Is it necessary to watch the Daredevil and Punisher shows to understand Daredevil:Born Again?

I'd watched the old Netflix series years ago when they first came out, but I don't remember them very well. My fiancée and I have been watching the MCU as of late, and one of the next things we have to watch is Born Again. Will we be able to follow it well enough, or should I watch the Netflix series again with her beforehand?

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Scary-Command22322025-12-09 04:05

I would definitely watch DD 1-2, defenders, DD3 and then punisher, just because they are so good.

Gilded-Mongoose2025-12-09 04:06

It would help. I didn't watch it for years, and just the familiarity with the character and world, remembering the ending of the DD S3, and knowing a lot about Kingpin's involvement in the last bunch of entries (Echo and Hawkeye) also helped with the context.

Training_Agency79452025-12-09 04:06

Daredevil is the best MCU series till date ... intense , exceptional performances and great story ... I would highly recommend you to watch it because it easily ties into Born Again .. likewise Punisher is highly rated ..slightly violent..but the crossover with Daredevil and Bernthal's performance are both awesome... must must watch ❤️

BatmanForever232025-12-09 10:48

Dude, they've already watched them. They're asking if they need to rewatch to have details fresh and if that's required for Born Again... something your comment completely ignores.

InevitableWeight3142025-12-09 04:07

I managed without it, but now that ive watched the original shows I would recommend it. Still, as long as you understand who Daredevil, Kingpin, Foggy, Bullseye, Punisher, Karen are, I think you’ll be fine. They replace a bunch of the characters like Kingpin’s henchmen and a new love interest for Matt so i think it’s mostly fine

totaltvaddict22025-12-09 04:09

You don’t need to see punisher (it’s good and recommend it). The intro to the character is in daredevil s2 so you can get the gist of him from that before born again.

th3budman2025-12-09 04:09

No. You guys will be fine.

Valuable_Customer6142025-12-09 04:10

No but they are both better than born again.

TonyStank_3000_2025-12-09 04:11

It's so worth it and will give you a lot of context going into Born Again. My favourite marvel show is DD. Punisher is great too!

DigificWriter2025-12-09 04:14

"Is it necessary to watch the Daredevil and Punisher shows to understand Daredevil:Born Again?"

No.

If you want to refresh yourself on Matt and Frank's histories prior to Born Again, you can, but you also have the equally viable option of just watching Born Again on its own.

Heavensrun2025-12-09 04:19

If you know who Daredevil and Punisher \*are\*, you're probably fine. The show tells you most of what you need to know. You won't feel lost or confused, anyway. But a lot of it will have more meaning if you've seen the earlier shows.

colderstates2025-12-09 07:22

This is the correct answer.

Ordinary-Chain-80472025-12-09 04:22

Watch the OG it makes Born Again more impactful and its peak cinema

FantasticStooge2025-12-09 04:24

No, but you should watch them because they are great

yourmomwoo2025-12-09 04:25

You should. They don't spend a huge amount of time recapping. But also, the Daredevil and Punisher shows are some of the best shows out there... certainly the best Marvel shows ever made. Born Again is great, but it doesn't hold a candle to the shows when they were made by Netflix.

Grayx_28872025-12-09 04:29

If you want to understand the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, then yes. You have to watch the original Netflix series and the Defenders miniseries.

The Netflix Punisher series is more of a standalone story.

JyconX2025-12-09 04:29

Nah, only Daredevil Netflix series is necessary to watch before Born Again.

But watching The Punisher Netflix series might be useful to watch before The Punisher Disney+ special (one of the Netflix series supporting characters will return in that special).

BackgroundEngineer112025-12-09 04:53

Honestly, watching the Daredevil seasons and Defenders back to back before Born Again made BA frustrating. There's no addressing how Fisk got out of prison following DD Season 3, let alone how he gets voted mayor despite being publicly arrested twice.
It's also frustrating to see Matt give up the suit three times in a row. DD season 2 is the only time he is constantly in the suit.

unconventional-doom2025-12-09 07:09

Trump was elected president, its not hard to see the parallels there.

BackgroundEngineer112025-12-09 13:41

While I see where you're going with it, I don't agree the writers intended a parallel. Echo came out before the election and before they decided to make the Netflix shows canon.

niicofrank2025-12-14 00:55

the writers didn’t intend the parallel but they live in the real world and know a criminal like Fisk could come into political power fairly easily so something similar happening irl as it aired was inevitable. Topicality through evergreen principles

Wooden-Radish-90082025-12-09 07:11

Huh? Vanessa straight up says that the FBI's investigation was deemed corrupt by the court and that's why charges were dropped

This may surprise you, but people will very much vote for bad people, and even criminals, to serve in public office

jrodfantastic2025-12-09 04:57

Marvel movies (and series) do not require homework

Ambitious-Writer-8252025-12-09 08:21

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that. Unless it's an origin/first time introduced, and even then not always, you miss important things if you don't have the whole story. Each new project builds on the last.

