# Daredevil: Born Again season 1

The first season of the American television series Daredevil: Born Again is based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Daredevil. A revival and continuation of the series Daredevil (2015–2018) by Marvel Television and Netflix, Born Again sees blind lawyer and former vigilante Matt Murdock's fight for justice put him on a collision course with former mob boss Wilson Fisk who is elected mayor of New York City. The season is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and television series of the franchise. It was produced by Marvel Studios under its Marvel Television label, with Dario Scardapane as showrunner and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as lead directors.
Charlie Cox reprises his role as Matt Murdock / Daredevil from Marvel's Netflix television series and prior Marvel Studios productions, starring alongside Vincent D'Onofrio (Fisk), Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki M. James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer, Kamar de los Reyes, and Jon Bernthal. Development on a new Daredevil series began by March 2022, with head writers Christopher Ord and Matthew Corman giving it an episodic structure and lighter tone than the original series. Born Again was announced in July 2022 with a planned 18-episode first season. Filming began in March 2023 in New York, but was suspended in June due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Marvel Studios decided to overhaul the series by late September and released Corman, Ord, and the initial directors, though Michael Cuesta, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and David Boyd are still credited for episodes they directed. Scardapane, Benson, and Moorhead were hired to rework the series, adding serialized elements and more connections to the Netflix series. Filming for a nine-episode first season resumed in January 2024 and wrapped in April.
The first season premiered on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, with its first two episodes, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who highlighted the character-driven storytelling and performances—particularly those of Cox and D'Onofrio—but had mixed thoughts when comparing the season to the original Daredevil series. A second season was confirmed in August 2024.

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by $^{:17–18}$ | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | "Heaven's Half Hour" | Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson | Dario Scardapane | March 4, 2025 (2025-3-4) |
| Matt Murdock and his friends and legal partners Foggy Nelson and Karen Page celebrate the retirement of their NYPD associate Cherry. They are attacked by their old enemy Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter, who fatally shoots Nelson. An enraged Murdock, as the masked vigilante Daredevil, drops Dex off a roof while Cherry discovers his identity. A year later, Murdock has retired as Daredevil and formed a new law firm with former district attorney Kirsten McDuffie, Page has moved to San Francisco, and Dex is given a life sentence for his crimes. McDuffie sets Murdock up with therapist Heather Glenn and they begin dating. After taking time away to recover from a vigilante attack, former mob boss Wilson Fisk announces that he is running for mayor of New York City with an anti-vigilante agenda. Murdock meets with Fisk and says he will stop him if Fisk steps out of line. Fisk says there will be consequences if Murdock resumes his activities as Daredevil. After winning the election, Fisk reveals to his wife Vanessa that he knows she had an affair with a man named Adam while he was away. |||||
| 2 | "Optics" | Michael Cuesta | Matt Corman & Chris Ord | March 4, 2025 (2025-3-4) |
| Hector Ayala comes across two men, Powell and Kel Shanahan, beating up Nicky Torres in a subway station. Ayala attempts to break up the fight, but is attacked himself. When Shanahan trips and is killed by a train, Powell reveals that they are police officers and arrests Ayala for murder while Torres runs away. Murdock decides to represent him. Cherry, now working as Murdock's investigator, learns that Ayala is the vigilante White Tiger. Murdock convinces the judge in Ayala's case to withhold this information, believing it would unfairly bias the jury. To improve optics during his first days as mayor, Fisk meets with young journalist BB Urich, who reveals that popular NYPD Commissioner Gallo is poised to resign in protest of Fisk becoming mayor. Fisk threatens to expose Gallo's infidelity to stop him from resigning. Fisk and Vanessa start attending couples' therapy with Glenn. Murdock tracks down Torres and helps him escape from Powell and another corrupt police officer. |||||
| 3 | "The Hollow of His Hand" | Michael Cuesta | Jill Blankenship | March 11, 2025 (2025-3-11) |
| With Fisk and Vanessa avoiding their previous criminal activities while Fisk is mayor, the leaders of New York City's gangs begin to fight amongst themselves. Fisk believes they should let the gangs kill each other and the chaos will help build a lasting peace, but Vanessa is frustrated that her work is being undone and sends Fisk's right-hand man Buck Cashman to ease tensions between the gangs. Cherry brings Torres to testify at Ayala's trial, but Torres is intimidated by the police and claims he was never assaulted. With no other options, Murdock reveals Ayala's identity as the White Tiger in court. With new witness accounts and police records detailing Ayala's heroic deeds as White Tiger, Murdock and McDuffie successfully convince the jury to find Ayala not guilty. In an interview with BB, Fisk denounces the trial's results and vows to uphold his anti-vigilante stance. Ayala goes out on patrol, but is murdered by a man wearing Frank Castle's symbol. |||||
| 4 | "Sic Semper Systema" | Jeffrey Nachmanoff | David Feige and Jesse Wigutow | March 18, 2025 (2025-3-18) |
| Murdock promises Ayala's niece, Angela del Toro, he will bring his killer to justice. At marriage counseling, Fisk and Vanessa discuss her affair with Adam. Afterward, Glenn privately asks Vanessa if she feels safe around Fisk. Fisk's attempt to improve the ports face a number of hurdles, including government procedures, rival gangs, and his protégé Daniel Blake drunkenly leaking confidential information, leading BB to out Fisk as a union buster. Despite his initial anger, Fisk decides not to fire Blake after witnessing his loyalty. Murdock investigates the site where Ayala was killed and finds a bullet casing with Castle's symbol on it. He tracks down and interrogates Castle, who believes it came from a police officer before calling out Murdock for not killing Dex and retiring as Daredevil. Later that night, Fisk visits an imprisoned Adam while a masked serial killer drains blood from a victim. |||||
| 5 | TBA | Jeffrey Nachmanoff | Grainne Godfree | March 25, 2025 (2025-3-25) |
| 6 | TBA | David Boyd | Thomas Wong | March 25, 2025 (2025-3-25) |
| 7 | TBA | David Boyd | Jill Blankenship | TBA |
| 8 | TBA | Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead | Jesse Wigutow and Dario Scardapane | TBA |
| 9 | TBA | Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead | Heather Bellson & Dario Scardapane | TBA |

