Marvel Studios Restarts Production of “Daredevil: Born Again”

Marvel Studios hit the ground running—and punching and kicking—this year with the positive reaction to its new crime series Echo. Echo is a darker, more street-level story than Marvel’s previous Disney+ series, centered on Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), an indigenous deaf anti-heroine with some serious combat skills and a tragic backstory that was only hinted at in Hawkeye, the series that introduced her character. Echo has benefited from its darker tone and a central figure that’s hard to root against, even when what’s doing to survive is clearly wrong. Now, after the success of Echo, Marvel has restarted production on Daredevil: Born Again, which stars Charlie Cox as the titular blind superhero. Cox had a cameo in Echo, as well as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and of course, starred in the original Daredevil, which ran on Netflix from 2015 to 2018.

The tone of Born Again has shifted thanks to Marvel’s new Spotlight Banner (under which Echo falls), which won’t require viewers to possess previous MCU knowledge and which will be darker and grittier in tone and substance than the previous Disney+ series. The original Daredevil was gritty and often brutal, and in keeping with this change in tone (at first, the new Disney+ series was going to be more of a legal procedural), Marvel has brought on fight and stunt coordinator Philip Silvera, a veteran of the original Netflix series, who will act as both stunt coordinator and second unit director for the new series.  

Daredevil: Born Again was well into production in New York when the dual strikes shut it down. The Punisher writer Dario Scardapane was brought in to help steer the series into a new, more punishing direction, and Loki directors Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson were brought in to guide the show.

Joining Charlie Cox in the series is Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin/Wilson Fisk, the heavy in Echo as well as in the original Daredevil. What’s more, Jon Bernthal is also returning as the ruthless, relentless vigilante the Punisher.

With the success of Echo and the arrival of a new star in Alaqua Cox, Marvel is reinvesting in stories that put the focus on street-level heroes and anti-heroes, and heroines who can’t rely on superpowers to get them out of a jam.

For more on all things Marvel Studios, check out these stories:

Marvel’s “Echo” Drops Two New Looks as Series Arrives on Disney+

First “Deadpool 3” Image Finds Ryan Reynolds’ Merc With the Mouth Re-Teaming With Dogpool

Marvel Boss Kevin Feige Confirms Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Not Returning to the MCU

Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” Eyeing Pedro Pascal to Play Mr. Fantastic

Featured image: Charlie Cox in Marvel’s Daredevil. Courtesy Netflix.