Entertainment Weekly Debuts New Daredevil: Born Again Images

Television

After six years (She-Hulk and Echo don’t count), the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen has been spotted again. Entertainment Weekly has some exclusive images from Daredevil: Born Again, the upcoming continuation of the Netflix Marvel series. They’re nothing earth-shattering; just a few shots featuring Daredevil in costume, Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk on a rooftop (I think), and Matt Murdock talking to Karen Page. That last one is the most satisfying because it almost didn’t happen; in its earlier iteration, Daredevil: Born Again was not going to feature Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page or Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson, Murdock’s partners at his law firm. (The Netflix series ended with Karen becoming a partner in Matt and Foggy’s law practice, Nelson and Murdock, making the idea of removing Matt’s friends even more egregious.) But after the fan outcry grew big enough, Marvel did what should have been the obvious course of action from the beginning and brought back the main cast; they also abandoned ideas for a lighter, more comedic tone, which the accompanying EW article addresses. Here are the images, again courtesy of Entertainment Weekly:

Aside from Karen’s reappearance, the images are just there to get people excited for more Daredevil, and that’s fine. They look like they could’ve come from the Netflix leg of Daredevil’s streaming TV adventures; I’m not sure if Daredevil is wearing the new brighter red costume in the first picture because it’s too dark to tell; this could be before he makes the new one. If so, Marvel is definitely trying to sell this as the next season of Daredevil, a smart move that I hope is the truth because that’s exactly what Daredevil: Born Again should be. The pieces were in place; all Marvel had to do was pick them up. Based on the comments from showrunner Dario Scardapane, it will “have the DNA of the old Netflix show” while becoming “something very new.” If he means they’re logically progressing with the characters, that’s fine, but I don’t want to see Daredevil transformed too much; one of its strengths was having it feel so different from the other corners of the MCU, along with the other Netflix Marvel shows. On that score, it does sound like it’ll retain the darkness it had on Netflix, with star Charlie Cox claiming it’s even harder core than it was on Netflix. I’m not sure I buy that yet, but we’ll see.

I am heartened by Scardapane calling the scene from that Disney+ Marvel sizzle reel from October in which Matt and the Kingpin have a laugh over a cup of coffee (reminiscent of the diner scene in Heat) “a moment of levity,” suggesting it’s a light scene to break the tension. That’s good because it indicates that the rest of the show is tension-filled. Scardapane also says that the conflict between Daredevil and The Kingpin is the driving force of the show, which is exactly as it should be. Vincent D’Onofrio helped turn The Kingpin into an exceptional villain, easily among the top three of the MCU (it’s basically him, Thanos, and Loki, and you can pretty much arrange them in any order you want), and his appearances outside of Daredevil have done their very best to undermine everything D’Onofrio and the writers accomplished with the character. Daredevil: Born Again would be smart to quickly establish how ruthless and powerful Fisk is in the first episode to remind viewers how formidable a foe he is for Daredevil. (I’d give up all my Christmas presents to see Echo and Kate Bishop take him on again and get demolished; it’ll never happen because Disney gonna Disney, but it’d be excellent.) I’m also eager to see Jon Bernthal return as The Punisher, although I really hope the show ditched what was rumored to be his storyline. For some strange reason, his own series did nothing to show him being The Punisher until the very last frame, so there’s endless material for Daredevil: Born Again to mine for Frank Castle. I have to expect the worst, I suppose, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks again to Entertainment Weekly for the pictures!

Let us know what you think of the Daredevil: Born Again images in the comments!

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