## Cast and characters
### Main

* Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil: A blind lawyer with superhuman senses from Hell's Kitchen, New York, who leads a double life as a masked vigilante. At the start of the season, Murdock focuses on being a lawyer due to the collateral damage that comes with being a vigilante and concerns about how effective that approach has been.$^{:26}$ Eli D. Goss portrays a young Murdock.
* Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin: A powerful businessman and crime lord, who is running for mayor of New York City. D'Onofrio said the tone for his character in the Disney+ series Echo (2024) would continue in Born Again, which he believed was how the character was best portrayed. The season sees Fisk amassing power and "flexing his darkness" to "basically gaslight a city, and then eventually a country, and then eventually a world".$^{:28}$
* Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn: A therapist and Murdock's love interest.$^{:3}$ She and Murdock have differing views on vigilantism which Cox said "leads to some poignant conversations" between the couple.$^{:26}$
* Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page: A former reporter and Murdock's friend and partner at the Nelson, Murdock & Page law firm. Because it had been years since she last played the character in Daredevil (2015–2018), Woll was concerned about her performance feeling like an impression of herself. However, she found her return to be natural given the rapport she has with Cox and Elden Henson.
* Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson: Murdock's best friend and law partner. Cox described Nelson as "the heartbeat" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
* Wilson Bethel as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye: A psychopathic former FBI agent who is a highly skilled marksman capable of using almost any object as a lethal projectile. He previously masqueraded as Daredevil for Fisk, before Fisk broke his back.
* Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera: Fisk's mayoral campaign director
* Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie: A former New York assistant district attorney, and Murdock's new law partner at the law firm Murdock & McDuffie
* Genneya Walton as BB Urich: A journalist for The BB Report and the niece of Ben Urich, who was killed by Fisk in Daredevil
* Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman: Fisk's right-hand man and fixer
* Clark Johnson as Cherry: A retired New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who works with Murdock as his investigator. Johnson modeled Cherry after Roy Scheider's character Buddy "Cloudy" Russo in the film The French Connection (1971).$^{:5}$
* Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake: Fisk's protégé and member of his mayoral campaign$^{:30}$
* Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk: Fisk's wife who took over his criminal empire after Fisk's absence, leading to tension between the couple. Zurer elaborated that Fisk takes over what Vanessa made successful, leaving the latter struggling with what her place is moving forward.$^{:5}$ Sandrine Holt was originally cast in the role for the series before Zurer, who portrayed Vanessa in Daredevil, was brought back after the creative overhaul of Born Again.
* Kamar de los Reyes as Hector Ayala / White Tiger: A vigilante whose enhanced powers come from a mystical amulet. Executive producer Sana Amanat said Ayala becomes a reflection of Murdock's own journey in the season.
* Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher: A vigilante who aims to fight the criminal underworld by any means necessary, no matter how lethal the results are, following the brutal murder of his family.$^{:5}$ In the season, Murdock asks Castle to help him with something he is unwilling to do, which Castle takes on and "drives right to the heart of the matter". Bernthal said the season finds the character "absolutely committed to his mission".$^{:5}$ To prepare for the role, Bernthal trained at a gun range where he crossed paths with Thomas Jane, who previously played the character in the Lionsgate film The Punisher (2004). The two discussed the character, which Bernthal appreciated.

