After a seven-year hiatus, two streaming services and a creative overhaul, the characters of “Daredevil” are back in “Daredevil: Born Again,” this time on Disney+.
In 2015, the first season of Marvel’s “Daredevil” aired on Netflix. The series was heralded for its gritty realism and complex characters like protagonist Matt Murdock, also known as Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio who played the villain Willson Fisk, Kingpen.
University of Minnesota student Sam Boime said he watched the original season the summer of 2016 and fell in love with the character of Daredevil.
“I was 12 when season one came out, and I feel like I grew up watching the show,” Boime said. “So having it back? I was super happy about it.”
The show continued for two more seasons before its cancellation in 2018, due to Disney launching their own streaming service, Disney+. A petition was started soon after, receiving over 400,000 signatures to “#SaveDaredevil.”
After six years and a handful of character cameos in other Marvel projects, season 4 was announced to be in development with Murdock and Fisk returning in a world separate from the previous seasons. After fan pushback, other favorites like Murdock’s best friends Karen Page and Foggy Nelson were included after a complete creative overhaul.
A second season of “Born Again” was confirmed soon after.
“Originally, it was like every character besides Fisk and Matt weren’t going to be in the show, and they were going to be the only returning characters, and that was worrying because I feel like a lot of the supporting cast really helped make the show,” said University sophomore Cameron Lowe.
Growing up, Lowe read the comic books before watching the show.
“But I think all of the pieces that are new and from the new creative team really do work and get me excited for the second season,” Lowe said.
The first two episodes of “Daredevil: Born Again” released on Tuesday, returning to New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen and its celebrated characters. It also welcomed mixed reactions from longtime fans.
“To me, it’s just more of a mixed bag,” Lowe said. “It feels like the show is kind of being pulled in two different directions to me because there literally were two different directions because of the creative overhaul.”
Boime was thrilled with the new episodes and praised the familiar call backs to the previous seasons.
The show takes place an unknown amount of time after Season 3 ended, following Murdock and those around him through the election of Fisk as New York City’s Mayor and the ensuing chaos of his rise to power.
The remaining six episodes will be released weekly, each episode being about an hour long.
While pulling inspiration from classic Daredevil comic runs, as well as the iconic visuals and one-shot fight sequences of the initial three seasons, “Born Again” is against seemingly impossible odds to live up to its prior seasons.
Regardless, fans and casual viewers, like myself, are excited for what else is to come.
