Dare-Devil: Born Again: Series 1 - Review 

Rating: 4 out of 5

DARE-Devil fans collectively held their breath once Disney+ announced a revival of the Netflix series starring Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. Early indicators pointed to a watered down version of the show, with more of an emphasis on humour (as evidenced by the character’s fleeting appearances in She-Hulk and Spider-Man: No Way Home).

There was even talk of Jon Bernthal walking away from the series over creative differences, mostly down to the fact that the lighter version would have marked a betrayal of his own character, The Punisher. There followed news of a creative overhaul as re-shoots took place aimed at restoring the darkness.

In the midst of all this, DC and HBO put out The Penguin - a TV series that channelled The Sopranos for quality and which seemed to have set impossible new standards for Marvel to match.

Yet while not quite managing to emulate all of The Penguin’s magic, Dare-Devil: Born Again turned out to be something of an impressive force in its own right. It certainly rates as the MCU’s darkest and most violent offering to date (surpassing Moon Knight), yet offered plenty of moral complexity and intelligent storytelling to boot.

It was also good to see original series cast members reunited, with Charlie Cox once more excelling as the conflicted Matt Murdock/Dare-Devil and Vincent D’Onofrio doing his evil best (with more than a passing nod to Trump) as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, newly appointed to Mayor of New York.

The series came out of the blocks flying, serving up the surprise death of a beloved character, Foggy Nelson (Eldon Henson), a similarly swift exit for another fan favourite, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), and a mouth-watering sit down between Murdock and Fisk - a well scripted exchange that owed more than a passing resemblance to the classic De Niro/Pacino encounter in Heat.

The death of Foggy, while shocking, lingered over the series… initially prompting Murdock to put away his Dare-Devil costume and resume lawyer duties in the hope of providing genuine support for the needy and vulnerable.

But increasingly, Murdock found himself at odds with his own conscience and Fisk’s unstoppable rise, which both encapsulated a mysterious property deal that opened a gateway to widening his criminal enterprise, and a declaration of war against vigilantes, using a self-styled, rule-breaking police force.

The series inevitably built towards the moment where Murdock gave into his inner devil, yet it put its central character through the emotional wringer along the way, along with some standout storylines and moments (fully embracing the darkness inherent in the comics along the way).

This included a two-episode plot involving another vigilante named White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes, in his final role before succumbing to cancer), which concluded in dark fashion, and the pursuit of a serial killer named Muse (Hunter Doohan), who had a penchant for creating art using people’s blood.

Admittedly, the swift [and definitive] resolutions of both of these story arcs were a little rushed, making it easy to see why certain fans viewed them as wasted opportunities. But when taken against the context of the series as a whole, their appearances proved pivotal in getting Murdock to where he needed to be.

Indeed, it was Muse who finally got Murdock back into the Dare-Devil suit, for one of the show’s most rousing (and memed) moments.

Another favourite returning character was Jon Bernthal’s grizzled Frank Castle (aka The Punisher), who shared one memorable exchange early on, before bringing his customary intensity and bone-crunching, throat-slitting violence to the cracking finale.

And here’s where Born Again really delivered in setting up its second season (and all out war between the vigilantes and Fisk’s task force), while offering a tense, unpredictable and ultra dark conclusion in its own right.

Here, we had anger fully unleashed on all sides. Karen Page returned, Fisk crushed the head of the chief of police in front of his staggered acolytes, Murdock uncovered the truth behind Foggy’s murder and The Punisher squared off against those he had unwittingly inspired, before facing his own reckoning.

This was a finale that had everything: high emotion, moral complexity and cracking, uncompromising set pieces.

It made the prospect of the concluding nine episodes breath-takingly exciting and alive with possibilities.

What’s more, it showed Marvel isn’t afraid to go really dark, while delivering one of the MCU’s best TV shows of recent years.