### Guest

* Patrick Murney as Luca: A criminal and leader of one of the Five Families
* Cillian O'Sullivan as Devlin: A criminal and leader of one of the Five Families
* Gino Anthony Pesi as Viktor: A criminal and leader of one of the Five Families
* Ruibo Qian as Angie Kim: An NYPD detective. Qian previously played Mei in the first season of Marvel's Netflix television series Jessica Jones (2015).
* Victor Verhaeghe as Carlo: A criminal and leader of one of the Five Families
* Susan Varon as Josie: The owner of Josie's Bar, reprising her role from Marvel's Netflix series
* Hamish Allan-Headley as Powell: A corrupt NYPD officer
* Hunter Doohan as Bastian: A young man who asks Glenn for help
* Michael Gaston as Gallo: The NYPD Commissioner. Gaston previously played Gerald Sharpe in the seventh season of the Marvel Television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2020).
* John Benjamin Hickey as Benjamin Hochberg: The New York district attorney. Hickey previously played Peter Lyonne in the third season of Jessica Jones (2019).
* Andrew Polk as Fitzgerald "Jerry" Cooper: A New York judge. Polk previously played Morty Bennett in the first season of the Daredevil spin-off series The Punisher (2017).
* Nick Jordan as Nicky Torres: An informant who was accosted by corrupt NYPD officers
* Johnny M. Wu as Forrest Tam: An associate of Murdock and Cherry
* Ashley Marie Ortiz as Soledad: Ayala's wife
* Jefferson Cox as Kel Shanahan: A corrupt NYPD officer who is accidentally killed while fighting Ayala
* Elizabeth A. Davis as Sofija Ozola: A New York City prosecutor
* Charlie Hudson III as Leroy Bradford: A homeless man who commits a petty crime, leading to Murdock representing him
* Lou Taylor Pucci as Adam: An artist who had an affair with Vanessa and is taken captive by Fisk
* Camila Rodriguez as Angela del Toro: Ayala's niece
Additionally, news anchor Pat Kiernan appears as himself after doing so in various other MCU media, along with the character Muse, a masked serial killer who makes art with the blood of his victims, who is played by an undisclosed actor.
Reprising their MCU roles in the season are Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan, a Pakistani-American citizen from Jersey City; and Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne, a wealthy socialite who is a highly skilled fencer. Jeremy Earl portrays Cole North, an NYPD officer and a member of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Prior to the series' creative overhaul, Harris Yulin was known to have a role in the series.

## Production
### Development

A reboot of Marvel's Netflix television series Daredevil (2015–2018) was reported to be in development with Marvel Studios in March 2022. The series was confirmed to be in development for Disney+ in late May, with Christopher Ord and Matthew Corman attached as head writers and executive producers. At San Diego Comic-Con that July, the series was announced as Daredevil: Born Again and was revealed to have 18 episodes for its first season. Michael Cuesta was set to direct the first episode of the season in March 2023. Additional directors were expected to direct blocks of episodes. Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Clark Johnson—who was previously a director on the Marvel Netflix series Luke Cage (2016–2018)—joined the season as additional directors in May, with Johnson hired to direct two episodes. David Boyd was also set to direct.
By late September 2023, after six episodes had been filmed, Marvel Studios decided to overhaul the series with a new creative direction. Corman and Ord were let go as head writers, as were the directors for the remainder of the season. Marvel planned to retain some elements that had been shot, add new serialized elements, and move closer to the tone of the Netflix series. The creative team also decided to connect the new series to the original series more directly than had previously been planned. Star Charlie Cox said it was confusing how the series was not a direct continuation of the Netflix series or a complete reboot. Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, said the studio believed they could "play it loose" with the history of Daredevil but when they reviewed what had been shot so far they realized that they would have to either fully embrace the Netflix series or start over fresh. Dario Scardapane, a writer on Netflix's Daredevil spin-off series The Punisher (2017–2019), was hired as showrunner for Born Again in October 2023. Filmmaking duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously worked on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight (2022) and the second season of Loki (2023), were hired to direct the remaining episodes.
   A lot of the material that we shot pre-strike is brilliant and is still in the show and works really well. There were just some complicated factors around what we had been tasked to do and what we were discovering was and wasn't working... Credit to Marvel that they looked at the episodes and could acknowledge that we could still do better, and that we maybe needed to go in a slightly different direction... Where we ended up felt really good.
Three new episodes were written, including a new pilot episode, as well as additional scenes for the previously shot episodes. Cox confirmed in May 2024 that nine episodes had been filmed. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in August that these were the first season of Born Again, and a second season was planned; with the creative overhaul, the planned 18-episode season had been split into two seasons, with the second season ultimately having eight episodes. Also in August, Cuesta, Nachmanoff, and Boyd were re-confirmed to be credited directors for the series. Moorhead said they wanted to "give those directors credit where it's due" despite him and Benson guiding the final edits for the episodes filmed before the overhaul. Some of those episodes had "some rejiggering, and [new] framing, and bookends" added, but some were left "100% intact". Executive producers for the season included Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, and Chris Gary, alongside Scardapane, Corman, Ord, Benson, and Moorhead. The series is released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.

