Netflix's Daredevil is still widely regarded as one of the greatest comic book-based TV shows of all time, and fans were understandably up in arms when the series came to a premature end after three seasons. Now, the Man Without Fear returns to our screens seven years later for a show that manages to establish itself as a worthy successor while actually improving on certain aspects of the original.
It's been widely reported that Daredevil: Born Again underwent an extensive creative overhaul to bring it more in line with the Netflix series, and it shows. For all intents and purposes, this Disney+ revival is Daredevil season 4. Great news for fans of the original show, but maybe not so much for anyone hoping to see a slightly different (perhaps less grounded?) approach to the material.
Born Again begins by reuniting us with lawyer/vigilante Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and his partners/best pals Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) as they make their way to Josie's Bar for officer Cherry's (Clark Johnson) retirement drinks. The party is soon crashed by an old enemy of Daredevil's, and a shocking event shatters Matt's world, compelling him to put his costume and crime-fighting persona away for good.
One year later, Murdock is working at a new firm with a new partner, Kristen McDuffie (Nikki M. James), but continues to struggle with a devastating loss. He tells himself that leaving the Devil behind and moving on with his civilian life was the right move, but every scream he hears on the street and news report of violent crime makes him doubt his decision.
When Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) announces that he intends to run for Major, Matt's old instincts kick in, and both men issue warnings to the other: If Fisk reverts to his criminal ways, Matt will be there, and should The Devil make an appearance, the Kingpin's new zero tolerance policy on costumed vigilantes will result in harsh consequences.
It's a compelling set-up, and the season is at its best when it focuses on these violent men attempting to come to terms with their true natures. Unfortunately, some momentum is lost around the halfway point, but it never quite falls into the same trap as the Netflix show by getting bogged down with subplots that simply aren't nearly as interesting as the main story.
Even die hard fans of Netflix's Daredevil would probably have to admit that the seasons did not have to be as long as they were, and, depending on your tolerance for entire episodes dedicated to the moral quandaries of some, frankly, irritatingly self-righteous supporting characters, you may have felt the ongoing story begin to drag a little.
Born Again also introduces a number of new characters and subplots to varying degrees of success, but the season does flow a lot better for the most part. Costumed vigilante White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes) is a welcome addition, although it must be said that a new love-interest for Matt (Margarita Levieva's Heather Glenn) and Fisk's loyal-to-a-fault assistant Daniel Blade (Michael Gandolfini) often feel more like distractions than vital supporting players.
As for sadistic serial killer Muse, while he does have a couple of exciting action sequences with Daredevil, he is somewhat underutilized, and fans of the comic book version of the villain are likely to take issue with how the character is depicted.
These storylines do inform the main narrative, but it can be hard to escape the feeling that Marvel could have quite easily chopped the season down to 6 or 7 episodes while losing only some superfluous padding.
Even so, when Born Again is firing on all cylinders, it's a joy to behold. Cox and D'Onofrio effortlessly slip back into their respective roles to deliver arguably their best performances yet as these broken individuals who have more in common than either would ever admit. It's completely understandable that they don't have many scenes together, but it's a shame that the writers didn't figure out a way for them to share the screen even just one more time.
Jon Bernthal also makes his long-awaited return as Frank Castle, and while the Punisher doesn't feature as much as you might expect, he certainly makes an impact. A later episode sees Castle and "Red" team up for a mission that proves to be an exhilarating bloodbath, rivalled only by a signature "oner" involving DD and Bullseye that recalls some of the best action sequences from the original series.
Those involved with bringing the show to the screen have repeatedly assured fans that the action in Born Again will be every bit as brutal as Netflix's Daredevil, and they were not exaggerating. Though it's probably not quite as relentlessly bloody overall, there are a couple of wince-inducing examples of extreme violence. One moment, in particular, stands out as the most sickeningly gruesome things you're ever likely to see in any mainstream series. How they managed to get this past the censors is anyone's guess, but it's more like something you'd expect to see in a Terrifier movie than the MCU.
As grim as this may sound, Born Again isn't actually quite as dark as the Netflix show, which did tend to wallow in its bleakness on occasion. There are some lighter moments (Wilson and Murdock even share a laugh), but - crucially - the humor never offsets the drama.
A few iffy spots of CGI aside, Born Again also looks incredible. Marvel Studios projects often receive criticism for their somewhat bland and lifeless aesthetic, but we can see the same complaints being levelled here. The show has a cinematic feel and really pops off the screen, with establishing shots of New York streets and the introduction of news interview clips with Ben Urich's niece BB (Genneya Walton) bringing the city itself to life, almost as if it was a living, breathing character in its own right.
When it comes to connections to the wider MCU, Born Again proves to be mostly self-contained. There's a mention of certain Friendly Neighbourhood Wall-Crawler, and an appearance from Mohan Kapoor as Kamala Khan's father, Yusef, which results in the most blatant and cringe-inducing Ms. Marvel nod (to be fair, it's so on the nose that it may well have been aiming for intentional humor).
Born Again builds to an exhilarating finale, and if the resolution seems a tad anticlimactic in some ways, it does more than enough to ensure anticipation for next year's season 2 (certain things were always going to be saved for future episodes).
Though it doesn't escape some slight mid-season lag, Daredevil: Born Again is up there with Loki as the best Disney+ Marvel series yet (it's also better than a lot of recent MCU movies). It may not be the reinvention some were hoping for, but it's difficult to imagine fans of the Man Without Fear coming away disappointed.