Despite initial hopes that it would carry on from where its predecessor left off, the powers-that-be have made it very clear that Daredevil: Born Again is a full-blown reboot of the Netflix series.
Vincent D’Onofrio tried to claim otherwise for a while, but eventually he was forced to acquiesce to Disney’s decision to wipe the slate clean. Of course, the Multiverse Saga has made it a very easy transition to get away with, and fans should be happy enough that the aforementioned star’s Kingpin will be renewing hostilities with Charlie Cox’s title hero, while Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is also coming along for the ride.
Many eyebrows were raised when it was confirmed Born Again would run for a whopping 18 episodes, substantially longer than not just the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s favored six-chapter model, but also the 13 installments that characterized every single Netflix show other than The Defenders.
18 consecutive weeks of Daredevil is no bad thing – depending on whether or not Marvel pulls a Secret Invasion – but a haunting new rumor being perpetuated by scooper Daniel Richtman suggests the chilling possibility that Disney Plus is going to rip a page out of Netflix’s most unpopular playbook by splitting Born Again in two.
As the story goes, two nine-episode blocks with a break in between could be on the cards, and it’s something nobody wants to see. If Netflix gets blasted every time it happens, then a franchise that’s already been put on the ropes by constant backlash is arguably going to take even more flak.