Daredevil Born Again Season 1 was pretty good, but man, marathoning the original series before watching was a mistake. (spoilers)

I've recently finished Born Again, and there's a lot I liked. The Matt/Punisher stuff, the opening sequence with Bullseye, etc.

But me and my wife binge watched all 3 seasons of Daredevil the first hand, which made getting through the first few episodes of Born Again very difficult.

After the incredible climax of season 3, Born Again just makes everything that the characters went through feel so hollow.

It undoes so much from season 3 and it makes a lot of their struggle feel just meaningless. All of the stuff with Ray's sacrifice is just handwaved away with very little explanation.

I know they touch upon it briefly in later episodes, but it needed to not just be a passing mention, this was a major plot point that needed time to be addressed.

Plus, the giving up Daredevil story felt like such a retread as it felt like we JUST did that in season 3.

I think it may have felt better if they had saved a lot of the stuff that started in episode 1 and 2 for the finale.

Foggy dying, Fisk being both free AND running for mayor, etc. They could have landed well if they felt earned, with proper build up. But happening in ep 1, just felt like a slap in the face for thos who had just finished s3.

I'm very late I know, but just felt like I had to share my thoughts and I'm excited for s2 - hopefully they an iron out some of my pain points.

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Commentaires

Equal-Wishbone-61312026-01-28 00:40

Well born again and seasom 3 are years apart so we assume that all that build up happen off screen

ExplosiveGeek772026-01-28 00:54

You can't have buildup happen off-screen because then it isn't buildup. 😂

AncientOwl66332026-01-28 00:59

I’ve already accepted Born Again will never reach the heights of Netflix Daredevil.

billytheskidd2026-01-28 01:40

Supposedly, they were able to all get on the same page creatively for this season, and the show runners had more freedom to enact their vision, so hopefully we will see a big improvement in this season.

SockLeft2026-01-28 02:20

Okay, but imagine if in between Infinity War and Endgame, they revived everyone off screen.

There are some things that work as off screen build up, and something's that should be seen onscreen.

tokenasian12026-01-28 00:41

read up on the production problems on this project and the creative overhaul and it will become clear that this season was hampered by competing visions.

season 2 will almost certainly be better.

cjcmd2026-01-28 02:49

I can't believe they were thinking about a new Vanessa, and no Karen/Foggy.

AgentMV22026-01-28 03:12

New Vanessa was due to schedule conflicts with Ayelet Zurer, since there was initial delays with the script. Because of the overhaul delayed it further, she was able to come back.

Substantial-Prune-652026-01-28 12:39

Was it? I thought I read somewhere that Zurer was surprised she was not part of it in the earlier version.

AffectionateLimit5652026-01-28 17:51

Yes, the whole no Karen and Foggy was standing on pretty strong shoulders for a long time. Obviously leading to some serious fan backlash that ultimately led to some lengthly delays as producers decided to scrap their original plan and instead reinsert both of them.

Foggy fell victim of the compromises made internally no pun intended.

Karen was meticulously written in and out of the same room and then was rewritten back into the same room again, and based on the new trailers will be staying put. Which I hope is the case. She was my favorite character in the original.

baran1322026-01-28 07:42

I'm not getting my hopes up. The episodes after the overhaul were ironically the most disrespectful to the original Netflix show. They made Nadeem's testimony "faulty" and the reason Fisk was able to get out, when that's the literal opposite of what happened in the original show. My favorite episode was the bank robbery, since it was its own standalone adventure that wasn't really connected to any of the other storylines.

bestoboy2026-01-28 08:35

series need to become episodic again

6 monster of the week and 6 plot episodes should be the standard

gestalto2026-01-28 13:17

Don't be absurd. 12 episodes is not enough to justify 50% monster of the week.

bestoboy2026-01-28 13:19

why not? isn't 6 episodes the standard now?

gestalto2026-01-28 15:14

There is no "standard" a such. However bigger budgets (and sometimes longer episode length) generally constrain amount of episodes. 8-12 is certainly a lot more common now, but 6 is still relatively rare and realistically is still classed as a miniseries in most cases.