### Writing

Original writers for the series included Corman, Ord, Grainne Godfree, Jill Blankenship, Aisha Porter-Christie, David Feige, Devon Kliger, Thomas Wong, Zachary Reiter, and Molly Nussbaum. David Feige, Wong, and Reiter are all former lawyers who previously worked on other lawyer-based television series. The initial take on the series was described as a legal procedural that was dark but not as gory as the Netflix series, and more episodic than other Marvel Studios series with "self-contained" episodes. According to Cox, early discussions for the series were about "reinvent[ing] the whole thing" and portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil as a different person from the one seen in the Netflix series. Murdock's friends Franklin "Foggy" Nelson and Karen Page were largely not acknowledged in this version of the series, with plans for Nelson to be killed off-screen before the events of the series. Amanat said the creative team were struggling to incorporate the characters into the story, but Cox said there were discussions to do some "cool stuff" with them in the future.
Following the creative overhaul, serialized elements were set to be added. Scardapane was joined by writers Heather Bellson and Jesse Wigutow, and three new episodes were written: the pilot and the final two episodes of the first season. Corman, Ord, Blankenship, David Feige, Godfree, and Wong received credits on the other six episodes, which were kept largely intact. Winderbaum said test audiences responded well to those episodes and believed this was due to fan appreciation for the characters. Scardapane agreed that several elements in the original version worked well—including Murdock's relationships, balancing his time as a lawyer and vigilante, and the pressures of an antagonist like Kingpin—but he felt there were storylines that needed to be added along with context from the Netflix series. Scardapane's pilot acts as a bridge between the Netflix series and Born Again. The showrunner felt the end of the Netflix series—which sees Murdock, Nelson, and Page planning to go into business together again—was a good starting point for Born Again and did not need too much explanation for viewers who had not seen the original series. He felt it was important to include Nelson and Page because they are Murdock's "family structure". Nelson also provides comic relief, while Page is "the heart and soul" of the series.$^{:30}$ Cox explained that a few years have passed since the end of Daredevil, with the three characters running their law firm and having a "pretty good rhythm" together. The cast added that the events of the Netflix series were part of their characters' histories, and there are some new storylines that build on the original's events, but they did not want to dwell too much on past events or alienate new viewers who did not watch the Netflix series.
Within the MCU, the season is set after the Disney+ series Echo (2024). The first episode begins in late 2025, before jumping ahead a year to late 2026. The season continues into early 2027, and shows New Year's Eve and Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. At the beginning of the season, Murdock has not been Daredevil for a year after a "line was crossed", when Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye kills Nelson and Murdock tries to kill Dex in return. Scardapane thought it was essential that this moment be shown on screen in the new pilot episode, calling it "more than an inciting incident. This is an earthquake." Winderbaum said the creative team "agonized" over the decision to kill Nelson. They were inspired by the Daredevil comics, where Dex's counterpart kills Karen Page. Amanat believed killing Nelson, who is Murdock's moral compass, was "the only thing that made sense" when telling a story about Murdock starting a new life without being Daredevil. Cox felt Nelson's death was an appropriate way to start the series, believing the new story needed to be "big, brave, and bold" and "shake things up" from the original. He suggested that Murdock be able to hear Nelson's heartbeat throughout the fight sequence with Dex, which Scardapane thought was a brilliant idea and immediately added to the pilot script. Winderbaum said Nelson's absence "looms large" for the remainder of the season and "is a big part of the culmination of the season".
   Both of these men carry a dark passenger. The dark passenger for Matt Murdock is Daredevil, and for Wilson Fisk, it's Kingpin. The tragic flaw in their characters is that they both give in to the darker side of their true nature, and they draw each other into that. We had to do parallel paths—both tried so hard to be something else: 'I'm Matt Murdock. I'm just a lawyer—I'm not Daredevil anymore.' 'I'm Wilson Fisk, mayor of New York City; I'm doing good things for people.' We wanted to bring that tension to a place where they literally can't sustain it, and things start to unravel and explode.
The season sees Wilson Fisk / Kingpin being elected mayor of New York City, after learning of the need for a strong candidate in the post-credits scene of Echo; this follows a late 2010s storyline from the comics in which Fisk becomes mayor that builds to the "Devil's Reign" (2021–2022) event. Winderbaum said the relationship between Murdock and Fisk would evolve from the Netflix series to be a "game of politics" rather than just trying to kill each other. Scardapane said the series was a "two-hander", exploring both characters.$^{:4}$ He said Fisk consolidates power in the season and Murdock is forced into a reactive position while struggling with his identity and whether to continue as Daredevil.$^{:24–25}$ The pair come to a "loose truce" which leads to them interacting less than they did in Daredevil, but Cox said they are on a "collision course" for the rest of the season, "pushing boundaries and forcing each other to cross lines they don't want to cross".$^{:26}$
Though Fisk is the "prime villain", the season features other antagonists who Scardapane said would be "piling up" as the story continues. These include the serial killer Muse, who was part of the series' original development. Fisk star Vincent D'Onofrio said his character has to work Muse's actions into his own plan. Murdock represents Hector Ayala / White Tiger in the season after that character is wrongly accused of murdering a police officer. Ever since being originally cast in the role, Cox was interested in adapting the "Trial of the White Tiger" storyline from Daredevil vol. 2 #39–40 (2002–03), saying that storyline was "so fascinating to witness a character like Matt Murdock, a lawyer and also a superhero, defend another superhero".

