In 2015, Marvel Studios partnered with Netflix to create one of its best TV series (and best bits of the MCU) in Daredevil starring Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio. And with it, it began five spinoff series totaling 13 seasons and 161 episodes with the likes of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, the Punisher, Iron Fist, and The Defenders.

Ten years later, in 2025 Marvel Studios partnered with Disney+ to create one of its best TV series (and best bits of the modern MCU) in Daredevil: Born Again starring Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio. The comparisons should end there.

While the original Daredevil series was the flagship for a line of great (or mostly great) street-level superhero drama in the heyday of the MCU, here now in 2025 we can't expect Daredevil: Born Again to do the same or judge it if it doesn't - or if it doesn't even try. While it may be fun to measure modern MCU projects based on the past, not everything will be Avengers: Endgame or the original Daredevil, just in the same way not everything will be Iron Fist. While its fun to speculate on what comes next (and Marvel has in many cases encouraged that), by putting expectations on Daredevil: Born Again to bring back Jessica, Luke, and the rest, we're putting too many demands on it besides the obvious: be a great show.

Disney's Daredevil: Born Again isn't Netflix's Daredevil

Marvel Television's 2015 Daredevil launch was built as the flagship show in a five-show armada from the ground up. It wasn't something dreamt up based on the success of Daredevil season 1 - Marvel Studios specifically sold Daredevil to Netflix as a family of four shows that would build to a crossover fifth, echoing intentionally MCU's Phase 1 movies. In fact, Netflix wasn't the only one Marvel courted - there were active talks with Amazon's Prime Video and WGN America about Daredevil (and its sister shows) being on those platforms.

That being said, Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again pacing for similar, if not more, viewership than the original Netflix series. Disney has said that 7.5 million of its subscribers watched Born Again in the first five days of its release, while back in 2015 the survey research firm Luth estimated that roughly 6.7m of Netflix's subscribers watched the original series in its first 10 days of release. Keep in mind it's all about the long tail, about how many people have watched it months and years later.

Whereas Netflix's Daredevil was part of a 5-part plan, Daredevil: Born Again needs to be given room to be successful on its own before leveraging that into other things.

The Odds are stacked against Daredevil: Born Again

Screenrant pegs the nine-episode first season of Daredevil: Born Again as having a budget of roughly $200m - which, divided evenly, would be roughly $22m per episode. Contrast that with the most expensive episode of Netflix's Daredevil season 1, which was $4.3m - adjusted for inflation to today, being $5.87m. Everything costs more, and the returning cast members of Daredevil: Born Again certainly deserve more for their successes - but the more it costs, the bigger the risk and the higher the bar for it to be successful. And those Daredevil: Born Again budget numbers could be hiding something. Remember, the show was completely overhauled in 2024, with many episodes being canned and then re-shot. If and how those costs are included in the speculated $200m budget for Daredevil: Born Again season 1 is unknown.

And speaking of viewership, Disney gloated when saying Daredevil: Born Again's first episode had a 7.5m viewership in its first five days. But recall, September's Agatha All Along had 9.3m in the same timespan - 24% more. And Star Wars: The Acolyte had 11.1m in the same timespan, with a reported $230m budget. And against the broader landscape of modern TV, Daredevil: Born Again's premiere ranked third according to the TV Time app, behind the mid-season episodes of Apple TV+'s Severance and Prime Video's Reacher.

Much in the same way that some movies are weighed down with the ambition of launching a whole franchise or multiverse (Sony's Spider-Man villain movies, Universal's Monster universe), Daredevil: Born Again could be in danger of facing the same fate if we, the fans, keep putting oversized expectations on it all. There is a danger of putting things on pedestals, we must not forget that.

Yes, we all want more Jessica Jones. Yes, we all want more Luke Cage. Yes, we're already getting a one-off Punisher TV special spinning out of Daredevil: Born Again - one that some fans are already saying isn't enough. Matt Murdock already has enough Catholic guilt - let's let him live on his own terms and be a success in this new era before we weigh it down with anything else.

Daredevil: Born Again is a good television series - let's enjoy it.

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