With a slew of upcoming Marvel movies on the way as part of Pases 5 and 6, the studio and its Disney bosses have struggled lately in trying to maintain the same storytelling energy that built up to Avengers: Endgame. Despite any lackluster efforts on the big and small screen, Daredevil: Born Again has the potential to truly be a gamechanger by giving Charlie Cox’s Man Without Fear his first proper MCU storyline alongside Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, and by serving as the rare TV-MA release within Disney+ library (no doubt thanks to the return of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher). One symptom of the upcoming series’ already huge popularity is how many rumors have started floating around about it.
With San Diego Comic-Con serving as a hub for entertainment-based rumors and reports, quite a few unconfirmed claims started making the rounds, of both the positive and negative varieties. Let’s take a closer look at each below.
Daredevil: Born Again Is Probably Splitting Up Its Episode Releases
When Daredevil: Born Again was first revealed as a Disney+ original, its larger-than-average episode order made it seem like the service would be setting up a split mid-season, or that the episodes actually comprised two different seasons. (D’Onofrio later hyped up Season 2 as already happening, which may speak to the latter idea.) According to scooper DanielRPK (via @DDevilUpdates), the show will reportedly feature two parts of nine episodes each, while not specifically using the term “season.”
While that may have always been the plan for how the new series would be parsed out for audiences, one has to wonder if the ongoing WGA writers strike and the SAG-AFTRA actors strike will play into how Disney+ and Marvel decide to move forward. The production was already shut down ahead following the WGA strike, so it’s assumed nothing has been filmed in a while. But if the first nine episodes were already filmed in their entirety without the need for reshoots, and the post-production team would still be able to work on those episodes, it’s feasible that fans could be watching Daredevil: Born Again before the end of the year and/or before the end of the respective strikes. It’s a long shot, considering the series is being touted as a 2024 release, but desperate times…
Daredevil Will Reportedly Face A Comic Villain For The First Time In Live-Action
Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk’s fan-favorite feud will no doubt be at the heart of Daredevil: Born Again, but with reports stating that each nine-episode batch will feature its own story arc, that obviously leaves room for more villains (and maybe heroes) to join the fray. DanielRPK also dropped a very intriguing rumor in that realm by claiming that comic book villain Muse will make his live-action debut in the streaming series. Which would almost definitely launch this show into TV-MA territory, even without Frank Castle blowing people’s kneecaps off.
Muse debuted on the page in Daredevil #11 in 2016, as created by writer Charles Soule and artist Ron Garney, and delivered quite the gruesome and freaky arc. The sadistic villain is also an artist whose victims become intricate parts of his displays, and he looks like the Sloth victim from Se7en if he was left out in the sun for a few weeks. While the rumor obviously isn’t official, I would flipping love to see Daredevil: Born Again embracing such a wicked baddie at any point in its run.
The Show Is Allegedly In Need Of Various Reshoots, Thanks To Marvel's Kevin Feige
The third rumor we’ll be covering is perhaps the most egregious, in that it’s the most negative and hyperbolic. According to Cosmic Book News, Daredevil: Born Again probably won’t get those first nine episodes out sooner than expected, because the outlet claims the show is a “disaster,” and is in need of being completely retooled for tonal purposes. And it’s apparently the fault of head honcho Kevin Feige.
It’s rumored that Feige tasked the Daredevil creative team with giving Charlie Cox’s character the same goofy, comedic vibes that were on display when he appeared in She-Hulk, and that it did not work at all. The idea is now that Marvel will reconfigure things and retool the story so that it better reflects the dark and brooding nature of the Netflix series and the source material overall. Which technically could play into why the more mature content details were also being pushed in other rumors, although take the other stuff with as many grains of salt as one desires.
We obviously still don’t know when Daredevil: Born Again will be available for everyone with Disney+ subscriptions, but there are tons of other MCU shows and movies to stream in the meantime, not to mention each of Netflix’s Marvel dramas.
