Daredevil is back… this time on Disney Plus. The first trailer for Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again is finally here, and oh what a journey it’s been for stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Marvel’s collab with Netflix may go down as one of the studio’s most troubled moments, caused by tension between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television, which remained split until 2019. Shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have their… defenders… but they were always the black sheep of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their canon status always a bit fuzzy. But after Daredevil ended, Marvel fans never gave up hope that Cox would one day return to the MCU. After a smattering of cameos in other Marvel Studios projects, Cox’s Hell’s Kitchen hero will finally return this year in full force with Daredevil: Born Again.
Born Again once again stars Cox as New York City lawyer Matt Murdock, who suits up in red body armor at night to combat street-level villainy as the vigilante Daredevil. D’Onofrio resumes his role as Kingpin after a stint on Marvel’s Echo, positioned this time as both a ruthless criminal and a mayoral candidate. Born Again will also see the return of a number of the original show’s cast, including Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Wilson Bethel as Bullseye, and Jon Bernthal as Punisher. (As for an appearance by Echo, Alaqua Cox told Polygon she wasn’t involved — but would love to return to the MCU one day.)
“During the time when the show wasn’t on, I was convinced it was over,” Cox said last year on The Official Marvel Podcast. “We’d moved on. But Vincent would call me and say, ‘No, no, they’re gonna bring it back.’ And I’d get off the phone and think, poor guy’s delusional, it’s never gonna happen. So it’s pretty surreal to be here, almost four years, five years since we wrapped the last season on the previous iteration.”
“It’s similar in some ways to X-Men ’97, because it’s reviving something that the fans love, but it is taking it in a new direction,” Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios head of TV and streaming, said on an earlier episode of the pod. “These characters have matured. The universe is different than it was. Things have changed. Society’s changed […] Matt and Wilson have changed, and their characters are gonna collide in ways we’ve never seen before. It’s no longer enough to try and murder each other. There’s a whole game of politics at play.”
The series sounds like a dream for the Daredevil diehards, but according to the trades, it started as a bit of a nightmare for Marvel, with blockbuster ambitions outweighing the reality of producing TV. Partway through production, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige reportedly shut down the series, released the original writers and directors from their contracts, and sought a new team to pivot the series away from the original tone, which was described as Marvel’s take on the legal procedure. Whatever was filmed “wasn’t working.” Eventually, Marvel hired writer Dario Scardapane (Jack Ryan, The Punisher) as a new showrunner, with Loki and Moon Knight directors completing the remaining episodes.
Marvel has set Daredevil: Born Again for a March 4 premiere on Disney Plus.
