A Guide to Reading Daredevil Comics Before Watching Born Again (2025)

Daredevil: Born Again is one of the MCU’s most anticipated upcoming projects, a revival of Netflix's fan-favorite Daredevil series. With returning actors and characters, Born Again seems to be a fairly faithful continuation of the hit show. It even shares the same title as one of Daredevil’s most famous stories. However, that shouldn’t fool fans— Netflix’s Daredevil already brought several of the iconic comic’s beats to television, leaving many curious about what the show will actually adapt.

Another thing that may confuse fans is the show’s extremely troubled production history, having gone through extensive overhauls and rewrites over time. But some things have remained consistent when it comes to Born Again’s tone, characters, and what may be some critical plot points. Born Again seems to be pulling from a wide array of Daredevil comics over the decades, from Charles Soule and Chip Zdarsky’s more recent runs on Daredevil to the classic Frank Miller and Dennis O’Neil eras.

Fisk's Mayoral Candidacy Could Be Huge

Charles Soule’s run on Daredevil had its ups and downs, but a notable part of it introduced the storyline of Mayor Fisk, in which the Kingpin of Crime became the mayor of New York City. Through this, he enacted many new policies to keep his empire in place, most notably the arrests of several major vigilantes in NYC. He’d go on to outlaw them entirely in the Devil’s Reign event of Chip Zdarky’s run on Daredevil in a better effort to assert his power over New York.

Born Again seems like it’ll be taking some huge cues from the major beats of this storyline, with Fisk rising to power to take over New York City, as teased in Echo. This may be a bit tricky, considering the villain’s past in the context of the show, but he seems deadset on it regardless— even forcing Matt Murdock himself into helping with his goals. This may overlap with another storyline from the comics, in which Matt Murdock became Wilson Fisk's assistant Mayor, which culminated in the vigilante briefly becoming mayor himself.

All in all, the story’s conclusion from the comics may be one of the most interesting parts of it, as Fisk's inevitable arrest led to another street-level hero becoming mayor. While there’s no word on if the character will return in Born Again, it would be amazing to see the same comic result so fans could see the return of another of Netflix's Defenders.

Bendis Gave The White Tiger A Tragic End

Hector Ayala, the White Tiger, was an incredibly important character in comics during his inception. He was the first Latin American lead in American comics and Marvel's first Hispanic superhero. As a result, it’s exciting to see him finally see Hector potentially get his dues in Born Again, where Matt Murdock is defending the vigilante from a crime he was falsely accused of.

Fans have pointed out that this course of action may be adapting a tragic storyline from Brian Michael Bendis’ notable run on the character, in which the White Tiger was framed for murder after finding himself mixed up in the accidental death of a police officer in a robbery gone wrong. Matt Murdock took the case to defend himself despite being in a hot spot in the court of public opinion due to his identity as Daredevil getting leaked.

What ensued was a trial in which Matt fought tooth and nail to defend Hector from a guilty verdict, a battle partly motivated by his connections to the vigilante community. Things went badly for Hector, highlighting some real justice system problems. The storyline was harrowing and painful as Hector was picked apart on the stand, with the role of vigilantes in society also being examined. The storyline's finale also left the path open for a successor to take on the mantle, something Born Again could also likely toy with in the revival series.

Punisher Looked Down On Others Using His Symbol

While this plot point only spanned one issue, it was a beat that addressed a general misconception surrounding the ideology of the Punisher character, both within the Marvel universe and outside of it. While Frank Castle was tracking down Baron Zemo, he came across a group of cops about to arrest him for blood on his hands— before they all realized he was the Punisher. They immediately reacted in glee before explaining they were collectively fans of the vigilante, believing he was out there doing the right thing. Castle responded coldly, telling them he was no role model due to his violations of the law— real heroes such as Captain America were worth looking up to instead.

The plot beat was the comic’s way of addressing the idolization many had of the Punisher in the real world, despite his general MO and manner of taking out people considered criminals. It was also the comic’s way of stressing that Frank was not a hero in any capacity. When it comes to set images from Born Again, the themes of this issue may be adapted into a storyline in which police officers take on the armor and symbol of the Punisher to poor effect, showing just how impactful— for better and worse— the actions of Frank Castle are.

Bullseye’s Had Many Revivals

Bullseye is one of Marvel’s greatest monsters, with a special place of hate in his heart for Daredevil. Ever since the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen refused to shoot him in the hospital during the infamous “Roulette” issue of Frank Miller’s run, the assassin took it upon himself to frequently torment Daredevil with a new intensity. He’d return to action less than ten issues later in Dennis O’Neil’s run, given an adamantium skeleton by the villain Dark Wind— only to be killed years later in the same way he killed Elektra in Shadowland, as revenge for the death of Karen Page. Bullseye would find himself returned from death’s door once again, revived through magic and S.H.I.E.L.D. technology in the 2014 Elektra series.

Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter was a highlight of the original Daredevil show, as watchers saw his descent into madness to become a true villain, even taking on the identity of Daredevil himself to sully the hero's name to the world. The season ended with the perfect tease of Dex properly becoming Bullseye, one the show unfortunately couldn’t follow up on due to its cancellation. But it seems Born Again is bringing Wilson Bethel’s take on the character back, with a brand new costume to boot— likely out for Matt Murdock’s blood, one way or another, bringing in the vindictive and grudge-heavy take from the comics to the new series.

Heather Glenn Truly Suffered In The Comics

Heather Glenn is one of Daredevil’s lesser-known love interests, but she was a fairly compelling character in her time. Heather was a socialite in her heyday, a very lighthearted character introduced within the social circle of Matt Murdock that bounced off of his more sullen tendencies very well. Initially, they were a great couple, with Heather even bankrolling Nelson & Murdock’s legal defenses for the less fortunate.

However, things took a turn when Heather’s father, the owner of the very successful Glenn Industries, was mind-controlled by the Purple Man into committing embezzlement. Heather pleaded with Matt to defend her father, but he was unable to— leading to Maxwell Glenn taking his own life at the prospect of arrest. This caused Heather to spiral badly afterward, and her relationship with Matt went on a brutal rollercoaster. He even manipulated and emotionally neglected her, and while he thought it best for Heather, it badly hurt her to the point she followed in her father’s footsteps.

Heather’s story was awful in many ways, but it went to show just how badly Matt Murdock could treat the people in his life despite the altruistic activities of his more heroic alter-ego. Born Again does seem to be set in a time where Matt is doing somewhat better for himself, though, and Heather seems to be getting a bit of an overhaul for the series as well. Instead of being a socialite, she’s the therapist to both Daredevil and the Kingpin in their civilian lives, further fascinatingly linking the two characters even further. Perhaps Murdock may court her to learn Fisk’s secrets, putting this new version of Heather Glenn in some degree of harm’s way.

Charles Soule Created The Macabre Muse

Succeeding Mark Waid’s generational run on Daredevil would be no easy feat for any writer, though Charles Soule gave it his all with his 2015 run for the character. Following the events of Secret Wars, many Marvel series were establishing a new status quo for characters or taking them back to more bog-standard ones. Matt Murdock fell into the latter camp, with many of the developments and relationships in Waid’s era undone. However, Soule contributed some new ideas to the mythos, from Murdock temporarily becoming a prosecutor to his mentee Samuel Chung, AKA Blindspot, to the macabre villain known only as Muse.

While not a large-scale villain, Muse was an unsettling threat nonetheless. He was obsessed with creating art from human remains, often kidnapping and killing people he knew wouldn’t be missed to do so. He was also fixated on the creation process and the pain that came with it. His character had a subtle supernatural element due to his uncanny appearance, hidden strength, and ability to dodge the perception of characters such as Daredevil. Muse even used his art to cause social unrest for his own pleasure, to see how things would play out.

Muse even gouged Blindspot’s eyes when the young hero accidentally revealed himself while tracking the criminal. This led him to engage in a dark ritual to revive his sight. The villain left a notable impact on New York City before Soule's run was up— one Born Again will hopefully be taking notes from with their interpretation of the villain.

Mark Waid Had A Generational Run On Daredevil

Many Daredevil runs are gloomy, emphasizing the grit that must come with a setting dubbed “Hell’s Kitchen” and building off the mature, noir tone Frank Miller once established as the norm for Daredevil. However, Mark Waid completely shattered all expectations of this with his runs on the character, lasting from 2011 to 2015. Waid brought Daredevil back to his swashbuckling roots, accompanied by the bombastically bright and dynamic art of Chris Samnee for most of the series. Matt Murdock appeared to be in a brighter place in his life, letting go of the darkness that had grasped him for so long— though not all was what it seemed to be.

Waid’s run picked apart Matt’s mental state at the time, showing that he was still struggling to keep himself together beneath the upbeat veneer. This went double when he was psychologically tortured by several criminals sent out by the villain Bullseye as revenge for Daredevil killing him during the events of Shadowland. With Daredevil appearing much more put-together than his standard— at least if his appearance in the MCU’s She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is anything to go by— it could be a great chance for Born Again to pull from Waid’s themes of facades and self-deception. This would also allow the series to introduce Kirsten McDuffie, one of Daredevil’s most notable love interests from recent years— another character rumored to appear in Born Again.

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Daredevil: Born Again

TV-MA

Crime

Action

Superhero

Thriller Adventure

10

10

23 9.3/10

Release Date

March 4, 2025

Showrunner

Chris Ord

Directors

Michael Cuesta, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Writers

Chris Ord

Franchise(s)

Daredevil, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Cast

See All

• 

  Charlie Cox

  Matt Murdock / Daredevil

• 

  Vincent D'Onofrio

  Wilson Fisk / Kingpin

Daredevil and Kingpin will face-off again, now inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Punisher will also get a piece of the action.

Main Genre

Adventure

Seasons

1

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