Marvel’s Daredevil Show Problem Has An Obvious Solution

Daredevil: Born Again is being heavily overhauled, and the best solution to the problem is simply to rework it into a proper Daredevil season 4. Intended as a Disney+ relaunch for The Man Without Fear, production on Daredevil: Born Again was halted due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes. In a shocking turn of events, news has broken that Marvel Studios is essentially scrapping the new Marvel Cinematic Universe show as it was initially conceived, with the plan being to rework the series from the ground up (along with numerous other changes to the overall production of Marvel’s Disney+ shows).

Needless to say, Marvel’s decision, coupled with the still ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, will significantly delay the eventual debut of Born Again, but there is one major workaround for that problem. Put simply, Marvel should use the original plans for Daredevil season 4 during the show’s Netflix run as the basis for Daredevil: Born Again‘s story. While there are a few key challenges to going this route, numerous factors tied to Daredevil seasons 3 and 4 make it the most practical (and potentially crowd-pleasing) solution to Born Again‘s production conundrum.

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Daredevil: Born Again Should Be A Proper Daredevil Season 4

The sheer popularity of Daredevil both during and after the Marvel-Netflix era makes a strong case for Daredevil: Born Again to be a direct continuation of Matt Murdock’s Netflix series. One of the most significant factors in Daredevil‘s widespread acclaim is the fact that the series offered a tonal counterbalance to the light-hearted fun and adventure of the MCU’s big-screen stories. Daredevil‘s darker tone and Vincent D’Onofrio’s unpredictably volatile Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin established Daredevil as a much more mature form of superhero storytelling.

Daredevil‘s hard-hitting martial arts fight scenes also marked a huge leap forward in fight choreography in superhero movies and TV shows alike. Moreover, Daredevil set up a trademark in that respect with its wild one-shot hallway fight scenes (with The Raid clearly influencing Daredevil‘s hallway fights). By taking such a no-holds-barred approach to Matt Murdock’s tale as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil set the tone for all of Marvel-Netflix to be a kind of MCU Adult Swim that the larger franchise has never truly replicated either theatrically or in its Disney+ shows. Daredevil: Born Again could take the lead on that front by telling a direct Daredevil season 4 story.

How Netflix’s Daredevil Season 3 Set Up Season 4

Daredevil focused on Matt Murdock’s evolution in his life as The Man Without Fear, and Daredevil season 3 set up season 4 to move forward with that in several ways. Through his defeat of the Kingpin, Matt overcame the darkness and bitterness that had overtaken him at beginning of Daredevil season 3, and was ready to both don his red horns again and return to his legal career with Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). In all, Matt was returning to his old self with his Catholic faith restored in Daredevil season 4, but that’s not all that season 3 set up.

Daredevil season 3 also finally saw the debut of Matt’s other arch-nemesis Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), with Bullseye being crippled during the final three-way showdown between himself, Fisk, and Daredevil. The Daredevil season 3 ending showed Bullseye undergoing surgery to repair his spinal damage (Bullseye having an adamantium-supported spinal column in the comics), overtly setting up a rematch between himself and Matt in Daredevil season 4. The surgery scene also teased that Bullseye would don his comic-accurate suit in season 4, with Matt likely returning to his red Daredevil outfit. Along with the Kingpin’s vendetta with Matt, Netflix’s Daredevil clearly still had (and has) plenty of story left to tell.

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Will Disney Actually Make Daredevil Season 4?

As to whether Disney and Marvel will rework Daredevil: Born Again into Daredevil season 4, the biggest roadblock to that ironically lies in the title of the new MCU series. As explained by Daredevil season 1 showrunner Steven DeKnight on Twitter/X, the titling of the new show as Daredevil: Born Again is a legal loophole exercised by Disney on other shows, where “they slightly rename a series to reset contract terms back to first season.” Essentially, that technically makes Netflix’s Daredevil and Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again two different shows from a legal standpoint, which makes realizing Daredevil season 4 complicated with contracts already in place.

That said, Daredevil: Born Again‘s massive retooling might indicate that Marvel Studios and Disney have had some second thoughts on how closely the show should be connected to its Netflix predecessor. While the title Daredevil: Born Again is likely to hold, Marvel could theoretically be modifying the show to the point of it following the essence of Daredevil season 4’s plan within whatever contractual parameters are already in place. In the end, Daredevil: Born Again is set to undergo what is likely the most extensive rewrite in MCU history, and simply reviving the plans for Daredevil season 4 would be the most streamlined solution to that problem.

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