasn’t visible on his clothes, and it only became clear in the following episode."
The biggest shocker relates to the roles of Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. The former was set to be killed off-screen by a dirty cop, not Bullseye. The new pilot extended and altered the lawyer's demise, bringing Bullseye back...a character who wasn't in the original version of Daredevil: Born Again.
As it happens, neither was Karen. In fact, "They didn't even mention her in the original version, like she never existed." The scooper concludes by revealing, "They also made a new episode 8 and a new episode 9 (season finale), the season finale featuring the return of Karen, Punisher and Bullseye once again."
It's wild to think how different Daredevil: Born Again originally was and the biggest question now is what was planned for episodes 8 and 9. Was Muse meant to be the show's sole big bad outside of the Kingpin? It looks that way, especially when we know a major issue with the pre-overhaul series was that Matt didn't suit up for almost the entire first season.
In Marvel Television's Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with heightened abilities is fighting for justice through his bustling law firm, while former mob boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) pursues his own political endeavors in New York. When their past identities begin to emerge, both men find themselves on an inevitable collision course.
"A masterpiece of epic proportions, Daredevil: Born Again delivers a powerful, unmissable take on the Man Without Fear," we said in our review. "Putting street-level heroics on the map in a way that promises to change the MCU forever, the show is sublime superhero storytelling on a whole new level."
Daredevil: Born Again's first three episodes are now streaming on Disney+.