In the new Marvel series “Daredevil: Born Again,” the gangster Wilson Fisk — a felon preoccupied with status, profit and revenge — embarks on a dark-horse, fear-mongering election campaign. It is for mayor of New York, not president of the United States, but the real-life resonance is hard to miss.
And as the season, which premieres Tuesday on Disney+, proceeds through its nine episodes, the sense of familiarity only grows. The spuriously-populist Mayor Fisk rules by executive fiat, sidelines anyone who tries to rein him in and cultivates an atmosphere of violent chaos.
Yes, Fisk, also known as the Kingpin, first became mayor of New York in the “Daredevil” comic books on which the series is based, and nothing in “Born Again” is at odds with his previous portrayals. But this is not a coincidence of character or timing. Long before the blind crime-fighting vigilante Daredevil intones, “This is our city, not his, and we can take it back,” it is clear that “Born Again” is summoning the specter of Donald Trump — perhaps as a statement of resistance, perhaps as a dramatic convenience, probably both.
The problem is that in this case, real life has become stranger than fiction. “Born Again” is a deluxe comic-book adaptation, meticulously produced and filmed, and on that level it will delight a lot of people. But while it tries to get at something meaningful about social tumult, it does not rise above conventional comic-book ideas or emotions. It doesn’t carry the shock of the real.
Within the multiverse of Marvel TV series, “Born Again” has a complicated provenance. “Daredevil” was one of the six shows made for Netflix, beginning a decade ago; it ran for three seasons and ended in 2018. After Marvel began making series for Disney+, the stars of the old show — Charlie Cox as Daredevil (real name Matt Murdock), and Vincent D’Onofrio as Fisk — popped up as supporting players in “Hawkeye” and “Echo,” biding their time.
Now their new show is here, sort of a reboot and sort of a new season, with story lines that more or less track. If you haven’t checked in since the original “Daredevil” and certain things puzzle you, such as why Fisk is not in jail, then you may want to watch “Hawkeye” and “Echo.”
In the present, Murdock and his friends Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), partners in a storefront law firm, are living an artisanally photographed version of the socially conscious Manhattan good life. But warning signs abound: Violence is rising; cops are quitting; politicians are being recalled; favorite diners are closing.
This opening sequence, with its glossy peak-TV sensibility, is a clear break from the more stylized, pulpy approach of the original series. And even when “Born Again” quickly settles into its violent groove — with a shocking death (a major departure from the comics) to grab our attention — it keeps trying for something more sophisticated, or at least self-consciously hip. The soundtrack is carefully curated (Nick Cave, the Cryin’ Shames); episodes are framed by video street interviews; a scene that alludes to “The Godfather” is set at Bamonte’s, that shrine to Brooklyn gangster ambience.
None of this makes the story, with its simplistic dynamics of criminal violation and righteous retribution, come alive, though; for that, some of the straightforward comic-book energy of the original would have helped. The best that “Born Again” can do is to deploy familiar characters and plot points in the standard Marvel fashion, revealing them or alluding to them like surprise gifts. In this season we’re given the homicidal Dex Poindexter (Wilson Bethel); Fisk’s ruthless wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer); and the particularly brutal vigilante the Punisher (Jon Bernthal).
The show’s long, stuttering development process also needs to be taken into account. Matt Corman and Chris Ord, creators of the lightweight USA spy series “Covert Affairs,” took the first crack at “Born Again” in 2022; their version, reportedly episodic in structure, was well into production when they were dismissed and replaced by Dario Scardapane (“The Punisher”).
That could explain the season’s herky-jerky nature, with a stand-alone bank-heist episode and a pair of short, flat arcs involving a minor costumed hero and a serial killer. The lack of narrative shaping takes away any force the themes of vigilantism might have had, reducing them to limp excuses for the sometimes stomach-turning violence.
Among the cast, Bernthal is about the only performer who demonstrates a real pulse; his handful of appearances as the ultra-cynical, ultraviolent Punisher snap the show to life. Nikki M. James, as a colleague of Murdock’s, and Michael Gandolfini, as Fisk’s chief lackey, also make an impression. Other accomplished performers don’t have enough to do. Cox has always been a mild, slightly dull Daredevil; D’Onofrio’s hulking, stentorian presence as Fisk was entertaining in the early seasons but has settled into a rut.
There is one noticeable thing that “Born Again” has picked up from the final season of the Netflix “Daredevil”: the propensity of its main characters, particularly Murdock, to indulge in primal screams. In the context of the story, it’s an irritating affectation, but in the context of the current moment, it may be the only thing that makes sense.
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