### Casting

Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio were reported in June 2022 to be starring in Born Again, reprising their respective roles of Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin from Daredevil. Their casting was confirmed a month later at San Diego Comic-Con. Cox was notified by Marvel Studios in early 2022 that they were looking to feature the character in another project following his appearances in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). He learned that this was Born Again shortly before the Comic-Con announcement.
In December 2022, Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, and Sandrine Holt were cast in major roles. Gandolfini was reportedly portraying "an ambitious guy from Staten Island" named Liam, while Levieva and Holt were playing love interests for Cox and D'Onofrio, respectively; Holt was cast as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk, replacing Ayelet Zurer from the original series. Nikki M. James joined the cast by January 2023. In March, Jon Bernthal was revealed to be reprising his role of Frank Castle / Punisher from Daredevil and The Punisher in Born Again. Additional cast members from Daredevil, such as Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), were not expected to return according to The Hollywood Reporter, and it was unclear if their characters would appear in Born Again. Henson, however, was planned to make a cameo appearance in the first episode as a way to "end the link between [Daredevil and Born Again] and give the old fans closure". Michael Gaston and Arty Froushan were also part of the cast, with Froushan in a major role that was reported to be an associate of Fisk's named Harry. Set photos the following month indicated that Harris Yulin was part of the cast. In May, Clark Johnson was revealed to be cast in a recurring role, reported to be named Cherry, in addition to his hiring as a director. In September 2023, a United States Copyright Office filing for the series listed several roles: Levieva as Heather Glenn, Gandolfini as Daniel Blake, James as Kirsten McDuffie, Johnson as Cherry, Froushan as Buck Cashman, Genneya Walton as BB Urich, and Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera. With the death of Kamar de los Reyes in December 2023, he was revealed to have a significant role.
Following the creative overhaul, Woll and Henson were set to reprise their roles as Page and Nelson, and Wilson Bethel was set to reprise his role as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye from Daredevil, reportedly for three episodes. Amanat pushed for Bethel to return, finding the character intriguing and the most appropriate antagonist from the Netflix series to revisit. It was initially unclear if any of the new Born Again cast members would be retained, though Levieva, Gandolfini, and Froushan were soon reaffirmed to be part of the cast through set photos. Set photos reaffirmed Bernthal's inclusion that April, and revealed that Jeremy Earl had been cast as Cole North. Lou Taylor Pucci also joined the cast as Adam, and set photos revealed that Zurer would now be reprising her role as Marianna-Fisk for the series; she was disappointed with the initial recasting and was pleasantly surprised when she was asked to return following the overhaul. In August 2024, de los Reyes was reaffirmed to be appearing in the series, portraying the character Hector Ayala / White Tiger.
Also in August 2024, Mohan Kapur was revealed to be reprising his role as Yusuf Khan from the MCU series Ms. Marvel (2022) and its follow-up film The Marvels (2023). Winderbaum said bringing a character from Ms. Marvel into the more serious world of Born Again was similar to how comic books with different tones often crossover. Cox teased the inclusion of additional MCU characters in Born Again for cameo appearances that he described as "fun, small moments of collision, but nothing major". Scardapane teased the appearance of a surprising character who naturally fit into the story due to it being set in the MCU's New York City. In February 2025, Tony Dalton was revealed to be reprising his role as Jack Duquesne / Swordsman from Hawkeye for two episodes of Born Again. Camila Rodriguez portrays Ayala's niece Angela del Toro.

