Original mentee at Sierra wave Claire Greenman writes about Daredevil. Next will be a review as the series debuts today 3-4-25

PREVIEW: Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again” poses the question: Is there such thing as too little, too late?

Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again” will be swooping onto Disney Plus on March 4. The question is, will it live up to the hype?

It’s no secret that Marvel has been steadily on the decline in terms of big hit box office movies ever since the release of Avengers: Endgame six years ago in April of 2019. With critical bombs like “Madame Web”, “Kraven the Hunter” and “The Marvels”, many Marvel fans such as myself feel that there is little hope for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Much of what previously made the MCU so enrapturing to audiences and Marvel fans alike was the soul, energy, and deep thought that were meticulously put into each movie and character.

My personal favorite Marvel movie of all time is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, with its impressively choreographed fight scenes and main message that hit close to home about corruption within establishments that are meant to be trusted but ultimately fail at their goal.

The soundtrack was memorable, each character had their own set purpose and there was no awful overuse of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) involved.

Cut to today’s big budget Marvel films.

Disney will often force directors and production companies to use the least expensive way to create a film. They overuse CGI and green screen instead of using practical sets, like Sam Raimi for the original “Spiderman” trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. This rushed work more often than not causes an uncanny valley effect because the artists are overworked and underpaid. Therefore, they cannot put the effort that they need to into the CGI to make it look as good as previous movies.

Netflix’s “Daredevil” series originally released in April of 2015 and had its own array of licensing issues. The first season was canon to the MCU but the second season was forced to not be canon due to disputes over licensing between Disney and Netflix. The show, however, was allowed to continue after being de-canonized, along with the other Marvel Netflix shows which included “Jessica Jones”, “Iron Fist”, “Luke Cage” and “The Punisher”.

With Matt Murdock appearing as Spiderman’s lawyer in “Spiderman: No Way Home”, then subsequently in the “She Hulk” and “Echo” Disney Plus series, Daredevil has been resolidified as a pinnacle character in the MCU.

The release of “Daredevil: Born Again” has also had its fair share of challenges.

Initially, the script was poised to be a complete reboot of the Daredevil series. This meant that the first three seasons of Daredevil would be a defunct show, and the characters and storylines would be completely different.

Fans like myself reacted very negatively to the news. The reactions only got worse when rumors circulated that titular characters Foggy Nelson, Murdock’s best friend and business partner, and Karen Page, the pair’s assistant and friend, would not return for the new series.

Fans ended up being assuaged, however, when Marvel announced that Nelson and Page would indeed return for “Daredevil: Born Again” and that the series would end up being a continuation of the previous one. So this begs the question, will this show live up the hype surrounding it?