Returning to San Diego Comic-Con for the first time in several years, Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios unleashed a smorgasbord of details about the MCU’s future, from laying out the majority of the Phase 5 slate to early info about Phase 6 to trailers and new footage from projects such as Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and more. Easily the biggest non-theatrical news involved the official confirmation of Daredevil: Born Again for Disney+ subscribers, with the blind badass earning a larger-than-expected second streaming effort following Charlie Cox’s recent (and upcoming) cameos as Matt Murdock.
By and large, I think Daredevil fans should still be thankful for Netflix’s past efforts when anticipating the new show, even though I’m sure there’s still a sizeable section of the fanbase that is still mad about the streaming giant canceling and then losing all of its Marvel shows. But into each superhero project some rain must fall, and here’s why I think Netflix still deserves some love here.
Without Netflix, Daredevil: Born Again Probably Wouldn’t Be TV-MA
For all that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured horror-tinged moments from director Sam Raimi, with WandaVision tapping into the terrors of mental duress, the MCU isn’t exactly known for its hyper-mature content. That’s part of what made Daredevil stand out on Netflix, even if the Hell’s Kitchen drama still couldn’t get too sadistic with its violence. (Those moments came around in The Punisher’s two seasons, though.)
Had the creative team for Daredevil — which included Stephen S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard in its earliest days — opted to keep things less intense and more family-friendly, I can’t imagine that Kevin Feige and his fellow execs would suddenly push for the new show to be more adult. But since the bloody footprints are already in the sand, fans don’t need to worry about Disney+ forcing Daredevil to regress with its subject matter.
Daredevil: Born Again Is Disney+’s Biggest Commitment Yet For An MCU Show
To date, Disney+’s lengthiest original MCU series have been its frontrunner WandaVision and its first animated offshoot What If…?, with both shows’ seasons earning nine episodes. The same can be said for the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, whose SDCC trailer confirmed Daredevil’s long-rumored appearance in the new comedy. Other than that, MCU shows have all landed six-episode seasons.
Enter Daredevil: Born Again, which boasts an initial order of 18 episodes, three times the length of a season of Loki or Ms. Marvel. Granted, it’s not entirely clear at this point whether or not that 18-episode stretch will be as a limited series, or if the episodes will be spread out in separate seasonal releases. But any way you look at it, Disney+ already had the confidence to order up Daredevil in bulk, given how popular the Netflix series was with 13 episodes in each of its three seasons.
Daredevil And Kingpin's Past And Future Cameos Likely Wouldn't Exist
Despite any connections Daredevil has to other Marvel characters in the comics, I can’t imagine the studio would have used the Man Without Fear within Spider-Man: No Way Home if it wasn’t for the pre-established fandom following Charlie Cox for the role. Similarly, it would have been quite the left-field choice to have Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk enter Hawkeye midway through its seasons without viewers clamoring for Vincent D’Onofrio to return to the villainous role.
In that same vein, I also wouldn’t think Marvel would have lined up Charlie Cox to reprise Matt Murdock in animated form for the upcoming Disney+ series Spider-Man: Freshman Year, and nor would anyone have brought in Cox and D’Onofrio to reprise their respective roles for the upcoming MCU spinoff series Echo. Even beyond just Daredevil: Born Again, fans have enjoyed, and will still be enjoying, the benefits of the Netflix series’ success across a variety of projects under Kevin Feige’s umbrella.
Even if Netflix didn’t nail everything successfully where Daredevil is concerned, the efforts made were strong enough to supercede the projects cancellation, ensuring viewers will be watching Charlie Cox’s vigilante on the small screen for years to come.
While waiting for Daredevil: Born Again to arrive on our screens in 2024, be sure to stay current with our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what’ll be popping up long before the Man Without Fear full-fledged return to the small screen.
