“Daredevil: Born Again”: Fighting an Uphill Battle
Very rarely has a TV series been up against the wall before an episode has even been filmed. Very rarely have the stakes for success been astronomically high before it even enters production. But this is exactly where Kevin Feige and his merry band of misfits find themselves with the show Daredevil: Born Again.
The Netflix/Marvel Knights era of the MCU produced some of the best television adaptations of comic book characters we’ve ever seen. From Harlem’s protector to the P.I. with super-strength, the characters and stories were always magnificent. And right there in amongst it was three seasons showcasing the life and times of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Those three seasons were some of the best TV I’ve ever seen in my entire life, comic book adaptation or otherwise. The depths of the characters, the realism (as real as you can get in a comic book adaptation), the stakes, the themes the show tackled. Everything was humming at an 11. Part of it was down to the richness of the comic book stories that were being adapted. Daredevil pulled from some of the best of almost 60 years of comic history (obviously heavily inspired by Frank Miller’s run). The way it dealt with Matt’s dual personality as a vigilante and a Catholic in the third season (something that the comics are only recently going into properly), the conversations with Father Lantom. Almost everything about it was perfection. So, when you have that to live up to, it is understandable that almost every Daredevil fan has their toes curled in expectation.
Born Again started on a good enough foot: bringing back Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. There were many things that went for the Netflix show, not least of which was the cast that was chosen. In that, MCU fans have one credo we live by: “In Sarah We Trust”. Sarah Halley Finn has never made a bad casting move since 2008, possibly the longest hot streak of all time. Then it got wobbly. The subtitle “Born Again” is not strange to fans of the horned one. In the comics, Born Again is the name of the Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli storyline that basically leaves Matt on death’s door. This would be a wonderful storyline to adapt into a TV show, and the reason I know this is because it’s been done before. Frank Miller’s “Born Again” storyline was adapted (with mods) in the third season of Daredevil. So, the one hint as to what kind of story would be told in this new show falls on its face. Kevin doesn’t like to do repeats.
Then, there’s the fact that outside Charlie and Vincent, the principal cast for Born Again is unknown. And I don’t mean unknown like Daisy Ridley and John Boyega being cast in The Force Awakens, I mean unknown as in nobody knows who is going to be in the show. We have no idea what characters will be in it or who will play those characters. Like I said, the cast of characters was one of the many great things about Daredevil. Elden Henson’s Foggy, Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen, and who can forget Father Lantom? And while Kevin Feige has done more than enough to earn trust and patience from fans, uncertainty breeds discontent. The longer people don’t know who is going to be in this or what is going to happen, the longer they have to concoct cockamamie theories about cast and plot (nobody theorizes like a comic nerd).
Last, but most certainly not least, there is the service. You see, some of the allure of the Netflix shows was that because they were on Netflix and not say ABC (Disney+ wasn’t a thing at the time), they could be darker than your typical Disney-affiliated fare. Bloody, gory, with quite a few sexually suggestive scenes. All things that would have never flown if it was a Disney+ Original. But Born Again is a D+ Original and that invites the looming question: Will Daredevil be Disneyfied to a PG13 level or will it still have the same level of gore and violence and sex (you’d be surprised the amount of sex a Catholic vigilante has)? This question itself brings more questions to bear. Like did we all love Daredevil because of the blood and the fighting and the guts and the sex, or was it the writing? If the writing on Born Again is on par with Daredevil, would we even care about the lack of gruesome deaths and bloody beatdowns? It becomes an accidental critique of the psyche of the audience.
I, like other Daredevil fans around the world, was insanely hyped about the news of Charlie Cox returning as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. And when Born Again premieres, I will be there to take it all in. I hope it is every bit as great as the Netflix show was. But we have to admit that it already has quite a mountain to climb.