To have 50% monster of the week episodes you need at least 20 episodes, overall arcs to be compelling and still woven into the MOTW episodes, as well as character development (usually actually background dynamics) between characters going on the whole time in a meaningful way that pays off. In a 12 episode show, this is the equivalent to a film trilogy with more fleshed out lore and character development, using 50% of the time for MOTW makes it a short film trilogy with arbitrary nonsense added in.

Bear in mind I'm all for MOTW and episodic shows (I love the likes of Star Trek, Bones, Buffy, Supernatural; to name a few random ones), but these condensed format fully serialised shows have their place too and should be taken as and enjoyed for, what they are.

Keeping it within the MCU for examples, Loki having a couple more episodes but making 50% MOTW would be absolutely absurd. Daredevil would run out of meaningful villains and have to recycle and end up samey (in a vapid way) very quickly, and Agatha would be utter dogshit and add nothing at all to the show.

I maintain that 6 MOTW and 6 plot is absurd. If anything (and I can't think of an example right now annoyingly lol), sometimes they need to focus more on the plot in these condensed format shows as they often have an episode which meanders about not really adding anything to the story...Mandalorian, that's the example. The show is great, but when they lean too much into MOTW it is often to the detriment of the overall story.

bestoboy2026-01-28 15:20

have not seen Mandalorian so can't comment, but I did feel like the first season of Witcher would have benefited from more standalone episodes due to the jump from having just met Yennifer to suddenly having an on-again-off-again romance for several years (decades?)

but yeah 6 + 6 would be too much. If DDBA had 8 + 1 maybe adding 1 more could be good

gestalto2026-01-28 15:24

Yeah I would agree with Witcher. Bit of timey-wimey whiplash in that show sometimes, as much as I enjoy it overall.

Yeah exactly. 20% on a 10 episode show is fine, so long as it's done correctly and still connects well in some way (background lore, character development or chemistry building etc).

Knifferoo2026-01-28 13:22

Heeeeeeeell no

JenksbritMKII2026-01-28 13:30

I agree with you if no one else does. Both JJ and DD could have benefited from a couple of stand alone episodes to break up the overarching plot. Maybe not 50%, but definitely a few more.

pigeonwiggle2026-01-28 12:30

"we're making NEW daredevil."
\-new synopsis written, pitched, approved
\-fan uproar about Charlie Cox, chanting in the street "we need cox, we need more cox, give us cox, give us cox!" fans demand D'onofrio as well.

"we'll uhh, we'll see Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio returning"
\-scripts written, very familiar to what we saw with Murdock and Fisk having separate plots that circle each other until they come to a head in the end.
\-fans demand the rest of the cast as well - frank castle, karen page, foggy nelson

"uhh yeah... maybe..."
\-marvel sweats. mcu movies are bombing, fans are getting antsy. Chapek is out and Iger is back and wants to know how everyone's favourite daredevil is coming along. "the fans wants Netflix daredevil - give them Netflix Daredevil."
\- this is a new daredevil just with the same actors... you know... Multiverse style.
\- Iger makes it clear - GIVE THEM NETFLIX DAREDEVIL - SAME TONE SAME SHOW
\- there's no room for Foggy and Karen, a new ep1 is written instead: foggy is killed so karen can dip and grieve.

Daredevil doesn't suit up at all in the first half of the season?!? "well he's --" SUIT UP DAREDEVIL, GET HIM IN THERE!!!

Muse plot is shoe-horned in. Daredevil is now "born again" and released with a slightly adjusted beginning and ending.

the show is fucking great, haters gonna hate, greenlight seasons 2 and 3 immediately because it's the one thing Fans tended to be unanimously "okay" with in the past 3 years.

AffectionateLimit5652026-01-28 17:55

Very well done. This is exactly how I remember it all along shaking out and how I wanted the timeline of the outside influenced actual events retold and replicated by someone else in humoresque fashion. Very well executed. I’m very impressed.

It was a fucking great show. Even as you have been able to put together a better way of looking at it from how it actually developed. S2 and S3 will be so much better now that we are through with all the consequences and variables that were brought into play to make the series even happen again and done so with so much baggage to drag along the way.

