ART once again imitates real life as Disney’s new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Daredevil: Born Again – intentionally or otherwise – heavily parallels the ascent of Donald Trump to the US presidency.
In every sense of the word, Born Again is a revival of Netflix’s Daredevil series that ended seven years ago, directly picking up from where it left narratively.
Set several years later, the first season opens with a shocking death of a major character that leads to Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) retiring his life as the vigilante Daredevil.
Not long afterwards, businessman and convicted criminal Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) enters the world of politics as he runs for New York mayor, setting up an inevitable clash between Matt and him.
Back from brink
From its pre-production, production and even post-production troubles in the last several years, it very much appeared as though Born Again would be dead on arrival, landing as a jigsaw mess of different creative visions.
The show’s original writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord were “let go” after Disney saw the initial cuts of the episodes.
In their stead, indie science fiction and horror directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead were brought in as lead directors to reshoot the series.
Last but certainly not least, Dario Scardapane – writer and producer of Netflix’s The Punisher – was hired to steer the series as its showrunner.
For once, Disney’s decision to directly interfere by bringing the trio on board has worked in its favour.
The lighter, episodic style that Corman and Ord reportedly pursued is not visible, as Born Again strictly follows the gritty, violent and serialised storytelling of the original Netflix series.
That said, Scardapane, Benson and Moorehead are not in the game of imitation.
Instead of just copying and pasting the old on top of the new, they take a different approach with the series.
Less blood, more brain
Disney’s Born Again scales back on the violence and action scenes that were synonymous with the Netflix version.
The former is more interested in going into its lead characters’ heads, psychology and motivations.
For eight out of its nine episodes, Born Again barely has any action scenes.
It focuses on themes such as Matt’s grieving process and how he attempts to help New Yorkers as a lawyer, Wilson’s failing attempt to keep his previous life as a criminal from tangling with his mayoral aspirations and the real-world corruption of New York’s police force.
The creative decision to focus on narrative rather than spectacle is very apparent – to the point that it would be natural to ask if Disney sanitised the show into being family-friendly.
But then the last episode takes place and Born Again shows that no, it still exists in that same, small, violent part of the MCU that years ago saw Wilson smash a man’s head with a car door into the consistency of watermelon puree mixed with minced beef.
Universe unacknowledged
Beyond Jon Bernthal’s return as Frank Castle/The Punisher for several great scenes and one lengthy action sequence that involves him violently retiring a legion of corrupt police officers, Disney’s revived show shares the same problem with the Netflix one.
Despite now officially taking place in the MCU, Born Again seems to have no actual connection with anything else going on in it.
Though admittedly a minor complaint, it is still the show’s weakest link in an otherwise good season.
Beyond one Easter Egg involving Matt saying a line made famous by his appearance in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter Parker’s lawyer, the end of the season should have culminated with the appearance of other MCU superheroes operating in New York but that does not happen.
Instead, Born Again ends with Matt saying an army is needed to stop Wilson before appearing in a bar as Daredevil, as the camera pans around to comically reveal the “army” consisting of supporting characters and a couple of random extras in police uniform. Maybe in the next season, Spidey.
Daredevil: Born Again is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
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