Daredevil: Born Again

A year after a personal tragedy changes his life, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), the blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen New York, has hung up the cowl of his alter ego, Daredevil.  He feels a line was crossed and he can’t go back, so he does his best to change the world as a good lawyer with his new legal partner Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James). He also begins dating therapist Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) after Kirsten sets them up in a sneaky underhanded match making attempt.  But all is not rosy in Matt’s world, his old nemesis Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) a.k.a. The Kingpin survived the act of being shot in the face by the vigilante known as Echo and returns to New York with his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) and becomes Mayor of the city leaving Matt questioning his motives and his own decision in hanging up the cowl.  When Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) is arrested for killing a cop, Matt takes his case and discovers that Hector is also a masked vigilante going by the name White Tiger.  Matt knows something doesn’t add up and believes the cops involved could be dirty.

Daredevil: Born Again is an American superhero crime series bringing to life the Marvel Comics character originally seen in the Netflix series in 2015 – 2018.  Charlie Cox and many other actors reprise their roles and have been seen in many other Marvel Cinematic Universe series.  Born Again premiered with a two-episode release on Disney+ on March 4, 2025.  The first season will consist of nine episodes with a follow up season to be aired in early 2026 with an additional eight episodes.  The first season is garnering positive reviews with praise going to both D’Onofrio and Cox’s performances.

The series kind of starts off on a downer with Matt’s personal tragedy and the death of a beloved character.  Although this act is an important part of the plot, it actually tarnishes the show for me.  I am tired of characters being killed off.  I get that it happens, but I miss the days when it didn’t or when it did, it was a much bigger deal.  Also, I don’t like when a superhero show has the superhero “hang up the cowl”, of the first two episodes released, we only see Daredevil one time and not in the second episode at all.  What saves the show from completely losing me is the writing and acting.  First off, the dialogue, especially between Fisk and Murdock is smart, terse, tense and well crafted.  But more than just the writing, the performers giving the dialogue life do it with such amazing ease layering the complex interactions with multiple emotions and meaning.  There is so much that is unsaid and yet the emotions and subtext is so well communicated making these characters very three dimensional.  It is this combination that enthralls the audience and makes them want to come back for more.  We can relate to each one and the audience easily connects to them. One thing that always amazed me by the original Netflix series was the fight choreography, and although we haven’t yet gotten any fights that match the scope that series brought us, the fight scenes we do get are very well done.  I am not sure where this new storyline is taking us and not exactly sure I am going to enjoy the ride, but no matter what it promises to be a ride of the highest quality.