They stuck the landing. It was pretty improbable to me they’d finish off in doing so, but they fucking did it and we are only a few weeks away.

firedforthatblunder2026-01-28 00:42

First season of Born Again was frankensteined together. There were some ideas that didn’t go over well with the cast/creatives that they were “stuck with” when they decided to revamp the entire thing, and it shows. If I’m remembering correctly, only parts of the intro to the first episode and then the last two episodes were done by the new team that was brought on.

Thankfully season 2 should be _fully_ done by the new team, so it will likely be a lot better as a whole.

Antrikshy2026-01-28 04:53

All this was so obvious when the show came out, because I knew of the issues going in. And I understand all that, so I gave it a pass.

I'm surprised it's so well regarded. I loved much of it, like the bank episode, but seeing *that* much praise on this subreddit made me feel like I was taking crazy pills.

Vneseplayer42026-01-28 08:09

This subreddit will praise almost everything, including some of the worse marvel projects.

TheHudIsUp2026-01-28 00:43

Pretty good? 😂

Safe-Finding-43762026-01-28 00:43

it really doesn't. I marathoned them recently and it only made the whole thing better. Also in season 3 they state quite plainly that fisk is probably going to get out again. Did everyone just expect him to sit quitely in prison for close to a decade?

I like that the story didnt just full stop simply because we werent watching. It makes the characters feel like theyre real and their lives continue and they exist even beyond the confines of whatever story we're watching

Heavy-Comment-25862026-01-28 00:53

Exactly! Like I just stated in my own response, we've seen Fisk get out before, why watch him do it again when we run the risk of doing it worse?

Safe-Finding-43762026-01-28 00:54

also whether its better or worse, do we need to retread fisk getting out all over again?

Heavy-Comment-25862026-01-28 01:02

We don't, and that's my point! It was done once, and it was done spectacularly! Why go over the minutiae of him doing it again when, knowing what he's capable of, we should be able to just come up with our conclusions?

SockLeft2026-01-28 03:00

For me, it's more a case of weight.

There was a lot of narrative weight given to putting Fisk away in s3. Many characters literally died for it and in s3 it FELT like a huge deal that he was put away.

I'm not saying we should retread him getting out, but I think more time being devoted in the show to the WHY and the HOW he got out would have made it feels less jarring.

Yes, we as the audience can fill in the blanks and the in-between periods. There's a lot of things that this type of narrative technique is great for. It's why timeskips exist and are fairly common narrative techniques - it builds intrigue, mystery, etc.

But I think if something is a central goal or outcome of a previous season, if it needs to be undone, it deserves more weight and time to how and why it was undone.

It's like Palpatine coming back to life in the Rise of Skywalker. Yes, we can fill in the gaps. But with something that big, and that was given so much weight in the original series, it doesn't feel earned from a narrative perspective.

optimus28612026-01-28 19:33

I'm a bit late to the Born Again party - I've watched it all except the finale - but you hit a nail on the head with this one.

I'd add one more thing: a *big* reason that Fisk goes away is that Matt has evidence on *Vanessa*, and he threatens/promises Fisk to use it if he must. Whatever else you can say about Fisk, willingly endangering Vanessa is one thing, perhaps the *only* thing, he absolutely will not do, and so it comes off as completely believable that Fisk will allow himself to imprisoned, if necessary for *life*, rather than put her at risk.

Yet we see Born Again episode 1 and all that is just handwaved away, I guess. I never watched Hawkeye nor Echo so IDK if there's any attempt made to reconcile S3's ending to Fisk being free.

It is what it is, I suppose; a series that had reached a natural end point getting resurrected and quasi-rebooted for nostalgia points, so pesky story details and unwanted characters have to get swept under the rug.

halfsane2026-01-28 01:07

plus we saw himnin Hawkeye and echo

BLAGTIER2026-01-28 05:19

> Exactly! Like I just stated in my own response, we've seen Fisk get out before, why watch him do it again when we run the risk of doing it worse?

