Daredevil: Born Again Will Break Away From Marvel TV Formula in One Major Way
Could we finally be getting the MCU's take on a procedural drama with Daredevil: Born Again?
Aside from maybe Marvel to tell longer stories and spend more time with characters than they’ve been able to with movies, this “eight-hour movie” format has also kept this corner of the MCU from embracing some of the things that make TV such a unique and special medium.
Even though serialized TV has started to become the norm in the streaming era, shows like Peacock’s Abbott Elementary are reminding us how fun the episodic format can still be. At the very least, Marvel Studios’ chief mastermind Kevin Feige seems to be paying attention.
The studio head recently sat down with EW to hint at the future of the MCU, including what he wants the TV side of the MCU to look like going into Phases 5 and 6. For one thing, he wants future Disney+ series to further embrace the unique opportunities offered by the TV format: “We want to do shows that can only be shows. I want to continue to make them even more episodic, which may seem counterintuitive. But I do think there is something fun about leaning back and watching an episode that can be relatively self-contained.”
He later brings up Star Trek fan, and I still find it soothing to watch an episode of Next Gen with a beginning and an end. So, I think we’re going to keep experimenting with that going forward.”
Now, what does this all mean for DAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. When asked about how Daredevil: Born Again will fit into the MCU, Feige didn’t say much (of course), but he did say that the series will likely feature a more episodic format: “That’s sort of what I was talking about with the fun of episodic television. That’s really where we’re experimenting with that, with Daredevil in particular.”
This is great news for those of us (myself included) who really wanted Sokovia Accords were repealed after the Blip, so who knows what other kinds of socio-political intricacies could be revealed in other court cases or investigations throughout Born Again.
As the MCU becomes increasingly entangled and inter-connected, it’s nice to see that Feige is willing to take a step back from the serialized format and let some of the TV shows be TV shows moving forward. It will be interesting to see how this “experimentation” plays out in Born Again and other MCU series in the future, given how hit-and-miss some of the MCU shows have been with viewers thus far. But if any show is going to pull this off, I think Born Again has a great shot at it.
Daredevil: Born Again is currently scheduled to hit Disney+ in 2024.
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Brynna Arens (she/her) is a freelance writer who studies movies, TV, and pop culture through an intersectional feminist lens. She'll watch almost anything tbh, but it's…