I have been trying to get through The Punisher and Luke Cage season 2 but I just can't and I know I've missed references in Daredevil.

jrodfantastic2025-12-09 15:00

I understand your point of view. If you want to catch every little Easter egg and nuance, sure, watch as much of what came before as desired. But a viewer can go into every project completely cold and still enjoy and fully understand what is happening in front of them. Endgame might be the only real exception.

But it’s silly to sit down to a 2 hour movie, or multiple movies, or entire prior seasons of old series to catch what may amount to a 3 second throwaway reference in the new project. Born Again is a perfect example of this, no one needs to watch 3 seasons of original DD and all the other Defenders series to understand that Matt & Foggy were friends and now he’s sad.

DigificWriter2025-12-09 19:53

This mindset is a major detriment to the MCU as an IP because it creates artificial expectations and constrictive limits around individual elements of the IP and one's perceived ability to engage with those elements and with the IP in its entirety.

Endgame, BTW, can absolutely be engaged with, enjoyed, and understood without any prior knowledge of anything else in the MCU.

Ambitious-Writer-8252025-12-09 20:58

My mindset may be bad for the IP, but it's what a lot of us think. By design, most projects are connected and that makes it more interesting and with depth. Marvel is being disingenuous when they say each thing is a stand alone. (My opinion anyway)

My husband who doesn't like these kinds of movies/shows, bless his heart, would understand Endgame on a truly superficial level. He'd miss the most important moments. When Cap picks up the hammer and Thor says "I knew it" (or something like that), there are several movies of history in that moment. Tony's motivation, Black Widows sacrifice, and all sorts of other themes are just lost if you have no sense of the history.

I'll admit there are those projects you can just jump into and you won't miss much subtext, but Endgame in particular is not an example. While Thunderbolts is a better one, there's still a lot you'd lose without the history. Yelena's breakdown to her father is rife with callbacks that could be understood in a basic way. With knowing her history, it makes it incredible.

It'll be interesting to see how they balance Doomsday for those who are just getting into Marvel.

DigificWriter2025-12-10 00:55

So you're perfectly happy to continue to promelgate an actively detrimental and harmful idea.

That says some not so flattering things about you.

Ambitious-Writer-8252025-12-10 01:02

Dude, it's movies, not a political movement...chill.

It's also how I honestly view the MCU as do lot of other people. You, and Marvel, can tell me it's not required to see other things but that's not the truth for me.

DigificWriter2025-12-10 01:26

A bad point of view is still bad regardless of how many people share it.

eagc72025-12-09 05:18

Born Again is Season 4 in all but name, so i would recommend it.

Bomber420697102025-12-09 05:45

I wish I could downvote 800,000,000 times...

Sage246012025-12-09 06:36

Why the downvote? Its an honest question.

dylanc872025-12-09 06:25

Daredevil definitely yes, Punisher is totally optional, I would recommend Defenders over Punisher. Not in terms of quality, just in terms of relevance to the story

darthbiscuit2025-12-09 06:35

Nope, but it is highly recomended. Because they are very, VERY good and easily available.

CommunityDragon1842025-12-09 06:40

Nah

flashcannonize72025-12-09 10:07

The Punisher, not really but Daredevil, you should. Episode 1 really makes a direct connection to the season of 3 of Daredevil.

marvelcomics222025-12-09 10:49

You should be fine just watching a recap video or something since you've already seen them.

Uncanny_Doom2025-12-09 10:52

It isn’t necessary but it does enrich the experience a lot. Like how you don’t have to watch the Avengers movies before Infinity War but you are far more invested and connected to certain things if you have.

The best way to do it is watching Daredevil’s first two seasons, The Defenders, and then season three. You don’t actually have to watch Punisher at all, consider it like extra credit.

skronk612025-12-09 12:29

Not really 🤷 they don’t bring up much of the past so as long as you’re semi familiar with what the main characters deal is from comics and other media you’ll be fine.

paulojrmam2025-12-09 13:46

I don't think you need to watch those other shows to watch Born Again, but DD was so good, so far was better then BA, I really recommend watching and it does make BA better. If you watched Netflix DD already, I don't think you need to rewatch.

Petrichor022025-12-09 15:31

You can skip The Punisher show and you won't miss anything except for why he wears a skull symbol.

That said, Daredevil: Born Again is more or less a Season 4 to Daredevil just picking up almost a decade (in-universe) later. You could watch Born Again without watching the original, but a lot of things that happen, characters and character motivations, etc. won't make a lot of sense. Nothing that would break the show for you, but it would make it much more enjoyable understanding all of that while watching it. That said, if you've already watched the show before, you're probably okay. But if your fiancee has never seen them, it's probably worth a rewatch.

Champagnekudo2025-12-09 20:07

Yes you should, because born again continues on from those first seasons, but the real reason to watch being that they are just great and better than 99% of the rest of the MCU including born again. Anybody telling you don’t have to is doing you a disservice.

Punisher show doesn’t matter though.

niicofrank2025-12-14 00:51

I just don’t know why you would be interested in Born Again if you never watched the original series but the answer is probably yes. it’s a direct continuation but the first season is mostly new characters so I guess you would be fine if you’re alright with missing lots of context

Asleep_Wishbone_38952025-12-14 23:52

No, I don’t think so.