Daredevil: Born Again

★★★★★ | Devil on a shoulder

Comic books are modern-day myths, and as such they’re reflections of our society. Ten years ago, The Winter Soldier dressed up our anxieties about the surveillance state and incoming drone warfare into palatable popcorn fun, where the heroes and bad guys were clearly defined. In 2025, that’s harder to ask for, especially as America descends further into a constitutional crisis and away from the alliances it spent half a century cultivating.

In Daredevil: Born Again, these anxieties are more immediate and street-level, though that doesn’t make them any less terrifying. For the first time in any Marvel property, I felt nauseous with unease watching it. Born Again doesn’t say anything new in the grand scheme of things, but as a portrait of what is to come, it is a gargantuan leap for the family-friendly brand.

Charlie Cox returns as Daredevil, AKA Matt Murdock, the lawyer-turned-vigilante, whose arch nemesis, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’onofrio), has not let go of past grudges. In theory, Born Again is a sequel to the two dismal seasons produced by Netflix, but they’re not necessary viewing. Instead, within the first five minutes Born Again resets Daredevil’s world so totally that anyone can understand what’s at stake.

The structure is similarly familiar, yet more nuanced and mature than Marvel has allowed itself to be. It borrows elements from literature like A Tale of Two Cities and equally ambitious films about America’s long-lasting flirtation with fascism, such as The Siege. This does not make Born Again a tired retread. Instead, it achieves the opposite, and the series feels more vibrant as a result.

It also finally allows New York a voice of its own, something the city’s other great hero, Spider-Man has failed to do in the last decade. Here, the random passersby become a kind of Greek Chorus, who serve as chapter breaks and reminders of the greater cost of the power struggle between Daredevil and Fisk.

That power struggle burns slowly throughout the season as both men seek a rebirth of sorts. The most delicious aspect of this series is how it doesn’t just pit the two adversaries against one another: It mirrors them as two halves that wrestle with the same demons, only on different spectrums of morality. Murdock needs the devil to balance his guilt of operating within a broken system. Fisk reinvents himself as a stalwart protector of a city in his bid for mayor.

More than once the smart script juxtaposes their conflicts with tremendous results. It doesn’t argue that these two men are the same, nor does it sit on the fence on who is right. Instead, Born Again asks the viewer to consider the limitations of playing within the system, and how difficult that is when the other side knows how to game it from the start.

I made a note about halfway through the season that this is the bleakest and starkest view of American society that Marvel has produced. For once, its origin as a streaming series is a blessing: Born Again is daring in every way the films can’t be.

Throughout 9 episodes, Born Again tackles police corruption, systemic failures of the penal system, economic imbalances, and how a broken social contract can only lead to inevitable collapse. Unlike prior Marvel projects, it doesn’t pretend like this is the work of a few bad apples. Instead, it paints a horrifyingly accurate reality of what awaits at the end of the road many would all-too-happily goose step down. Easy fingers would point to Fisk as a Trumpian stand-in, yet the series is far bleaker in its summation: Every fascist acts the same in the end.

What’s more, Born Again actually feels like a TV series in that every episode stands on its own. Sure, they build toward a larger whole, but this is finely paced in a way that Marvel — or most other streaming properties — haven’t before. It’s a low bar, but when something clears it this beautifully it deserves to be called out.

It is also smart with its time. There isn’t a wasted minute in the entire season. Sure, some of it leans on the hokeyness a bit too hard, but it earns enough goodwill everywhere else that it doesn’t matter. Returning players, like Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, get more to do in a single scene than in an entire season of their prior series.

Elsewhere, Born Again knows where to slow down for character beats, and when to amp up the action. The latter is intense and well executed, though suffers from the same issue these types of films always do: It makes the violence look cool when it shouldn’t be. Perhaps that’s the compromise we have to make to get something like this on air.

Luckily, there are no such issues with the characters, who are smartly written and expertly performed. For once, adults talk through their troubles without hysterics, though we get the idea that sometimes hysteria might be the healthier option. Murdock meets a new love interest, Heather, who is a therapist fascinated by the violent natures of masked vigilantes. Their dance is similar to that of Batman’s and Catwoman’s in Tim Burton’s brilliant Batman Returns. As productions attempt to woo audiences back with grimdark violence and edgy nastiness, it is this nuanced struggle between love, morality, and power that makes Born Again a mature and welcome treat.

Born Again is only half the story. The second season is currently in production and should air around this time next year. It has a lot to live up to and many ways it can stumble at the finish line. I hope it doesn’t, and I hope Marvel won’t get cold feet because Born Again isn’t just the best comic book series they’ve made to date. Like The Penguin, it’s a triumph that transcends its origins and reaches the lofty heights of great television with something meaningful to say.