If it is lame to show it is lame to do it offscreen.

NervousAd32022026-01-28 00:47

Yeah honestly I wanted them to start a Daredevil movie franchise bc I still don’t believe they’ll ever be able to make a DD show as good as the OG series

That being said I’m looking forward to S2 bc they did an creative overhaul of S1 midway through, & a lot of the stuff you (& most ppl) enjoyed is from the new creative team who came in halfway through production to add stuff in an attempt to salvage S1.

S2 is gonna be a full season from the new team who seems to have a much better grip on who the character is.

Heavy-Comment-25862026-01-28 00:51

I think the passage of time between both shows and the fact that we've already seen Fisk weasel his way out of incarceration before lends itself, to me personally, not needing to see him do it again. If you can't do it better, why do it at all? We know he's capable of it so, that's really all that matters.

As for the retread, I get it. But tbf, Matt's arc in season 3 was finding his way back to Matthew Murdock. Sure, he wasn't wearing the red suit, but he was committed to being Daredevil full-time. So, his arc in Born Again is more so him finding his way back to Daredevil, to the savior that New York needs.

SockLeft2026-01-28 03:03

We know Palpatine was probably capable of resurrecting himself, but it didn't feel earned when he came back to life off screen.

We know the Avengers were probably capable of killing Thanks - but it would have been Hella weird if they killed him off screen in between Infinity War and Endgame.

I don't necessarily need to see Fisk escape - but I think a bit of time dedicated to explaining how and why would have done a lot of good.

NoNoNotorious852026-01-28 05:04

>We know Palpatine was probably capable of resurrecting himself

Did we?

Neither of your examples make sense given the context and circumstances involved. Fisk escaping incarceration after amassing scores of power and wealth over the span of 5+ years after we’ve seen him do it before, is both highly conceivable and does not need to be seen yet again.

SockLeft2026-01-28 07:39

I mean, he was Darth Plagueis' apprentice and a fucking force wizard.

It's conceivable that the most powerful force user who was the apprentice of a guy who basically specialised in death magic, would be able to cheat death.

But, for it to happen off screen without a tangible explanation, doesn't feel satisfying.

Likewise, yes, it is MORE than conceivable for Fisk to get himself out. It's fucking inevitable.

But, because of the weight given to him being incarcerated in the previous season, you can't undo that outcome without some serious narrative whiplash.

Do I think we needed to see him get out? Absolutely not.

Do I think the show would have been improved if they spent some time giving us a proper explanation? Absolutely yes.

Notoriously_So2026-01-28 01:15

It looks like they are doing flashbacks in Born Again Season 2, so all of these points can literally be addressed in future seasons.

eagc72026-01-28 01:25

The reason they had to do all of that right off the bat is because of the troubled production the show had

What happened was that Marvel Studios was originally gonna pull a James Gunn and throw the canon of the original series out the window, but cherry pick the stuff they wanted to keep, like say Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jon Bernthal. This is also why when we get to Hawkeye, Kingpin is free doing his thing despite his promise to Matt, since this wasn't gonna be the same Fisk as Netflix, it was gonna be a new incarnation of Fisk but still played by Vincent, much like how the MCU J. Jonah Jameson is still played by JK Simmons despite not being the Raimiverse character. And at the same time still respecting certain aspects of his Netflix counterpart.

So the show was written with the idea of it being a reboot, a clean slate, new characters, new story, in the original version Foggy would've died off-screen so Matt could be working on a new firm and also to make this show feel different from the original (a bit like how when they got Spider-Man back they did some changes from what we are used to so it could feel fresh and new)

But Feige did not liked where the original version was heading while reviewing footage during the strikes, so it was agreed to fire the original team and get a new one, the new team opted to keep the original show as canon and just pick up where we left off in the original series, but they still had to keep alot of the footage that the original crew filmed which was filmed with Foggy being dead, Fisk being free and no Karen, as otherwise that would blow up the budget of the show

So they had to make a new pilot to explain why Foggy and Karen weren't gonna be in the rest of the show, why Matt is going through another crisis of being DD or not and throw in a line in the finale to explain why Fisk was free. so it all made sense with the original footage which as i stated was filmed with the notion that this was not the same Matt Murdock from Netflix.

