“I was raised to believe in grace. But I was also raised… to believe in retribution.” 😈
He’s back. Commonly held up as the best and most successful of Marvel’s MCU TV experiments (although for me it’s Loki), Matt Murdock returns to our big small screens on March 4 in Daredevil Born Again.
The original Daredevil series was critically acclaimed for its gritty storytelling, stellar performances and some seriously impressive fight choreography. The hallway fight scene? Iconic.
The show was believed to be a fairly big hit for Netflix, although the streamer never released any numbers for it – but analytics mob Symphony Advanced Media, which used audio recognition tech to estimate viewership, suggested Daredevil averaged around 4.4 million US-market viewers in its first 35 days.
Star Charlie Cox has kept the gig this entire time, too, having reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home and the sadly shortlived She-Hulk TV series.
Now he’s back for Marvel’s first swing at the series since coming under Disney’s control.
Likewise, we’ll see Jon Bernthal return as The Punisher (or at least as Frank Castle), Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin, Wilson Bethel as Bullseye, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and yer boy Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson. Elektra? Who knows…
Murdock: “Thank you for finding the time.”
Fisk: “Well, I will admit… it’s not entirely unpleasant… seeing you again.”
Disney’s announcement
“In Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with heightened abilities is fighting for justice through his bustling law firm, while former mob boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) pursues his own political endeavors in New York. When their past identities begin to emerge, both men find themselves on an inevitable collision course.”
To be clear, Marvel has said Born Again isn’t a direct continuation of the Netflix series – it’s more of a soft reboot within the MCU.
Given the title, oldschool fans thought it would follow the classic Born Again comic arc more closely, but the show reportedly isn’t sticking too closely to that storyline.
Whatever the case, the new series looks as gritty as Netflix’s run, so… LFG!
Daredevil’s run on Netflix
Season 1 (2015)
The debut season was a massive hit, or at least it’s understood to have been. Reports from third-party analytics firms like Symphony Advanced Media (which used audio recognition tech to estimate viewership) suggested that Daredevil averaged around 4.4 million viewers in its first 35 days. That’s only in the US, however.
Season 2 (2016)
Viewership reportedly spiked with the introduction of The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Elektra. While Netflix didn’t release figures, the buzz around Season 2 was bigger, and some estimates suggested it had even stronger viewership than Season 1.
Season 3 (2018)
This was considered the best season, but viewership seemed to drop off. According to Business Insider, data from Jumpshot (an analytics company) showed that Season 3’s premiere viewership was down 57% compared to Season 2’s debut. Despite the drop, it still had a strong, dedicated audience.
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