The downfall of Daredevil
A TV series called Daredevil: Born Again has been announced, but what made the comic book version of the story such an important one for the Man Without Fear?
Of all the announcements at the recent San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the one that caught my attention most was
Daredevil: Born Again, an 18-episode TV series scheduled to premiere in 2024. While that’s still almost two years away, fans can still get to see Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock appear in the ongoing
She Hulk: Attorney At Law and upcoming Echo TV series.
As a big fan of the Netflix
Daredevil series, the opportunity to see it branch out within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is both exciting and vindicating (especially to fans who have been calling out for Cox to resume his role in the MCU).
When you mention ‘Born Again’ to a longtime Daredevil fan, most of us would immediately think back to the 1986 epic story arc by frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli (Daredevil (vol.1) #227-#233).
A small part of me is still skeptical about whether it would be a direct translation from the comics, after all, Season Three of the Netflix series was inspired by Born Again and more would be needed to distinguish this new show from the previous one.
Anyway, as we wait for more official announcements and news, let’s entertain the notion of a full-fledged Born Again TV adaptation by revisiting why this story represents one of The Man Without fear’s biggest milestones.
Fall From Grace
Ironically, the best Daredevil stories are usually the ones where he goes from hero-to-zero and subsequently rises from the ashes.
Born Again is the personification of that, where the Kingpin discovers DD’S secret identity and does everything he can to ruin his arch nemesis’ life and those of his loved ones.
The Kingpin’s modus operandi is meticulous – get the IRS to freeze Matt’s accounts, get the bank to foreclose Matt’s apartment, get a desperate cop to testify that he witnessed Matt pay a witness to perjure himself, get the Courts to bar Matt from practicing law, and finally get his henchmen to firebomb Matt’s apartment.
While many villains would just go for the jugular, Wilson fisk is on an entirely different level altogether, going all the way to see his nemesis comprehensively tortured before delivering the coup de grace.
Much ado about Karen
Long before the present-day Karen stereotype, there was THE Karen Page! While the Netflix series “elevated” her moral personality and even gifted her a personal bodyguard in the form of The Punisher, she was nowhere near that level in the comic books.
Instead, the former secretary of the Nelson & Murdock law firm ended up trading her acting career to becoming a junkie porn star. During one of her worst moments, she traded Matt’s secret identity for a fix.
When the information ended up with the Kingpin, he ordered everyone in the entire chain of information to be executed.
While Karen did eventually redeem herself to Matt, this episode truly redefined their rapport and romance.
Downer than down
It took the destruction of his apartment to finally give him a clue that the Kingpin was behind his recent spate of ‘bad luck’, but instead of coming up with an immediate response, the barrage of attacks on him left him in a shattered state.
With his mental health in tatters, Matt’s inevitable face off with the Kingpin was predictably lopsided – as he ended up brutally beaten to a pulp and left to drowned in a submerged stolen cab.
for added insurance, the Kingpin makes sure that he has ‘evidence’ on Matt’s involvement in the cabbie’s murder (which will be stored away for future use).
Mom’s the word
Amidst all the commotion, one silver lining in Born Again is the re-emergence of Matt’s mother – Sister Maggie, a nun at the local Catholic Church.
At the time, little was known about Matt’s mom from all of his origin stories, so Born Again neatly inserts Maggie back into Matt’s life as she nurses him back to health and helps rebuild his confidence. Other than his mom, Matt has other friends who were directly and indirectly assisting him, i.e. Ben Urich, foggy Nelson … and even Karen!
The Netflix version of Maggie (portrayed by Joanne Whalley) during Season Three is a very good portrayal of her comic roots – as she has since been instrumental as Matt’s support pillar.
Nuke em!
While we’ve talked about how meticulous the Kingpin is when planning the destruction of Daredevil, he does turn out to be one impatient villain in the end.
Having discovered that Matt survived the drowning cab incident, he goes on the offensive again by unleashing an imposter Daredevil, and leverages on his military connections to unleash Nuke – a failed super soldier experiment.
While Matt succeeds in besting the imposter, he needs the help of a bona fide super soldier, i.e. Captain America to nullify Nuke.
With his plans in disarray and all evidence leading back to the Kingpin, he has no choice but to eliminate all ties associated with him. fortunately for Matt, some of the Kingpin’s handiwork is so clear that it got the big man implicated, enabling a temporary ceasefire to this fracas.
Hope and fear
While there are so many things in Born Again that I like and found to be defining for the Man Without fear, I never did like the ending.
Despite the reunion of Matt and Karen, and their decision to go off-radar (for a while), I am unhappy by the fact that the Kingpin went unpunished (at first).
for the record, he eventually did receive his dues about 70 issues later (see Fall Of The Kingpin in
Daredevil (vol.1) #297-#300), the nearly six-year wait certainly took away some sting from their rivalry.
Still, the crux of this epic storyline was still to highlight the true definition of what a Man Without fear truly is. for decades before
Born Again, that title has always been synonymous with Daredevil’s fearless nature. But Born Again offers an entirely different perspective, by portraying Matt at his lowest ebb, beyond hope and with nothing left to lose.
A quick Netflix comparison with the comics mythos, would see the difficulties of morally corrupting Karen (more so after three seasons of resilient performances) or roping in Ben Urich’s assistance (he’s dead!).
Nevertheless, I have faith in the creative team , that they will infuse the necessary Born Again essence and supporting cast to deliver justice to one of the finest Daredevil stories.