At this point, the words "Daredevil: Born Again" and "creative overhaul" go pretty much hand-in-hand. Much has been said about what changes were made to the series, though they ultimately boil down to a few key points:
- Making Daredevil: Born Again a follow-up to Netflix's Daredevil, rather than a reboot
- Adding characters like Bullseye, Foggy Nelson, and Karen Page
- Upping the action and costumes, with Matt suiting up much sooner than originally planned
We've already speculated that Daredevil's battle with Muse was originally set to play out much closer to the finale, especially as it felt like a lot of his scenes were missing by the time that confrontation in Heather's office took place.
Now, scooper @MyTimeToShineH has revealed, "In the original version, the main villains were only Muse and the corrupt cops. The corrupt cops killed Foggy, they killed White Tiger, and then Muse’s actions helped the corrupt cops rise to power with Mayor Fisk using Muse's killings as an excuse to form his Task Force."
"Then in the final episodes," they add, "Frank comes back and starts hunting the corrupt cops because they were using his symbol."
It's clear the story didn't change that much from what was originally planned. However, Muse being the season's "big bad" would have given Daredevil: Born Again a different feel.
With no Bullseye, would Mayor Fisk have enacted martial law due to a serial killer being on the loose? That's one of many questions this new intel raises, and it seems the plan was to focus more on corrupt cops than the machination of the Fisks (unless the idea was for Vanessa to have tasked one of them with murdering Foggy).
The Kingpin was always going to become Mayor, but given the way things escalate in those final two episodes, perhaps not to such extremes.
What's going to be interesting now is how Daredevil: Born Again season 2 looks and feels. While new showrunner Dario Scardapane was able to increase the level of connectivity to Daredevil and add some familiar faces, it's clear he did so with one hand tied behind his back. Season 2 will be all his, and likely far more comic book-y than whatever Matt Corman and Chris Ord had planned.
Was a legal procedural dealing with police corruption and a serial killer such a bad thing? Marvel Studios must have believed so after taking a closer look at the show during 2023's series. Plus, as good of a series as it might have been, this version of Daredevil: Born Again feels more like what fans wanted and expected from the Man Without Fear in the MCU.
"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."
All episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are now streaming on Disney+.