By now, we're sure you're all aware of how much Daredevil: Born Again changed during its creative overhaul. As a reminder, Foggy Nelson died off-screen at the hands of some corrupt cops; there was no Bullseye or Karen Page, and no costumed action until the end of the season.
Marvel Studios realised the series wasn't working, and replaced Head Writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman with showrunner Dario Scardapane. A lot of footage remained, but the series was reshaped and will be a much different beast when it returns for Season 2.
Now, we have a glimpse at what might have been, thanks to a VFX reel revealing that Matt Murdock originally carried around a yellow horn.
That obviously connects to the yellow suit the hero wore in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. However, it's not outside the realm of possibility that this is post-overhaul, and Marvel Television didn't have the red costume ready in time.
Either way, it's an intriguing glimpse behind the scenes of Daredevil: Born Again's first season...
Mildly Interesting Information (Pre-Overhaul Born Again)
by u/j_ritchie131 in Daredevil
Perhaps even more intriguing are these newly revealed stills featuring a cut scene between Daredevil and The Punisher in the latter's base. Matt is suited up, and Frank Castle doesn't have his beard, likely meaning Matt visited his former client before the Anti-Vigilante Task Force attacked his home.
In Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, Karen Page convinced Frank to help the Man Without Fear. Based on these images, the original idea might have been that Matt asked Frank for help.
Alternatively, perhaps these two were set to reunite at the end of the season before the decision was made to give The Punisher his own Special Presentation (leading to his being briefly imprisoned alongside the rest of Mayor Wilson Fisk's captives).
Last October, one of the show's writers, Jesse Wigutow—who worked on the series pre- and post-overhaul—elaborated on the changes that were made to Daredevil: Born Again when he said, "I think I'm not speaking out of turn in saying that there was an effort to make the show very separate from the Netflix [series] and kind of a new concept."
"I feel like some of that worked well, and some of it didn't. And there were expectations that weren't necessarily being met, and there was a pointed effort and a left turn — to not necessarily return to Netflix, but honor the Netflix origin of the show," he continued. "It is meant to be more aligned with the Netflix show now."
In Daredevil: Born Again, survival, resistance and redemption collide as the battle for the soul of New York begins. In Season 2, Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil.
But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild. Created by Dario Scardapane, Chris Ord and Matt Corman, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 stars Charlie Cox as the titular masked vigilante (aka Matt Murdock) and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.
Daredevil: Born Again returns to Disney+ on March 24.