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In focus
We’re living in an age of superhero fatigue-or perhaps more accurately, a fatigue of novelty. In the six years since Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has lost the reputation it once held as the gold standard of superhero storytelling. Much of that decline stems from its aggressive push into streaming, a race to dominate the OTT landscape. With the launch of Disney+, Marvel had to justify subscriptions with a steady flow of content. But somewhere along the way, the spark faded. Today, a new Marvel series can drop with barely a ripple.
After several attempts to recapture the magic of Marvel’s glory days, Kevin Feige took the stage at Comic-Con’s Hall H in 2022 and announced the return of a fan-favorite: Netflix’s Daredevil. It was a bold move. Netflix had earned a reputation for prematurely canceling beloved shows that didn’t serve the algorithm, and Daredevil was one of its casualties—a series defined by guilt, blood-soaked alleyways, and the moral weight of violence. So when Disney announced Daredevil: Born Again, a continuation and, in spirit, a resurrection of that gritty world, there was hesitation. Would the series preserve its bruised-heart soul-or would it be smoothed down to fit the bright and shiny MCU mold?
Before diving further into the story, a brief note: it’s impossible to talk meaningfully about the show without revealing a key plot detail that occurs within the first 10 minutes of the opening episode. Consider this your spoiler warning.
Born Again picks up right after Season 3 of Netflix’s Daredevil. Page, Nelson, and Murdock are still practicing law together and are seen celebrating NYPD associate Cherry’s retirement at Josie’s Bar. And then, just like that, it happens-Bullseye, or Pointdexter, re-emerges and kills Foggy Nelson. Yes, Foggy dies within the opening minutes of the series.
The shock of Foggy’s death is a narrative gamble that walks a fine line-it risks alienating fans but also offers a strong emotional foundation. His absence leaves a hollow space in the trio’s dynamic. Yet it becomes the thematic spine of the season. Matt Murdock, cloaked in grief and silence, is no longer Hell’s Kitchen’s vigilante. He’s a man spiraling inward, waging battles without a suit, yet still bleeding-this time, from within.
Charlie Cox’s return as Matt is one of the show’s firmest pillars. You see more of him in glasses and tie than in the red suit, and he wears the weight of Matt’s guilt and anger like a second skin. Cox slips back into the role as if he never left, delivering a performance full of quiet torment and inner war.
Enter Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk-no longer hiding in penthouses but now the elected mayor of New York City. Fisk hasn’t just escaped justice; he is justice now. Still, his desire for control hasn’t changed. He speaks of peace, but it’s a peace carved out through curfews, surveillance, and slow authoritarian creep. D’Onofrio plays him like a man who genuinely believes he’s healed, even as he continues to poison everything he touches. In a world where power often wears a suit and tie, Fisk’s grip on the city feels unsettlingly familiar.
At the heart of it, the series is about two men. One who once ruled through fear and now wears a suit with a mayoral seal. The other, who once wore a mask but now walks away from all of it. Born Again follows the intertwined redemption arcs of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk.
The show introduces several new characters-Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James), Matt’s new law partner; Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), his love interest; Daniel (Michael Gandolfini) and Sheila (Zabryna Guevara), Fisk’s political party members, among others. Some of them are there to fill the vacuum left by Foggy and Karen (who also exits the narrative early), but they never really find their footing. They exist to move Matt’s and Fisk’s story forward, not to have stories of their own.
Heather gets slightly more development than the rest, but none of these new characters truly resonate. Their arcs feel more functional than emotional. They’re props in someone else’s play.
The contrast is especially stark when returning characters appear. Karen Page, Frank Castle, Vanessa Fisk, Pointdexter—their presence sharpens the narrative. Their conflicts are weighted with memory, and their chemistry with Matt feels lived-in.
When Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle makes a roaring return, and thankfully, he hasn’t been sanded down for wider Disney sensibilities, his interactions with Matt are brief but electric, a reminder of what this world used to feel like-raw, violent, personal. His scenes with Matt are short but punch with meaning. Their uneasy alliance gives the series some of its sharpest edges. Their ideological clash simmers through every shared scene.
Perhaps the boldest reinvention lies with Vanessa Fisk, portrayed with icy resolve by Ayelet Zurer. In a genre often guilty of sidelining women into tropes, Vanessa’s transformation into a shadow queen feels both earned and electric.
And yet, the show sometimes hesitates to fully embrace her villainy. Scenes that should revel in her ruthlessness are oddly subdued, as if uncertain whether audiences can accept a female villain operating without remorse or redemption. Still, her presence adds a fascinating power dynamic that complicates Fisk’s already towering menace.
The much-publicised mid-production overhaul is clearly felt. Early on, the series leans more toward legal drama than superhero fare, with the first few episodes carrying strong traces of courtroom storytelling. Then comes the shift-episodes 6 through 8 surge with momentum, and by episode 9, it feels like a different show.
The back half is leaner, meaner, and more recognisably Daredevil. Flights are grounded and vicious, the cinematography returns to the chiaroscuro aesthetic fans crave, and the writing finds rhythm in noir-tinged dialogue and thematic clarity.
Daredevil: Born Again is not a triumphant return, but it’s not a failure either. It doesn’t always succeed, but it rarely stops trying. It may carry traces of the MCU’s lighter tone, but there’s still something here. A spark. A fight. A soul trying to break through. In a cinematic universe that’s been staggering lately, Born Again offers a flicker of hope-a better ending to Phase Five, and maybe, just maybe, a promising beginning for Phase Six.
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again Directors – Michael Cuesta, David Boyd, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Daredevil: Born Again Cast – Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ayelet Zurer, Deborah Ann Woll, Jon Bernthal, Margarita Levieva
Daredevil: Born Again Rating – 3/5
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