‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trades In Faith For Politics To The Series’ Detriment
(REVIEW) There are quite a few canonically religious superheroes. The Thing and Kitty Pryde are Jewish. Ms. Marvel is Muslim. Superman and Spider-Man are both Protestants.
But few superheroes wear their faith on their sleeves like Daredevil. But the Season 2 opener for the Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again” has pulled back on those elements. If that reflects the rest of the season, it will be to the show’s detriment.
“Daredevil” wasn’t always portrayed as deeply Catholic when Stan Lee invented him in 1964. His faith was added to the plot line when comic writer and artist Frank Miller took over the book in the 1980s. In his words, “I decided [Daredevil] had to be a Catholic because only a Catholic could be a vigilante and an attorney at the same time.”
READ: ‘The Faithful: Women Of The Bible’ More True To Modern Ideals Than Biblical Texts
Once Miller introduced this element, it became indispensable. Daredevil hanging out in church, talking to priests, wrestling with God, going to confession, the imagery was iconic. It’s similar to how Nightcrawler’s Catholicism was also made to be a big part of his character. There’s something about the visual irony of a devil-looking dude identifying with that brand of Christianity that’s hard to resist.
The “Daredevil: Born Again” series is a relaunch-continuation of the Netflix “Daredevil” series that ran from 2015 to 2018. Starring Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio and Deborah Ann Woll, the series was a huge hit with critics and audiences.
Netflix’s “Daredevil” was religious from the get-go and only got more so as it went on. Season one was about Matt Murdock trying to bring justice to his city by day as a lawyer and at night as a vigilante superhero. This was directly tied to balancing his own relationship with his faith.
As a Catholic with a priest as mentor, he was admonished to do justice through peaceful and legal means. But Murdok also saw all the ways the justice system failed his own father, who was a violent man and passed down some of those violent instincts to Murdok. His Daredevil persona was his way of reconciling his faith and “the devil in him” that his father passed down. By the end of this season, Murdok has taken down the seemingly legally untouchable crime boss Kingpin. So he feels like the balance was justified.
Season 2 and the “Defenders” spinoff show both pushed Murdok to question – and eventually abandon – those beliefs. The arrival of the murderous vigilante “The Punisher” and the return and untimely death of Murdok’s femme fatale ninja ex-girlfriend Elektra pushed Murdok to lose faith in both God and the legal system.
In the third season (still one of the best ever aired on television — and one of the most faith-based stories I’ve ever watched), he turned his back on God and his life as Murdok and goes full-time Daredevil to take down Kingpin, who’s (once again) convinced the world he’s a good guy. It’s only through the help of his church, his friends Karen and Foggy, and the police that Matt can take down Kingpin again and restore his faith in both God and the justice system.
In the end, Murdok finds peace with God, leading to a memorable monologue where he says, “God’s plan is like a beautiful tapestry. And the tragedy of being human is that we only get to see it from the back. With all the ragged threads and the muddy colors. And we only get a hint at the true beauty that would be revealed if we could see the whole pattern on the other side … as God does.”
“Daredevil: Born Again” flips this story on its head. After Foggy is killed and Murdok nearly murders his killer in return, he no longer feels worthy of being Daredevil. He abandons the guise and stops going to church. Before, he felt God had let him down. This time, he felt he’d let God down. It’s only after he saves Kingpin’s life that he believes he is worthy to take up the mantle again. But this time, because Kingpin is the mayor, both Matt and Karen are forced on the run as outlaws.
The common theme in the series is the conflict between Daredevil’s belief in higher ideals and his despair, which gives way to rage. His faith and his law practice are tied together because they assure him that justice can be done without becoming the devil you hate.
Nonetheless, Daredevil’s existence itself shows the tension there. If he truly believed that God and the law were enough, he wouldn’t be Daredevil. He wears the mask of God’s enemy to fill in the gaps that God’s justice and man’s justice don’t quite deliver. But he does so to repair the system, not replace it. You see this when he captures Punisher the first time, but tells the police officer to take credit for it. He works outside the system to make the system work.
As classic Daredevil writer Chip Zdarsky said, “[Daredevil is] just a man of conflicts. That's what makes him so interesting to write. He's the good Catholic boy who dresses as the Devil. He's the lawyer who holds up the law who goes out every night and breaks the law. The man of peace who's violent. There's so much to play with there.”
This is where “Daredevil: Born Again”’s new season gets dicey and confused. Both seasons forced Murdok into extremes. He abandons Daredevil in the first season and is forced to abandon himself in the second. This takes away the tension and makes the show less interesting.
Also, both the first season and the premiere of the second season pushed Murdok’s faith far into the background. So whether he abandons Daredevil or abandons Murdok, God seems further away. If Murdok associated God with justice, he would embrace God even further when he stopped being Daredevil. That change could still be interesting if it’s explored.
To be fair, perhaps the conflict between Murdok and his ideals will play a bigger role as the series goes on. They are keeping hints of that tension alive.
A big part of why faith is taking a backseat is obviously just the change in showrunners. Drew Goddard puts faith into nearly every single project he writes — from “Daredevil” to “Bad Times at the El Royale” to “Project Hail Mary.”
What is “Born Again” interested in? Politics. The storyline focuses on Kingpin’s rise as mayor, his consolidation of power, and New York’s descent into fascism under his leadership. While people have argued parallels between Fisk’s stormtrooper-esque anti-vigilante task force and how some have described Trump’s ICE crackdown and illegal immigration, the showrunners say it’s a coincidence, as they were filming when that controversy truly broke.
But they were intentionally referencing other authoritarian regimes throughout history. “So if you go back to the historical rise of autocrats, whether it's Nero, whether it's Pinochet, whether it's Franco, they follow a script,” Showrunner Dario Scardapane told Entertainment Weekly.
This reflects modern changes in the American landscape. As the importance of one’s religious identity has decreased, political identification has gone up. Liberals are increasingly leaving religion, and conservatives are increasingly identifying with religion without going to church.
This is a problem, as religion has much more power for pro-social formation than politics. As religion becomes politicized, there are fewer healthy debates in religious communities about how to apply one's faith to politics. When there’s nothing higher to bind us beyond our political tribes, then it’s all out cold war. Just as when Daredevil abandons his faith, he becomes unbalanced and either vicious or ineffective.
What’s great about Daredevil is also what’s great about the interplay between religion and politics in America. It adds another authority that is higher than our human allegiances of politics, friendships or whatever else.
For “Daredevil,” it makes a much more interesting character and story. Hopefully, the rest of the season explores it more.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.