I think the show wouldn't had started with them undoing all of what happened in season 3 if they had decided on keeping the Netflix show as canon from the get go, instead of lets just cherry pick what we wanna keep and what we wanna get rid of.

THEbaddestOFtheASSES2026-01-28 01:52

>I think the show wouldn't had started with them undoing all of what happened in season 3 if they had decided on keeping the Netflix show as canon from the get go

These kind of decisions always frustrate me to no end because you'd figure the people who make these decisions and get paid a 7 figure salary would be smart enough to know better. The Netflix series is too beloved and too critically acclaimed to just toss aside, start from scratch, and assume people are gonna buy whatever you come up with next. ESPECIALLY when you keep the same actors. Just plain stupid. I commend them for seeing the light and reverse course. The show wasn't up to par with what came before. But it was still an overall satisfactory season of DD. But it was a problem they should've never had to deal with in the first place.

BLAGTIER2026-01-28 05:25

> These kind of decisions always frustrate me to know end because you'd figure the people who make these decisions and get paid a 7 figure salary would be smart enough to know better.

Especially because their market research would have shown the reason people where excited about Daredevil in Spider-Man, She-Hulk and Echo plus Kingpin in Hawkeye and Echo was because they thought they were the canon characters from Daredevil.

DSmooth4252026-01-28 07:21

and after the season I think, forgot the timing Marvel people were claiming that Daredevil and Jessica Jones and Luke Cage etc were Marvel projects not Netflix Marvel projects. Not sure if that was anyone from the original team on the Disney+ Daredevil but if Kevin and others are gonna claim that you can start with show off Netflix as cannon. Don’t need to reboot a tv show to make it fresh

eagc72026-01-28 20:59

Well the higher ups like Feige mostly kept it vague, trying to avoid giving a yes or no anwser to the questions if these are canon up until January 2024 when they finally declared the Netflix shows as canon. But there were some comments like how WandaVision was the first MCU show, even though that title would belong to Agents of SHIELD

But prior to that the 3 people involved at Marvel that didn't felt they were canon were James Gunn, Anthony Mackie and Chloe Bennet.

DSmooth4252026-01-28 21:37

Sure. Part of my issue is I was one of the disappointed Agents of Shield fans who waited years in hopes of Skye and/or Agent May cameos in the movies. Then I learned about the division between Marvel movies and TV and felt deceived. Especially since the movies affected the tv shows and outside of Fury, Agent Hill and I think one or two others crossovers from MCU movies there were no crossovers.

Say all that to say, while I understand some of the issues behind the scenes, once they decided to keep the Netflix show canon, I don’t quite understand them keeping elements that lacked continuity from the Netflix show in Born Again if your spin is that it’s all Marvel/MCU leading the direction. But what do I know ¯\\_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_ ⁠/⁠¯ 😭

eagc72026-01-28 22:26

If you are talking about them keeping the footage from the original reboot cut, my theory is that they couldn't scrap it as otherwise that would've blown the budget (considering they shot 6 episodes out of 9 by that point), like take for example Justice League which became a 300M budget movie since Joss Whedon had to go back to the drawing board and reshoot so much of it.

So in order to not end up with a Daredevil show with a ridiculous budget, they had to keep what they shot, but add some extra scenes to make sure it still tied back to the original (like reshooting the scenes with Vanessa, who was recast originally)

I think if the decision had been made before they started filming or just as they were starting, we would be looking at a different show

DSmooth4252026-01-28 22:50

Yeah I saw another comment with similar reasoning that makes sense all things considered. Very frustrating though. The creatives that need to put ‘their spin’ on a popular medium. Foggy and especially Deborah’s acting as Karen will be missed. We already lost Ben which while effective in making its point, was a mistake imo. Least Bullseye is around.

