First Daredevil: Born Again trailer brings back familiar faces; confirms TV-MA rating

Of all the upcoming Disney Plus titles from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Daredevil: Born Again might just be the most anticipated. The series, which brings back Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio in their respective roles of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, is a major step for the Marvel Studios franchise as it will officially acknowledge the existence of the Netflix shows that these characters once appeared in.

The MCU has already been making baby steps in that direction, but this will be the moment it all becomes canon. And after feeling like it might never arrive at one point, the series finally has a release window. It also got a first trailer, which was screened during Disney's Upfronts presentation. While it wasn't released online, the description of what happens in it has surfaced online, and it sounds amazing.

Foggy and Karen return in violent Daredevil: Born Again trailer

The Daredevil: Born Again teaser trailer was screened just for the audience at the Disney Upfronts event, but IGN has provided fans with a breakdown of what happens during it and what fans can expect from the show.

According to the description, the trailer begins with Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock suiting up as Daredevil, telling viewers that the "entire system is against you... it's often David vs. Goliath." Throughout the remainder of the footage there are reportedly brief glimpses of Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, as well as the returns of Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson. It's then capped off with a battle sequence, after which Matt Murdock responds to someone asking him what kind of lawyer he is with "a really good one" as he puts on a broken pair of his glasses.

What's also worth noting is that both IGN and The Wrap point out that the trailer is violent, mirroring the tone of the Netflix series and confirming that it will follow in the footsteps of Disney Plus' own Echo by being rated TV-MA.

Needless to say, this all sounds great. Fans were worried that the MCU's more family-friendly approach would misunderstand the appeal of the Netflix series by watering down the Daredevil character and all that the original show was. That actually might have been the case at first, as the original vision for Daredevil: Born Again was scrapped well into its production, with a new creative team being put in place to make the project more like its predecessor. By the sounds of that first trailer, the mission is very close to being accomplished.

The Netflix Marvel saga is now canon in the MCU

While the trailer for Daredevil: Born Again sounds incredible, the most exciting aspect of it is the involvement of Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson. Karen and Foggy were such an important aspect of the original Netflix series that the reveal that they wouldn't be part of the previous incarnation of Born Again was extremely upsetting for fans. The fact that their comebacks (along with the returns of Jon Bernthal as The Punisher as Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk) was one of the things that the creative overhaul set right is an extremely promising sign.

The introductions of D'Onofrio's Kingpin in projects such as Hawkeye and Echo and Cox's Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law acknowledged the legacy of the Netflix shows but it was still believed that they could be alternate versions of the characters we met in them. It wasn't until Echo was released, and the Netflix shows were placed in the MCU Timeline section of Disney Plus, that they were officially canonized.

This undoubtedly stemmed from the decision to reshape Daredevil: Born Again, moving away from the original plan for the show and instead tying it more directly to the Netflix shows. This is something that Cox and D'Onofrio themselves confirmed at the Disney Upfronts, with the former telling audiences that there is more "crossover" now. D'Onofrio added that there "originally wasn't going to be at all" but now "it's a lot".

Needless to say, this will come as music to fans' ears. For years, Daredevil has been regarded as one of the very best superhero projects ever made, so the fact that we're going to get to revisit that world and those characters - and that it's going to be set in the MCU - is fantastic news.

Daredevil: Born Again premieres on Disney Plus in March 2025.