Netflix’s daredevil was known for its gritty depiction of its titular Marvel superhero and how it wasn’t afraid to embrace the violent nature of the story. So, when it was revealed the show would return on Disney+ some were concerned this might result in a much tamer take on the franchise.
Actor Vincent D’Onofrio told Newsweek that fans need not worry about whether Daredevil: Born Again will be as brutal as its predecessor, because it will be violent in both a physical and emotional sense.
Daredevil: Born Again is currently filming and will continue to do so until December 2023. D’Onofrio reprises his role as Wilson Fisk opposite Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, and Jon Bernthal is also confirmed to be returning as Frank Castle, aka The Punisher.
D’Onofrio first appeared as the Kingpin in Daredevil’s first season alongside Cox in 2015, while Bernthal was introduced in the show’s second season before his character was given his own spinoff in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, Netflix canceled Daredevil, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage other IRon Fist.
But that wasn’t the end of the characters, as Cox and D’Onofrio returned to their roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home other Hawk Eye, respectively. Cox also made a cameo in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the two of them are to appear in Disney+’s Echo.
echo is expected to lead into events of Daredevil: Born Again, and D’Onofrio explained how the violence in the new version of the Man Without Fear’s story compares to the Netflix series.
“It was a concern of mine too because the Netflix show was so raw and brutal, you know?” D’Onofrio said. “But then I started to look at what Marvel’s been doing lately with their series, and the direction that they want to go in.
“All I can say […] is that if you look at the most brutal stuff that Marvel is doing, which is few and far between but it’s there, it will be there for us too.”
“I think one of the things that the fans loved with the original show was that it wasn’t just violence to be violent. It was, at times, a bit shocking to see but it was all based in emotional stuff, from Charlie’s part and mine. These are two very emotional characters caught up in this life of theirs, so it will answer all of that for the fans.”
The actor went on: “We will bring it on, and we will have emotional violence as well as just out-and-out physical violence.
“But it’s a long game, this series, and for actors that’s so much fun because you get to plan out and bring it.
“I think that if people have watched everything that Fisk has been in, my character’s been in, they know that it actually is going to go there, and I think in echo there’s a lot of that.”
In Disney+’s Hawk Eye, it was revealed that D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk was the adoptive uncle of Maya Lopez, aka Echo (Alaqua Cox—no relation to Charlie Cox). Their fraught relationship in the series culminated in Maya shooting Fisk off camera. It is currently unclear how Fisk survived but this is likely to be addressed in the forthcoming drama.
“It’s quite something, there’s a big, strong father-daughter type relationship in echo and it’s super, deeply emotional, and it’s not a joke,” D’Onofrio went on. “It’s not a wink to the audience or anything, it’s deep stuff and we’re going to do the same [in Daredevil: Born Again].”
Daredevil: Born Again is currently slated to premiere in early 2024. The first season is expected to have 18 episodes in total. A release date has not yet been announced for Echo.
Netflix’s daredevil was known for its gritty depiction of its titular Marvel superhero and how it wasn’t afraid to embrace the violent nature of the story. So, when it was revealed the show would return on Disney+ some were concerned this might result in a much tamer take on the franchise.