I’m really hoping to get surprised by a cameo in addition to JJ showing up. Agreed with you about the timing of the decision

chef-nom-nom2026-01-28 05:52

> JK Simmons... counterpart

Talk about an intriguing series that ended too quickly :(

CaptHayfever2026-01-28 07:41

IIRC, Fisk's promise to Matt was just that he wouldn't expose him or go after Foggy & Karen (hence why he specifically tells Matt he had nothing to do with Foggy's death, & later episodes confirm that to be true).

profound72026-01-28 01:32

Regarding Fisk being free and running for mayor:

As Daredevil was cancelled after season 3, plot threads regarding Fisk was continued in the Hawkeye and Echo series, before Born Again S1.

freelifemushroom2026-01-28 04:54

This is important, especially if OP didn't watch these between season 3 and born again

minyhumancalc2026-01-28 01:35

Yeah, I did something similar and that stuck with me during Born Again as well; it felt like so much retreading the same dynamic as before. Kingpin free and causing mayhem in the underworld, a lawyer partner and investigator trio with Matt, where only 1 knows his actual identity and Matt trying but failing to not be DareDevil. The juxtaposed addition of the original cast only highlighted how uninspired the season was.

Hoping this next season, they do more with this "war" they teased at the end of last season. Its incredibly hard to follow up given just how good Season 3 of DareDevil was, but id much rather see them try and fail something new than just coast by on what we already have

Mr6282026-01-28 01:40

For me it’s mostly the CGI, it’s turn the tv off level bad. Then after that it’s Fisk. He’s just not fit to be a part of the MCU. Just a complete mess of a character and waste of someone who should be on of the top villains in the MCU that aren’t world destroying level threats.

hirarki2026-01-28 01:41

I stop in first paragraph.

so do you think watching old daredevil season 1-3 not needed to enjoy new daredevil season 1?

eagc72026-01-28 01:52

What OP is saying that they didn't liked how Born Again undid some of the progress the characters did in the end of Season 3.

Rastarapha3202026-01-28 01:53

Not the same caliber

lern2swim2026-01-28 01:56

Normalize understanding that you need to approach the mcu releases like comics.

Throwupmyhands2026-01-28 02:19

I did the same thing last year. But I love DD:BA. Can’t wait for s2.

FPG_Matthew2026-01-28 02:38

Top 5, maybe even top 3 Marvel misstep of all time was attempting to make a version of Born Again that completely ignored what came before it. They initially thought they could do better. They thought they could have their own spin on the character. They thought people would just go along with it. They signed off on killing Matt’s best friend as if he were expendable AND acted as if his main love interest was non existent. Flat out insulting. Finger as far off the pulse as possible.

Finally, FINALLY those in charge put their ego at the door and realized what they were making was nooowhere near as good as the original 3 seasons. Thank God they decided to change course, and acknowledge what came before.

Marvel’s NEXT misstep was refusing to wipe it clean and start from the ground up again. Instead, they chose to cut corners and save money by keeping what they already had, and only add around it. They were completely ok with putting out a product that they knew wouldn’t meet the standards that the original s1-3 set. The new creatives did their best to work around it, I’ll give them that. But it’s obvious the show would’ve greatly benefited from starting completely over, even if that meant the show got delayed til late 2025.

Very much looking forward to this next season, which SHOULD hold a much higher reverence and respect for s1-3. It’s likely to build/expand upon the world that the Netflix era built, and I’m excited to see where they go with one creative vision

PTSDBarnum27042026-01-28 02:42

I hated Born Again S1, not only was it a complete mess but the character writing and plotting was piss poor and paled in comparison to the Netflix series.

I'm looking forward to season 2 though, because I really want to like the show and want a new good season of Daredevil. It may end up being the same disjointed, underbaked disappointment the first was (to me), but we'll see.

EP0092026-01-28 03:09

I need to binge Jessica Jones with my wife to get ready for season 2.

BackgroundEngineer112026-01-28 03:09

I did the same thing, and had also watched Defenders between season 2 and 3. So with Born Again, Matt gives up Daredevil three times in a row.

Also going from season 3 to Fisk getting elected mayor is pretty crazy. The FBI's investigation being compromised doesn't negate the charges Fisk was already doing time for from season 1.

