**SPOILERS FOR ORIGINAL DAREDEVIL SHOW**
Marvel’s newest television show is airing, and this time they’re bringing Daredevil back to the silver screen.
Daredevil, also known as Matthew Murdock, is a vigilante who fights crime in the New York neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, using his enhanced senses from an accident that blinded him as a child. During the day, Matt Murdock works as a lawyer, running his practice with his best friend, Foggy Nelson.
Set 10 years after Daredevil ended and a year after Matt stopped being Daredevil, Daredevil: Born Again follows Matt’s fight for justice as a lawyer, while his old enemy Wilson Fisk is elected as the mayor of New York City.
Despite honoring Daredevil: Born Again, a Daredevil run from 1986, with its name, the Daredevil: Born Again television show doesn’t directly adapt any comic run. Instead, it takes elements and characters from multiple comic runs, as well as the canon established in the original show. Heather Glenn and Kirsten McDuffy are two notable examples, both of whom were introduced to the MCU in Born Again.
This isn’t Daredevil’s only appearance in the MCU, however. Beyond being the titular character of Daredevil and Daredevil: Born Again, Matt has made appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Echo, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. He was also a main character of the Netflix crossover series The Defenders, which featured a team up between Daredevil, Jessica Jones, the Iron Fist, and Luke Cage.
Wilson Fisk, former crime boss and current mayor of New York City, also appears in multiple shows. Fisk has storylines in Echo and Hawkeye, as well as being the major antagonist in Daredevil and Daredevil: Born Again.
Born Again pulls no punches in its first episode, killing off Matt’s best friend and law partner after an attack by Bullseye, one of the primary antagonists from Daredevil’s last season. There’s a year-long time skip after Foggy’s death during which Bullseye goes to jail, but Foggy’s death isn’t brushed off. He haunts the narrative, serving as Matt’s constant reminder of the suffering that being Daredevil has brought him.
With the events of the first episode, Born Again establishes two things: it’s not afraid to reference the previous show, and it doesn’t shy away from shaking up what’s expected.
Daredevil: Born Again is a sequel to the original Daredevil show, and Daredevil is where a lot of information about major characters and relationships is established. The cast of Born Again isn’t the same as in Daredevil, but two of the key characters are the same: Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, a.k.a Daredevil and Kingpin.
A lot of the characters’ backgrounds, motivations, and relationships are explored in Daredevil, and Born Again builds off of everything that’s been established. Born Again does an excellent job of creating new conflict within these relationships, like the ones between Matt and Fisk and between Fisk and his wife Vanessa, while avoiding rehashing things that were explored in Daredevil or being out of character.
Often TV shows fall into the trap of creating conflict for drama’s sake, no matter how much sense the issue makes for the characters, or rehashing problems that have already been solved and discussed to death. This is only the first season of Born Again, but so far it has managed to introduce some new threads to follow in relationships as well as some new characters, while using outside factors to emphasize some of the pre existing issues in various relationships.
Rage, power, and inequality are central to a lot of the conflicts throughout the show, both internal and external.
Corruption is everywhere, and it’s central to both Born Again and Daredevil. Wilson Fisk is a man who embodies corruption, bribing and manipulating everyone around him into doing his bidding. He scares people into doing what he wants, and he gives people who want the same things as him more power with less oversight.
The NYPD displays their own shining examples of corruption, even before Fisk makes any effort to control them. It’s focused on the most prominently in the case of Hector Ayala, a man who steps in to defend someone being roughed up in an empty subway and is framed for the murder of a cop by the cop’s partner. Cops stick together, so they’re willing to frame an innocent man and try to hurt people who could call them out.
Vigilantes, in general, are inextricably linked with corruption. So many of the problems they aim to help are caused or worsened by corruption and systemic inequalities, like the corruption inherent in the police system and in politics. They patch the holes that police can’t, or more often won’t, fix.
Fisk and Matt directly parallel each other in ways that are shown through their actions and through the cinematography of the show. They’re both incredibly, violently angry, which manifests in Matt as Daredevil and Fisk as Kingpin, but at the beginning of Born Again both of them are making concentrated efforts to change. Matt has left behind Daredevil and Fisk has left behind his crime empire, but neither of them are really free. Matt is still angry at the world and for the people of his city who he can help, and Fisk is angry about a betrayal and the fact that not everyone is bending to his will.
In just the second episode, Matt gets in a fight with two cops while Fisk bribes someone to become a pawn for him. The motivations behind both of these actions are vastly different, but it boils down to this: they are both reverting to who they were, despite trying to not be that person. This isn’t to say that people are incapable of change, but that Matt and Fisk can’t be fully separated from Daredevil and Kingpin. Those identities are part of them, and instead of accepting them or working on their issues they both chose to shove their problems down and ignore them until they either can’t ignore them or don’t want to anymore.
Matt’s struggle to accept that Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same, instead of a Jekyll-and-Hyde situation, is something that he deals with throughout his time in the MCU. It’s also something that is relatable for a lot of people. I don’t think most of us are hiding secret identities, but accepting things and coming to terms with the idea that morality isn’t strictly black-and-white is something that a lot of people have had to deal with at some point in their life. This complexity makes Matt a more interesting character, but it also adds a lot to the tone of the show. Born Again is darker than most of the MCU shows, and by highlighting the complexities and contradictions of both Matt and Fisk the show becomes more relatable and more interesting. There’s also an added layer of connection between Born Again and Daredevil because of the consistency in tone between the two shows, which is strengthened by the appearance of multiple cast members from Daredevil.
Based on what I heard about the original tone of Born Again, the creative overhaul that the show underwent during the SAG–AFTRA strike did it a lot of good. The original version of Born Again had less action than the released version of the show, and it was very tonally different from Daredevil.
A lot of what was done with the original writers was used in the final show, but Marvel hired the showrunner from the original show as well as including more of the original cast in the final show. Even though some of the returning cast’s appearances have, so far, been brief, the inclusion of them connects the show back to its predecessor in a way that honors both Daredevil itself and the cast members who reprised their characters.
If you are someone who enjoys character-driven shows that include action sequences, Daredevil: Born Again (and Daredevil) might be the perfect choice. The action sequences in the show have only been getting better, but the internal and interpersonal struggles of the characters are what drive the show. If all you are looking for is action, however, another show might be a better choice for you. The plot revolves around character development and motivations, and while the action sequences are certainly a highlight, they aren’t the largest part of the show.