In March, Charlie Cox makes his triumphant return as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in the MCU’s Daredevil: Born Again. The rebooted series promises to be Marvel‘s darkest foray yet. The series has been assigned a mature, 18+ rating from British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
The original Netflix Daredevil series ran for 3 seasons from 2015 to 2018. The show is regarded as one of the greatest comic book shows of all-time. It was dark, gritty, brutal, and didn’t hold back in shocking fans throughout. Of course, Daredevil was part of a larger continuity, with Netflix airing the ‘Defenders Saga’, introducing many popular characters, including Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.
In 2022, it was announced that the entire Defenders saga, including Daredevil, would find its permanent home at Disney+. In the time that’s passed, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil has made a couple of appearances from across the wider franchise. For instance, Matt Murdock was Peter Parker’s lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He has also appeared in a couple of MCU shows, such as She-Hulk and Echo.
On March 5, Born Again marks Daredevil’s triumphant return to our screens in his own solo show. The show brings the old team back together, with Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher is involved as well! As for villains, Murdock’s archenemy, New York City crime boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), is back too… and this time he’s running for mayor. Check out the trailer:
Daredevil won’t just be dark, it’s likely to be Marvel’s darkest show ever.
Despite switching to Disney, the series will not only retain its dark and gritty nature; it doubles down on it. But don’t take it from me: showrunner Dario Scardapane recently discussed Daredevil’s return to our screens with SFX Magazine.
“I really feel that Netflix’s Daredevil, which I know in my blood, was much more noir, and this show is more New York crime story,” he explained. “It has elements of The Sopranos and King Of New York. There’s a feeling for those classic ’90s crime tales. It has a pace and a scope that, for a lot of reasons, Netflix wasn’t able to do. They were very dark, cinematically, not necessarily story-wise, although there were some dark elements. We’re much darker.”
In addition, Charlie Cox has also spoken about how he and co-star Vincent D’Onofrio desired to keep the show true to its roots. “We really pushed for the show to remain geared towards an older audience and not dumbed down to kind of capture a wider net of people,” he previously told Entertainment Weekly. “I think in some ways it’s even darker than a lot of the stuff we’ve done in the past.” That’s really saying something, considering how dark the original series was.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has explored more mature themes in recent years. Most notably, Deadpool & Wolverine had an R-rating (there was no way it was ever going to have any other rating). Moreover, short film Werewolf by Night dived into strong violence with elements of horror. All of this is to say, the franchise is not afraid to lean into mature territory. And for a show like Daredevil: Born Again, which relishes in brutal, gritty themes, doubling down on the darkness is a very exciting prospect indeed!
Daredevil: Born Again premieres March 5 on Disney+.