SockLeft2026-01-28 03:14

It was especially weird because they spent a huge amount of time in S3 really hammering it into the audience that "this evidence will stick, it's legit. Ray literally died for it to be legit."

And then Born Again handwaved it away with little more than "nah it actually wasn't that legit".

Like, what??

BackgroundEngineer112026-01-28 04:40

And that would have just been for all the corruption in Season 3. Fisk was still doing time from everything in season 1, he was just under house arrest in exchange for giving up other organized crimes. The people of New York would have still known he was a murderous scum lord.

CaptHayfever2026-01-28 07:39

> The people of New York would have still known he was a murderous scum lord.

Allow me to turn your attention to November 2024....

BackgroundEngineer112026-01-28 12:10

Despite the evil in the white house, he never blew up buildings or decapitated a guy. It's not like people from outside the city were voting.

CaptHayfever2026-01-28 15:12

It's not a 1-to-1 allegory, but the point stands that knowing somebody is a horrible criminal doesn't stop certain people from voting for them.

BackgroundEngineer112026-01-28 17:32

Except Mayor Fisk has been a thing long before Trump. I don't know if the comics proved he rigged the vote or anything but it would have been nice if Born Again had hinted at it.

eagc72026-01-28 05:51

Well the problem as i stated in different comment here is that the show was at one point during development meant to be a reboot, while retaining Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jon Bernthal, so in the original cut of this show the MCU version of Fisk never went through the events of S3, Nadeem didn't existed and so on.

But during the actors/writers strikes they decided to scrap their original plans and keep the original show as canon, but now they had two problems, they couldn't scrap the footage they filmed and plus Fisk was established to be still running his criminal empire back on Hawkeye.

Though should be noted that its been stated that if the original show had not been cancelled, Fisk would've gotten out of prision again in Season 5, so it wasn't gonna stick either way

SockLeft2026-01-28 07:46

Totally understand, and it's not something I necessarily fault the new showrunners on, they managed to salvage a pretty sizeable mess.

dabbingsquidward2026-01-28 05:11

Honestly born again season 1 sucked IMO. It just reminded me of how flawed the entire MCU is. The exact struggles of the movies reflected in the show. Not focusing on the right characters and not fleshing out previous stories. The show had no clear vision, just like the recent phases of the MCU

AsterArtworks2026-01-28 05:13

It is important to mention that Born Again was never supposed to take place after season 3 and was initially intended to be its own show, which is why it didn’t feel like an honest continuation of the original and a major reason why it wasn’t just called season 4.

Outtie_50002026-01-28 06:24

My wife and I were so excited for Born Again but we got 2 episodes in and just never picked it back up. Is it worth pushing through? Does it get that much better?

eagc72026-01-28 08:22

Well you will see a bunch of mixed opinions on the season so far, as half of the show you don't get to see Matt as Daredevil for example.

But what its agreed upon is that the final 2 episodes are fantastic and a taste of what we will get in season 2, since episode 8-9 are from the new creative team and not reworked episodes from the original version.

Outtie_50002026-01-28 15:17

Sweet, will watch. Thanks!

ernie-jo2026-01-28 06:43

Honestly as someone who LOVES Daredevil and the Netflix show, (and has literally watched every single MCU movie and show), it was hard to get through. The opening credits pissed me off every single time. The Nelson & Murdock logo crumbling was a massive FUCK YOU to every single fan of the original series. I don't know what the hell is wrong with the original writers but they are complete morons for thinking killing Foggy like that was a good idea.

There are 2 audiences for the show: 1. Fans of the original 2. New people who don't know what's going on. Hingeing the entire season on Foggy's death alienated both of them and was the dumbest writing I've ever seen. Felt like something a freshman in college would write for class.

Genuinely pisses me off to this day.

MCB13172026-01-28 07:33

I thought it was pure fucking garbage.

TrueLegateDamar2026-01-28 07:48

I already wasn't a fan of how Season 3 ended on Fisk going back to jail with merely a slap on the wrist and Vanessa walking free again despite her now even more involved.