### Design

Emily Gunshor was the costume designer for the series, and Michael Shaw was the production designer.$^{:2}$ Marvel Studios' head of visual development Ryan Meinerding once again designed the Daredevil suit for Born Again, after doing so for the Netflix series. The suit in Born Again has a darker tone of red to reflect Murdock's evolution, along with black detailing and added texture which was described as less "shiny" than the suit in the Netflix series.$^{:8}$ At least five different Daredevil cowls are seen in the season, including an all-white version based on the one first seen in Daredevil vol. 8 (2023), the yellow cowl used in She-Hulk, a black cowl, and two red cowls. Dex's costume features black rings around the neck and shoulders as an homage to the character's "target" emblem in the comics.

### Filming

Principal photography began on March 6, 2023, in the state of New York, under the working title Out the Kitchen. Filming took place in Yonkers outside the city mayor's office from March 7 through March 10. The production then moved to New York City, filming in Harlem on March 13 and 14, and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and at the Manhattan Municipal Building on March 15; Williamsburg was also used as a shooting location for Daredevil. Filming took place at the New York County Courthouse on March 17. Cox described New York City as "number one on the call sheet and the big star here". Shaw said it was important to film in the city because "on the real city streets and locations, you capture the energy of New York and that bleeds into the fabric of the series". The production wanted to explore parts of the city that had not been seen on film before.$^{:4–6}$
Soundstage work occurred at Silvercup Studios East in Queens. The series' art department built detailed recreations of rooms from Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City; Shaw said there was something "slightly uncomfortable" about seeing Fisk in rooms that feel like "somebody's grandmother's house". Another set was Muse's lair which Shaw said was "a bit heightened" and very dark.$^{:6–7}$ Filming was set to take place at Silvercup on May 8, when picketers participating in the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike prevented filming from occurring. Production was planned to resume the following day. Because of the strike, Corman and Ord were unable to be on set. After further picketing on May 10 at the series' set in Brooklyn once again shut down filming, production was paused for the remainder of the week. Additional filming shutdowns because of picketing occurred in early June at Silvercup, before production was suspended on June 14 until after the strike's conclusion. Filming was originally expected to last for eight months.
Six episodes were largely filmed before the shutdown, with Cuesta directing the first two episodes, Nachmanoff directing the third and fourth, and Boyd directing the fifth and sixth.$^{:17–18}$ Pedro Gómez Millán and Hillary Fyfe Spera were the cinematographers.$^{:2}$ Following the creative overhaul, the directors for the remainder of the series were let go; Johnson had been planned to direct two episodes. Benson and Moorhead were set to direct the new episodes, and Philip Silvera was hired as stunt coordinator and second unit director after previously working on the Netflix series; Dave Macomber also served as stunt coordinator and second unit director for the series.$^{:2}$
Filming resumed on January 22, 2024, with Spera serving as cinematographer on the new pilot episode. Silvera conceived a single take fight scene for the episode, which had been a feature of Daredevil, and which Cox called "challenging for new and different reasons", largely because of added visual effect elements. The scene is not a "true" single take, employing cuts and other editing tricks similar to the single take sequence in the second season of Daredevil. Winderbaum believed the series had Marvel Studios' "most brutal [visceral] action", saying it "packs a lot of power". Some scenes were shot twice with a less violent alternative, but Cox said they never used the less violent versions. When filming Murdock or characters related to him, Benson and Moorhead chose to use a handheld camera, while Fisk and characters close to him were filmed with locked-down cameras and little movement. To film Murdock's heightened senses, Benson and Moorhead wanted to primarily use analog, optical effects. A moment in the pilot used a camera rig with three cameras that captured 180 degrees, combined with a dolly zoom, spherical lenses—rather than the standard Anamorphic lenses—and a change in aspect ratio during post-production. Moorhead said they wanted the audience to "feel like [they] are Matt Murdock where you can hear every sound in the whole world". The use of a zoom and changing aspect ratio reveals what Murdock is honing in on, and is also reminiscent of comic book frames.
Set photos at the end of January saw Cox, Henson, and Woll filming scenes, and revealed the involvement of White Tiger and Muse, the latter through on-set graffiti. Props from the Netflix series were brought back for a scene where the characters reminisce about their pasts. In early April, Bernthal and Cox filmed scenes in Brooklyn, ahead of a filming wrap party on April 5. Zurer and D'Onofrio filmed scenes in New York City shortly after. In mid-May, Cox and D'Onofrio said filming was completed three or four weeks earlier, and nine episodes had been filmed.

