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Marvel’s upcomingDaredevil: Born Againhas already apparently been subjected to behind-the-scenes drama, with troubling talk that the show’s original six-episode format nearly shortchanged its potential. Both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, known for their iconic portrayals of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, respectively, have gone on record talking about thelimited number of episodes that was initially plannedforDaredevil: Born AgainThey reportedly campaigned for more,ultimately convincing Marvel to expand the series to nine episodes. Given the extensive fan excitement surrounding anyDaredevilproject, it’s surprising that the creative team needed to fight so hard for a format that would adequately showcase these beloved characters.
TheDaredevil: Born Againcast taking it upon themselves to safeguard the showsuggests an unsettling pattern in the studio’s decision-making. After thelackluster reception ofCaptain America: Brave New Worldand other recent miscalculations, it feels like Marvel may be missing the mark more often than expected. Hearing that a show as beloved by its fans asDaredevil: Born Againnearly didn’t receive the room it needed to flourishraises serious questions about the company’s current approach.
Daredevil: Born Again Actors Took Control
In a recent interview withGQ, Cox and D’Onofrio talked about how things came to be thatDaredevil: Born Againwent from a six-episode arc, to a nine-episode arcmostly because they had the time to really push Marvel to change up the direction it planned to go with the revival of thepopular Netflix show on Disney+.
It turns out that the writer’s strike, which derailed so many shows, includingbeloved horror series likeEvil, actually benefitted theBorn Againcast and crew, and writers. What the writer’s strike did was push Marvel to change up the leadership of the show. It replaced theDaredevilrevival showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord with Dario Scardapane, who hadworked on Netflix’s ThePunisher.
In turn, Cox claims that Scardapane reworked the entire series and the direction it was going. He wash among those who pushed to go from six to nine installments, allowing far more of a story to unfold after such a long wait forThe Devil of Hell’s Kitchen to officially returnto the MCU in more than a couple of cameos here and there.
More than simply extending the series, Scardapane seemed to really understand what made the first show so popular and so entertaining.He also rehired much of the original cast and crew,including Deborah Ann Woll(Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), and Phil Silvera, the stunt coordinator behind the original’s signature fights. Cox and D’onofrio feel as though what’s coming to Disney+ is now much more in keeping with the series that madeDaredevil: Born Againpossible to begin with.
“We made it known that we were not happy, and the big bosses, especially Kevin [Feige], listened to us.”
Marvel Keeps Making Concerning Mistakes
While it’s obviously a good thing that Feige and the rest of the Marvel bigwigs did listen to the cast and crew, it’s more than a little disconcerting that Marvel had to be convinced to do things like bringing back even more of the original cast - who helped make the original series so beloved - and that it wasn’t the plan all along.
Starring
As Cox pointed out in the same interview, Marvel does deserve kudos for realizing the direction they were going in wasn’t the right one. To the point where they changed who was in charge of that direction. But with mixed reviews of most of the projects that has been part of theMCU sinceAvengers: End Game, it’s worth worrying if Feige still has the magic touch he did for so long.
Daredevil: Born Again Needs To Succeed For The MCU’s Sake
With the unofficial relaunch, starting withCaptain America: Brave New World, the MCU is flooding the zone with programming and movies this year. Thereception for the year’s first moviehas been less than encouraging.Born Againis now the next chance to turn things around and show that Marvel isn’t moving in the wrong direction.
Of course, even ifDaredevil: Born Againdoes arrive with great reviews and jump starts excitement over what’s to come for the rest of the year and beyond, there’s still the lingering question.Did Feige and companyfind that success because they know what buttons to press? Or did they luck out with a group that pushed back so much, they had to eventually get it right against their wishes?
