When Marvel announces that its blind vigilante superhero Daredevil would be “Born Again” on Disney+, they weren’t kidding.
Long established in the Marvel universe as a favorite among many superheroes, a well-regarded, highly popular “Daredevil” series starring Charlie Cox ruled for three seasons on Netflix. It ended in 2018 when Disney opted to bring the Hell’s Kitchen crimefighter under the Marvel Television umbrella.
These first nine episodes stream beginning Tuesday, while the next nine, filming now, premiere in 2026.
Since this “Daredevil” picks up where we left off, where do we find Matt Murdock, his alter-ego? How ARE things with Daredevil?
“Some time has passed since Series Three ended back in 2018,” Cox, 42, explained during a virtual global press conference. “Early on, Matt has suffered a trauma which meant that he’s had to rethink and re-find his identity in a way that is probably more profound than we’ve seen before.
“He ends up going down a path which is best described as a Band-Aid that will have to be ripped off slowly and painfully.
“For fans of the original show,” he confided, “it’s the same Matt Murdock essentially, just influenced by his experiences.”
In the yin-yang that is “Daredevil,” the villainous Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) is essential.
Fisk, aka Kingpin, is running for Mayor of New York City.
“We’re trying to live in the daylight, the two of us,” D’Onofrio, 54, offered. “We have that in common. We’re broken men. If you can think about the metaphor of vampires trying to live in the daylight, it’s a struggle that they’re going through.
“He’s got his thing and I’ve got my plan – and you can’t put us together in the same scene a lot because it’s not as powerful if you do that.
“Over the last 10 years we’ve done probably five or six only. But it’s so good when we do. It’s good for us as actors because we just like doing scenes together.
“But it’s great for the story because it always means something. It’s always either at the beginning of something or the end of something. Or both sometimes, you know? So, it’s intense.
“And that’s what it’s like now.”
“It’s something we haven’t done before,” Cox interjected. “That’s a huge credit to (series co-creator and showrunner) Dario Scardapane and the producers who came up with this idea, whoever it was.
“By bringing us together early on in this new season is something we haven’t done before. And putting him in a position where they are having to trust one another’s ability to stay true to who they say they are just lends itself to a slightly different dynamic.”
