An Admirable Salvage Job Can’t Save Marvel’s Revival

One of these days, it’s finally going to click that last-minute patches can’t always fix issues deeply ingrained in any given production. While “Daredevil: Born Again” perhaps comes closest to pulling off that feat, alas, it is still not that day. Marvel Studios learned that lesson rather painfully (not to mention publicly) with this year’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” a reshoot-laden movie so neutered of personality or artistic vision that it might as well have been cooked up in the bland, antiseptic conference rooms of Lumon Industries. It’d be easy to imagine that, with the creative overhaul in the midst of production leading to “The Punisher” writer Dario Scardapane taking over as the new showrunner, the new Disney+ series might be a similar disaster in the making. On the bright side, it isn’t nearly as dire as all that. Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead ensure that their episodes are oozing with style and risky narrative choices. Meanwhile, Scardapane does his level best to salvage a series that, originally, didn’t seem to embrace the aspects of the Netflix “Daredevil” series that caused so many fans to fall in love with this distinctive world in the first place. The final result is something halfway between the tone of the prior seasons and a fresh new direction with an identity of its own.

And, yet, that’s precisely the problem here. Yes, it’s admirable and even laudable that Marvel took advantage of the downtime during the dual writer/actor strikes to reassess their initial conception of “Daredevil: Born Again” and make the tough call to go back to the drawing board. When the smoke ultimately clears on this season, Scardapane and his creative team will deserve the lion’s share of credit for rescuing what could’ve been an outright disaster in the making. (Marvel apparently agrees, as they’re reportedly moving forward with a second season also headed by Scardapane.) When graded on a curve, the series we have on our hands here will likely be enough to satisfy those viewers who simply dreamed of seeing Charlie Cox suit up once again as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Vincent D’Onofrio bringing back his trademark man-child temperament as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, and Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson reprising their roles as Matt’s besties Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, respectively.

Taken on its own merits, however? Not even all the scotch tape, Gorilla glue, and Hail Marys at Kevin Feige’s disposal can hide the cracks and visible seams that only become more prominent the longer “Daredevil: Born Again” goes on. By the end, the series sets up a season 2 that audiences will be dying to see. Unfortunately, the path to get to that point is pretty rough along the way.

Although the reshoot question looms large over the entirety of the season, “Daredevil: Born Again” manages to put those concerns to rest throughout a relatively strong start in the early going. The premiere episode, directed by the duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, rides a fine line between reverence for the previous series (complete with opening lines of dialogue literally referencing “Hell’s Kitchen nostalgia”) and a bold, resetting approach that acknowledges how this is very much its own series altogether — a statement made as soon as the reimagined opening credits sequence full of crumbling iconography and the haunting new theme by John Andrew Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart (known as the Newton Brothers).

Although talking too much about the story would give away the game, it’s safe to say that Dario Scardapane restacks the deck and shakes up the status quo. The plot truly kicks in after a significant time jump and focuses on Wilson Fisk’s mayoral campaign — which knowingly and overtly taps into several ongoing examples of real-world American politics, from President Donald Trump to NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The scripts go out of their way to emphasize the similarities between both Matt Murdock and Fisk, hiding their true identities behind masks of their own making. These scenes allow the visuals to do all the talking and prove to be the main highlight of this rejiggered series, like the heavily-marketed one between the two adversaries bumping elbows at a diner or various therapy sessions between Fisk and his love Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) or courtroom sequences bringing the series back to its roots. In fact, the utter lack of costumed action in these first few episodes actually feels refreshing, giving the writing team plenty of time and space to dig deep into what truly drives these characters and why their stories are worth following. Granted, certain aspects can’t help but feel like reheated leftovers from seasons 2 and 3 of the Netflix show (Matt retires from the Daredevil persona again?), but these necessary evils are balanced out by a supporting cast made up of welcome additions who add a unique flavor to the overall season: Nikki M. James’ ADA Kirsten Mcduffie, Matt’s new love interest Heather Glenn played by Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini’s peppy campaign hustler Daniel Blake, the late Kamar de los Reyes as local vigilante Hector Ayala/White Tiger, and especially “The Wire” alum Clark Johnson as Matt’s private investigator Cherry.

Most welcome of all, “Born Again” goes out of its way to foreground a perspective that the Marvel Cinematic Universe too often neglects: everyday civilians. Matt is constantly taking the temperature of the city with regards to Fisk’s political ambitions, voyeuristically overhearing what the average person has to say against or in praise of his most hated enemy. And in one subplot ripped straight out of the Sam Raimi “Spider-Man” movies, a series of reporter segments (spurred by another casting bright spot, Genneya Walton) literally hands the mic over to the people of New York City. The marketing leaned strongly on the idea of a revival series that would get the gang back together, but instead the show’s best moments come courtesy of elements that aren’t necessarily based on the Netflix “Daredevil.” All of it coalesces into an arc that actually gives us the street-level perspective this franchise has so desperately needed, grounding the stakes of the Daredevil/Kingpin rivalry in something tangible and real.

Unfortunately, the structural problems inherent within “Daredevil: Born Again” can’t entirely be swept under the rug by the end of the season. Although Scardapane and his team of directors make Herculean efforts to keep this train on the tracks, even the most casual of viewers will soon begin to notice the practical limits of such eleventh-hour reshoots. It almost becomes distracting to realize that a Marvel production, blessed with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of resources, keeps resorting to setting scenes in the exact same rotation of six or seven sets — as obvious a cost-cutting move as it gets and one that makes this series feel small-scale and inessential in a way the Netflix series never did. Worse still, this pervasive sense of disjointed storytelling soon infects the main thrust of the plot. Characters and storylines suddenly come out of nowhere and gain prominence for a handful of episodes … only to fade away as quickly as they were introduced to make room for the next focus of the subsequent weeks. Anyone looking forward to an entire season about the villainous Muse (Hunter Doohan), a serial-killer twist on Banksy, or the exploits of the Latino hero White Tiger would be well-advised to tone expectations down. And while Fisk’s rapid (and rather inexplicable) ascent to the main seat of power in New York City takes up the majority of the season, the reveal of his ultimate scheme winds up being incredibly underwhelming.

For a series that’s all about serving as a referendum on law-breaking vigilantes and whether we need them to shake up a system that too often fails us, it’s all too ironic that we’re stuck talking about yet another Marvel production sabotaged by the same old missteps. Not even “Born Again” can resist the urge to shoehorn random shared-universe cameos and references as fan service, now that this is officially canon with the rest of the franchise. Though this series proves more eager to address social issues than typical MCU projects, such as the flaws of prison incarceration or rampant police brutality, very little of it adds up to more than a passing thought. As well-intentioned as these storylines are and as entertaining as they can be in the moment, the haphazard construction of these nine episodes (all of which were screened for critics ahead of time) constantly holds them back.

After all that discourse in the lead-up to the premiere about how the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would finally be back and better than ever in “Daredevil: Born Again,” the return of our favorite guilt-ridden Catholic hero is much more muted than anticipated. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio have only further established themselves as the perfect embodiment of these characters here, and it’s abundantly clear that the powers that be have big plans in store for them in the future. But after waiting so long to see Marvel do right by these ground-level heroes and villains, it’s a hard pill to swallow to come to the end of the line and realize that, as always in the MCU, we have little choice but to wait and hope that things come together properly the next time around.

/Film Rating: 5.5 out of 10

“Daredevil: Born Again” hits Disney+ streaming on March 3, 2025.