By Jack Ransom - March 9, 2025
TV - Premium TV
After 7 long years The Man Without Fear returns to our TV screens. Daredevil: Born Again picks up after season 3 of Netflix’s Daredevil left off. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) finds himself on a collision course with Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) when their past identities begin to emerge.
Marvel/Netflix’s Daredevil was a game changer when it arrived in 2015. Contrasting the bombastic, CGI spectacle and wise-cracking humour of the cinematic universe, with its gritty as hell, grounded, engaging character drama and career defining performances from Cox & D’Onofrio. From there two seasons would follow, before the news broke that the series (as well as the other Defenders shows and The Punisher) would be axed due to a combination of rights and ratings.
Whilst for many (myself included) the idea of these characters being able to now interact with the wider MCU did balance out the sour note of this cancellation news. After being announced in the summer of 2022, Born Again has had a rocky road to the small screen: a complete script and release schedule overhaul, the writer strikes and showrunners dropping out/being fired. The first trailer arrived last year and thankfully seemed to be keeping fully in line with the tone and continuity of the first three seasons.
Whilst these first two episodes certainly aren’t bad, far from it. There is undeniably ‘something off’ about the show that instantaneously makes it feel different to the Netflix episodes. Opening with a shocking and visceral return to these characters and one murderous Pointdexter (AKA Bullseye). It’s clearly a statement of intent and a “Yeah we aren’t toning down for the Mouse!”… that being said, it feels haphazard, the one-take throwback pales in comparison to what we’ve seen before and janky CGI and squint-inducing lighting are noticeable. From here, we pick up 1 year later and see Matt and Karen apart from one another, with Matt operating in a successful and wealthy lawyer firm.
Whilst not the most unique of narrative flavours, Matt’s apprehension of returning to the costume, yet his clashing desire to do so is an engaging hook and is also welcomed alongside a lighter toned spark of romance with new character Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva). The meat and potatoes of both episodes however is the return of Wilson Fisk. Claiming to have turned over a new leaf, his goal as the newly elected mayor (again somewhat swiftly/rushed in execution) is to fix New York… by any means necessary. Seeing Fisk more so out of his comfort zone and in the public eye is welcome and yes, I had a huge grin on my face when he and Matt meet again face-to-face for the first time in years.
Stylistically, this suffers compared to what came before. It has a mostly flat Disney Plus look to the colour grading and I mentioned the dodgy CGI and filter in the first episode. That being said, I love what they are doing with the camera to present Matt’s enhanced abilities (dolly zooms, slow-motion, gliding pans), there are a smattering of slickly framed shots and yep, the red costume looks superb here. Also, they are very much keeping to the streets and community of New York with plenty of extras, everyday folk and their voices being heard.
Episode 2’s scrappy bloody cut to end credits is keeping me interested to see what’s next, but make no mistake, in my opinion, if you are expecting these first two episodes to be on the quality level of Season 1 you may need to tamper your expectations. It’s great to see Cox and D’Onofrio again, Kingpin’s mayoral takeover is a strong overarching narrative hook and there is some stylish camera trickery on display. That being said a clashing tone is set, bizarre CGI and blurry lighting/filters are noticeable and palpable tension and excitement is lacking. Daredevil: Born Again has a solid but slightly disappointing start - we shall see what next week brings!
Episode 1 & 2 streaming on Disney Plus
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