Strongly feel Bullseye should have killed Vanessa at the very least so Fisk actually lost something.

So Born Again ignoring all of that so they can do the same shit over, but now killing Foggy making whatever Matt does even more meaningless, killed my interest completly.

eagc72026-01-28 08:20

To be fair we have to keep in mind that the show was originally written as a reboot, them having to undo what happened in the original show is a casualty of them wanting to reboot but changing their minds at the literal last minute

sacredblasphemies2026-01-28 09:31

There was a bit of Fisk becoming mayor in Echo, which also briefly featured Daredevil. And that was a follow-up, in part, to the Hawkeye series which also had Fisk.

It didn't come completely out of nowhere.

buddymoh2026-01-28 10:07

I’m so glad I’m not the only one that felt this way. I watched the 3 seasons before watching Born Again and I was wondering why it felt so hard to watch this show, I wish they kept Foggy alive, the relationship with Karen, Foggy and Matt was interesting.

dcmac12026-01-28 12:33

I unfortunately watched season 3 again right before the premiere of the Born Again season and the new season was such a letdown. The trailer for season 2 looks promising, we will see.

BetaRayPhil6162026-01-28 13:15

Tbh, I sort of agree - the time jump/space from the original is crucial to born again. Ending S3 and going straight to BA would feel jarring, but coming in with the memory and distance I think it works really well.

Think-Spray-88052026-01-28 13:40

It would’ve been a lot better if there was a hole episode or better yet season to establish the change ending the season or episode with the first 15 minutes of born again.

DrHorrible102026-01-28 15:08

The Muse arc was done so fucking dirty. Barley any proper build/intrigue formed around the character just to be off'd in a poorly edited fight. Don't care if a revive is bullshit, bring bro back in season 2 as a proper character.

MrGabrahamLincoln2026-01-28 15:09

Marathoning the original wasn’t a mistake, BA just isn’t good lol

gideonpepys2026-01-28 17:25

This happens with all major franchises, particularly when they reboot: they just ignore the previous instalments to their undermining all sacrifices and triumphs. See Alien 3 for a classic example.

icarodx2026-01-28 18:16

They could have left Fisk simmering for a bunch episodes dealing with his legal troubles and used Bullseye as the main villain.

After all the setup in S3, Bullseye felt like a throwaway in BA S1. Shameful waste.

Powersoutdotcom2026-01-28 19:40

This is why it's a whole new show, and not the next sequential season.

It allows for that little bit of forgiveness for it being a rough start years after and having so much happen off screen (and in other shows, like Echo and Hawkeye).

Could have been better, but it was close to being so much worse, and they can make it up to us by having an amazing S2.

McBigs2026-01-28 20:03

Born Again is a straight downgrade in production quality. But I also think it would have benefitted from focusing on a new villain or two before returning to Fisk. As it is now it really feels like Daredevil's world consists of Frank, Bullseye and Fisk alone.

CruzAderjc2026-01-28 22:10

Its the same reason people didn’t like the Star Wars sequel trilogy. When you have a beloved IP and characters, the exact way to fracture your fanbase is to make all of the things that the characters originally went through feel meaningless

ImportantExercise6322026-01-28 22:35

I feel like when all is said and done with Born Again, it'll get looked back on like how The New Batman Adventures was compared to Batman The Animated Series. Functionally and literally, it's a continuation of the same characters from the previous series and their journey but it's definitely going to be divisive among fans on if it's a "true" successor despite all the connective tissue especially in regards to characterization, design elements, and tone. Personally, I've just been seeing Born Again as effectively Season 4 (and Season 5 and so on) of the Daredevil series that Netflix inexplicably stopped going forward on even with all the acclaim and popularity behind it. Despite some issues I've had with Born Again, I'm glad it's giving more to Matt's arc, to Karen's arc, to Fisk's arc, and also bringing back characters like Jessica Jones, Frank Castle, and hopefully potentially Luke Cage and Danny Rand too that I've missed seeing in live action.

Champagnekudo2026-01-29 00:31

Enjoy it. Because it ain’t getting to that level ever again.