‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Review: The MCU Blindly Reaches for Lofty Bar Set by Netflix

Daredevil fans rejoice! The Devil is back in Hell’s Kitchen — for all the good and the bad. Expectations are understandably through the roof for the MCU overhaul of Netflix’s Daredevil, fittingly titled Born Again, as the original series is still one of the best examples of well-executed superhero content. Does Daredevil: Born Again succeed at reaching these heights?

Well, the answer is complicated. At its best, sure. Showrunner Dario Scardapane‘s retelling with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead at the helm achieves a darker tone, with some well-choreographed and brutal violence. Yet the series also feels more shallow than the original, never managing to recreate the singular vision of Steven DeKnight‘s under the weight of incorporating the larger MCU connections.

That’s not to say that it’s not a good thing that the Man Without Fear can’t interact with the likes of Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) or Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), but the necessity of integrating itself into a bigger universe that has come so far since these characters last departed our screens holds the series back from the true heights it might have been able to achieve otherwise.

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Is Searching for the Heart Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’ Had

Daredevil: Born Again feels like it needs to let you know from the onset that while this is the same series you know and love, it’s unafraid to push the boundaries and disrupt everything you hold sacred — a move that both sets the tone for the nine-episode series (of which Agents of Fandom received all for review) and separates it from the original in a way that sometimes feels like it’s hard to come back from.

Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Wilson (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer), and Frank Castle’s Punisher (Jon Bernthal) all make their returns without missing a beat, but while newcomers like Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James), Cherry (Clark Johnson), and Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) make the best of what they’re given, their characterizations feel half-hearted compared to what we’re familiar with — a theme that is echoed in one of the season’s villains, Muse.

McDuffie is positioned as this brilliant asset of a lawyer but acts only secondary to Matt (Charlie Cox), an issue that only continues to become glaringly obvious as the season progresses. One of the best aspects of Karen and Matt’s relationship was the history the characters experience together through three seasons of trauma and heartbreak; Matt’s relationship with Heather progresses at a rate that makes it hard to fully buy into the inevitable ups and downs that every relationship experiences, and it seriously detracts from any tense moments they might undergo together.

Similarly with Cherry, buying into his relationship with Matt would be much easier if we weren’t asked to rewrite history to believe he was a useful member of the police force to the team during the original series. Small issues like these chip away at the statue this team is trying to rebuild, but with Season 2 on the way and many bright spots in Season 1, there is a ton to look forward to.

MCU Daredevil Retains the Brutality of the Netflix Series

Ultimately, there are a lot of praiseworthy elements to Daredevil: Born Again. Charlie Cox doesn’t miss a beat as Matt Murdock, and it’s damn good to see him doing his thing once more. There isn’t a lacking performance in the season, but a welcome surprise is Michael Gandolfini, who electrifies every scene he’s in. Jon Bernthal continues to prove he’s the right man for the role of The Punisher, and I can’t wait to explore more of the implications of his timely, real-world adjacent arc in Season 2. Special mention goes to the late, incredibly talented Kamar de los Reyes, whose profoundly emotional performance as Hector Ayala will be a foundation of the series moving forward.

Something that set Netflix’s Daredevil apart right out of the gate was its fearlessness in portraying next-level violence that heavily delivered on blood and R-rated action. Given its destination on Disney+, fans excited for Daredevil: Born Again were justifiably worried that the reboot wouldn’t be allowed to reach those same levels of gore — rest assured, some areas exceed the original, never making you wonder if the series you’re watching is in the same continuity violence-wise. While there are some incredible set pieces, personally, none of the action choreography manages to top Netflix’s Daredevil, but it’s nothing to frown at either.

Daredevil: Born Again doesn’t pull any punches, and while that’s often a great thing, like Daredevil himself, it also means it takes a few punches. Dario Scardapane and Sana Amanat‘s show might experience growing pains, but that’s a common theme among MCU Disney+ series, and this certainly ranks among the best of them. It follows in the footsteps of recent MCU success Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in that it looks ahead, ensuring a gripping Season 2 by ending on a distinct, exciting tease for the future.

In Time, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Could Surpass the Original

It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s got enough heart and the creative team behind it to mold Daredevil: Born Again into a series that could surpass even the original. One of its most unique aspects is the real-world parallels that provide in-universe commentary. While a series like The Boys would use this as fodder for a tirade of jokes (written affectionately), Born Again weaves these elements as world-building fabrics that enhance the narrative tangibly.

Given that the series was scrapped and overhauled to include characters from the original, I’m giving the first season some leeway — it’s honestly remarkable that it came together as successfully as it did. With that being said, I think the creators will further excel working from the slate they’ve provided themselves throughout Daredevil: Born Again, without having to establish or re-establish anything from a previous series, and now that living up to past expectations shouldn’t be as large of a worry.

It might be wishful thinking, but it’s hard not to chalk a lot of errors up to a wayward era of Marvel TV, where shooting shows without showrunners was commonplace, and both the pandemic and a mid-strike Hollywood caused countless production delays. I’m tentatively taking the good with the bad and judging under the context of a strained production because while not everything clicks, the right pieces are on the board, which is more than other Marvel series can say.

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