### Post-production

Editors for the season include Cedric Nairn-Smith, Melissa Lawson Cheung, and Stephanie Filo. Nairn-Smith previously worked on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight and Ironheart (2025), while Cheung previously worked on Secret Invasion (2023) and The Marvels. The second episode begins with a dedication to de los Reyes. Gong Myung Lee is the series' visual effects supervisor, with visual effects provided by Rise FX, FOLKS, Phosphene, Powerhouse VFX, Ghost VFX, Soho VFX, Cantina Creative, Anibrain, Base FX, SDFX, and The Third Floor, Inc.

### Music

In July 2024, the Newton Brothers were revealed to be composing music for the series.

## Marketing

Cox and D'Onofrio promoted the series at Disney's May 2024 upfront presentation, where the release month was announced and the first trailer was shown. The pair again promoted the series and showed a trailer at Disney's D23 convention that August, alongside Feige, Bernthal, Woll, and Henson. Writers at Deadline Hollywood and TheWrap all felt the D23 trailer was more cinematic than the Netflix series and more mature than most Disney+ series. They also compared a confrontation between Murdock and Fisk in the trailer to the crime film Heat (1995). Following online leaks of the D23 footage, Marvel released an official look at Daredevil in his red costume within their video celebrating the company's 85th anniversary. In October 2024, Marvel Comics announced a new publishing line titled Marvel Premier Collection, which consists of new paperback editions of popular comic book runs that are considered to be good starting points for new readers. A reprint of the "Born Again" comic was set to be released in February 2025, with a new foreword from Miller and an afterword by Cox.
A teaser trailer was released on January 15, 2025. It was originally scheduled to be released two days earlier, but was postponed because of the 2025 Southern California wildfires. Commentary on the trailer focused on the return of characters from the Netflix series and on its brutal, violent action. Andy Behbakht at Screen Rant said the dark and violent action sequences quelled some concerns that the series would not retain those elements from the Netflix series in its move to Disney+. He also highlighted the reveal that Murdock is no longer a vigilante at the start of the new series.

## Release

The first season of Daredevil: Born Again premiered on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, with its first two episodes. The season will consist of nine episodes. The series was originally scheduled to debut in early 2024, but was removed from Marvel Studios' release schedule in September 2023 because filming had been suspended by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. The next month, a copyright filing for the first episode indicated an approximate release in January 2025. The March 2025 debut was announced in May 2024. A red carpet premiere event was held on February 24, 2025, at the Hudson Theater in New York City, where the first two episodes were screened. The season is part of Phase Five of the MCU, and is being released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.

## Reception
### Viewership

The two-episode premiere received 7.5 million views on Disney+ in its first five days according to Disney; the company defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime. This was the biggest debut on Disney+ for 2025 at that point, and was compared to the two-episode debut of fellow MCU Disney+ series Agatha All Along (2024) which had 9.3 million views within its first seven days of streaming.
Screen Engine/ASI, which tracks the top 10 most-mentioned entertainment options through a survey of over 1,000 consumers, reported that Born Again was the fourth most-mentioned title for the week ending March 7 with 1.9% of all mentions. Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, said it was the third most-streamed original series in the U.S. for the week ending March 9.

### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval score with an average rating of 7.65/10, based on 141 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Resurrecting Charlie Cox's Daredevil with his virtues intact—namely Vincent D'Onofrio as his terrifying adversary—Born Again is an ambitious and at times ungainly crime saga that marks a mature tonal shift for the MCU." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Critics overall found the season to have exceeded expectations and highlighted the character-driven storytelling and performances, particularly those of Cox and D'Onofrio. Some were unsure whether it was better or worse than the original Daredevil series, which received more positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Aramide Tinubu at Variety called the season "a brilliantly detailed continuation" of Daredevil and "wonderfully complex" that "takes a sledgehammer to its former Netflix world, allowing the titular character and those orbiting him to transform under the weight and pain of time". Tinubu enjoyed the season's exploration of how fast corruption spreads within political institutions and concluded that the season was "a breathtaking example of what it means to revisit a known hero while offering him new reasons to fight for justice". Amon Warmann writing for Empire felt Born Again "retains much of what was great about that Netflix run[...] and adds in just enough fresh elements to keep things interesting". He praised Cox and D'Onofrio, calling them "two of the best casting decisions in Marvel history", and enjoyed Murdock's courtroom scenes as well as Fisk's marital issues storyline, noting it was an unexpected one for a series like Born Again. The season's focus on the people of New York was also a highlight, as was the action sequences and the audio and visual techniques used to portray Murdock's heightened senses, which were "incredibly effective". Warmann gave the season 4 out of 5 stars.
The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han said, "The adherence to formula that makes Born Again so satisfying at its best is also what ultimately keeps it feeling trapped in amber." She praised the performances of Cox and D'Onofrio and enjoyed some of the new cast who had "strong impressions right off the bat" but ultimately grew "less fleshed-out" as the season progressed, and also enjoyed the inclusion of MCU characters, whose appearances served as a "reminder of how expansive this cinematic universe can be, not how oppressively interconnected it's become". Han believed the action sequences lacked "novelty", but offered a sense of nostalgia, and some storylines such as The BB Report segments and the corruption "[came] off more like self-conscious affectations meant to give Born Again a grown-and-gritty sheen rather than serious attempts to engage with larger themes", ultimately leading to few surprises and missed opportunities in the season. Reviewing the season for RogerEbert.com, Cristina Escobar enjoyed the season as a courtroom drama and its "layering of moral complexity" elevated the season. She also liked the use of the various villains besides Fisk, as it created a "less predictable" season, making it "hard to guess where an individual plotline [were] going". Escobar had issues with the pacing of the season, noting it took "a lot of time getting to its central premise", and was disappointed in the writing for Glenn as Murdock's love interest, which made her come across "an easily manipulated nag rather than an intelligent actor in her own right". She concluded that the "real allure" of the season was its "call to arms against tyranny" working as "an imperfect interrogation of our current moment".
In his 2.5 out of 5 star review for Total Film, Bradley Russell felt the season was "a huge disappointment" given it lacked Daredevil's "warm supporting cast and bone-crunching action". He enjoyed the performances from Cox, D'Onofrio, Bernthal, and the set up for the second season. However, speaking to the season's creative overhaul, Russell believed the additions from Scardapane were not enough to move the season away from its original plan to start fresh from the Netflix series, calling the season "a noticeably Frankensteined project [... with] an awkward patchwork of occasionally good repairs stapled over the top of a pretty bad series", pointing to the lack of Nelson and Page in the season as was originally intended. Russell was also disappointed with the use of Muse as a villain and the "constant interrupting" of The BB Report segments using exposition to tell viewers how they should feel. In a more critical review, Alan Sepinwall from Rolling Stone called the season "a Frankenstein monster [...] with various parts stitched together in ungainly fashion". He felt like the season was "lurching back and forth between its competing creative visions, with Scardapane having to work around the story ideas and new characters he inherited from his predecessors". Sepinwall did not enjoy the legal drama storylines, as various parts of the case were "raced through" and believed new characters McDuffie, Glenn, and Cherry were "awfully thin", though Blake was "one of the more effective cast additions". Praise was given to the performances of Cox, D'Onofrio, and Bernthal, as well as Fisk running for mayor and the season's midpoint when Murdock helps stop a bank robbery. That episode was "nimble and fun" and a "self-contained hour that so many of these Marvel shows — both in the Netflix era and the Disney+ one — have desperately needed to do, but have rarely attempted".
Bob Strauss of TheWrap noted the political nature of the season, pointing to the "endless parallels" to the first 100 days of the second Donald Trump presidency, which was "as disturbing as any point-blank execution or real-time skull crushing"; called Fisk "one big Donald Trump analog"; believed The BB Report segments were "echo[ing] familiar MAGA, as well as more thoughtful but not necessarily accurate, attitudes"; noted the parallels of Vanessa Fisk rarely appearing with Wilson in public to Melania Trump; and felt Blake had "the naïveté, enthusiasm and careerism we might associate with young Republicans". Sepinwall was also aware of the "echoes" to the political climate the season released in.