Series Review: Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again
Created by Dario Scardapane, Matt Corman, Chris Ord
Marvel Television
Streaming on Disney+: 03.04.25

One of the many problems that has led to a sharp decline in the superhero genre has been the rush to get as much content out there as possible without waiting to make sure it’s done right. It’s taken a wait of nearly five years for Daredevil: Born Again, but it was well worth the wait to give the devil his due.

The new series picks up several years after the events of season three of Daredevil, and after a life-changing tragedy jolts his world, New York lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox, Stardust, Treason) has hung up mask and billy club, retiring from his nightlife as a vigilante and throwing himself into his booming legal practice, alongside Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James, Spoiler Alert, Severance) and retired cop Cherry (Clark Johnson, The Wire). Meanwhile, former crime boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket, Men in Black), Daredevil’s former arch-nemesis, aka the crime boss known as Kingpin, launches a campaign for mayor of New York City. As each of them grapples with their innate nature, Fisk tries to fix things with his wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer, Man of Steel), and Matt begins a relationship with Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva, Star Wars: The Acolyte), a beautiful and serious-minded therapist. Despite their efforts to focus on the future, the past just can’t seem to stay buried for either man and, no matter what their intentions may be, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk are stuck on an inevitable collision course with an intertwined destiny.

Breaking with the normal Marvel practice of giving critics just a few episodes to get an initial feel for the show, all nine episodes of Daredevil: Born Again have been made available for the reviewing press. Whether that’s because the studios are more confident in the finished product or because it makes an effort to further whatever larger story the Marvel Cinematic Universe is trying to build up to at this point, it means the ability to give a resounding positive review without relying on any qualifiers. While Born Again is a continuation of the original series, there’s an added sense of polish and a seemingly elevated budget. Far better, however, is that the leaner nine-episode season — as opposed to the thirteen episodes that were standard for Daredevil — prevents it from getting bogged down by unnecessary filler, and the episodes vary in length based on what plays best, with the shortest clocking in at just under 40 minutes. This was an easy binge that never got laggy and though it’s far from being nonstop action, it moves well and held my full attention throughout. The TV-MA aspect is still there, which may feel jarring for Disney+, though showrunner Dario Scardapane mostly has a strong feel for how to use it. There was only one major act of violence that felt too graphic and over the top for me, and while I would have strongly preferred that it were handled differently, it seems clear that the majority of fans want it.

Cox is once again superb in the role, and his Matt Murdock is such an engaging character that I felt no impatience for the time it takes to bring back his alter ego (it’s not a spoiler if it’s stated in the title). D’Onfrio gives one of his strongest and most comfortable outings in the role and it fits him like a glove. Fisk entering the political arena is straight out of the comics and certainly wasn’t meant to be so perfectly timed to mirror the national reality of having a mob boss in office, yet the parallel is striking to the point of being unsettling. Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark) as a young rising political staffer named Daniel Blake, and Genneya Walton (Candy Cane Lane, Never Have I Ever) as BB Ulrich, a relative of the late journalist Ben Ulrich, are two of the best new additions this season. Gandolfini oozes just the right combination of charm and slime that we’d expect from the son of Tony Soprano, and Walton brings an endearing mix of street smarts and tenacity to her role. The best by far is the late Kamar de los Reyes (Sleepy Hollow, The Rookie) as a client of Murdock’s, though I’m not mentioning the character’s name for spoiler reasons. The return of Jon Bernthal’s mesmerizing portrayal of Frank Castle/The Punisher is a major highlight, and while Deborah Ann Woll doesn’t get enough screen time as Matt’s old partner and flame Karen Page, she lights up the screen every moment she’s on it.

Daredevil: Born Again is the most overall satisfying entry for Marvel I’ve seen in a while, and while I hope that it doesn’t encourage too much focus on harsher content from Marvel (I’m in the minority that wants most superhero content to be at least a little bit kid friendly), I do hope that this “devil does care” attitude provides a model for the kind of focus and commitment to excellence that they should be striving for on both the small screen and in their theatrical outings. —Patrick Gibbs 

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