Marvel is prepared to bring backDaredevil. The studio has a handful of projects that they know fans will never stop demanding. TheDaredevilreboot might be the most important. A lot of fans will swear that the Marvel Netflix era, or at least this aspect of it, is the best project the franchise ever produced. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a very different place than it was in 2015. Of the things it needs to maintain from the original series, its scope and scale might be the most important.
The concept of levels of superhero scale is a bit strange. Most of the most popular heroes on various rosters move up and down the scale.Spider-Man is a quintessentiallystreet-level hero who frequently takes on all-consuming threats. Superman could move a planet, but some of his best stories see him stopping bank robberies or preventing plane crashes. Popularity can ensure that a character gets to play at every level. Some, however, are more tied to their setting than others. Daredevil and his city are bonded at a deeper level.
Dario Scardapane
Stars
Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson
9
Release Date
March 2025
Daredevilwas a new horizon for the MCU. While the franchise released several TV shows,Daredevilwas the most mature series in the franchise at the time. It would be years before Marvel tried out an R-rating and consolidated everything onto its in-house streaming service. The show tackled real issues with the sincere and gritty presentation it deserved. This mirrored the comics, which often pushed the boundaries of what could be allowed in superhero media. It’s still considerably more intense than a lot of Marvel’s other material.Daredevilwas tight, contained, and small-scale. The threat was almost always at the level of crime in the local area of Hell’s Kitchen. Though something like Ronan the Accuser’s plan to destroy the planet Xandar will certainly have a higher body count, Matt Murdock’s battle against Wilson Fisk can still feel like the end of days. The stakes were always personal, keeping the focus on Hell’s Kitchen and its citizens. With or without the mask, Matt is the champion of the downtrodden against the man who seeks to exploit them. Both Hell’s Kitchen and theMarvel Cinematic Universe need a man like Matt Murdock.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs a hero who saves people again
Daredevilis a brutal show in which a lot of people die. Many characters lead short and sad lives. Every fight scene exacts a bloody cost from its participants. Matt doesn’t always win, and even when he does, he does so after surviving a truly heroic amount of physical punishment.Daredevil is the kind of herowho will shed as much of his own blood as he has to. The bizarre thing is that Matt is also one of the few Marvel heroes who still puts himself in the direct line of fire to save individual people. It’s so rare to see modern superheroes go out of their way to rescue people.
Sam Raimi’sSpider-Manwould spend half of the movie pulling people out of burning buildings, stopping muggings, and preventing car crashes. Most current Marvel heroes only save people as a side effect of beating the villain. The MCU so rarely includes scenes of heroes saving innocent people directly. The bestscene inIron Man 3comes to mind, in which Tony Stark carefully parachutes over a dozen people to prevent them from dying in a plane crash. Matt Murdock might save fewer people overall, but the presentation feels radically different when he’s doing it face-to-face. He has to carry that tradition forward inDaredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil can bring back street-level heroes
Daredevilwas the first show in the messy pile that became theDefendersuniverse. It includedLuke CageandJessica Jones, both of which are incredible series in their own right.The fourth entry,Iron Fist, was the squeaky wheel that dragged the rest of the material down a level or two. They did theAvengersthing, introducing each hero with a solid solo project before delivering a team-up vehicle at the end. The combination is less than the sum of its parts, but several of those parts are excellent. IfDaredevil: Born Againseeks to do whatDaredevildid, it can also do whatDaredevilfailed to do. TheDefendersuniverse didn’t work 100% of the way through, but it remains interesting enough to stand out.The newDaredevilcan launch its own set of street-level heroes to spice up the Marvel Universe.
It’s all well and good to explore space and deal with multiple dimensions. Marvel has written itself an excuse to come up with infinite content, even though they keep using it todredge up old material.Daredevil: Born Againshould feel like an antidote to that endless expanse and tiring repetition. The show has to maintain its scale. Daredevil needs Hell’s Kitchen just like it needs him.
