Daredevil: Born Again has undergone a major creative makeover, and the new direction it’s taken could potentially set up a comeback for Matt Murdock’s fellow Defender Danny Rand a.k.a. The Immortal Iron Fist. Daredevil: Born Again entered production in 2023, only for Marvel Studios to hit the brakes on the series after being dissatisfied with the direction the upcoming Disney+ show was headed in. Since then, Born Again has been revamped almost from the ground up, with its overhaul said to be reworking the show into the spirit of Netflix’s Daredevil. Since then, there have been even more significant developments to bring Daredevil: Born Again closer and closer to becoming essentially Daredevil season four.
Alongside Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Jon Bernthal returning as Matt Murdock, Wilson Fisk, and Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher, a substantial number of Daredevil cast members have since boarded the show ahead of its return to production – namely, Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, and Wilson Bethel as Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, and Bullseye. Moreover, after years of maintaining a casual connection at best to Marvel’s Netflix shows, Marvel Studios has officially canonized all of them into the MCU’s timeline. With the lengths Disney and Marvel have gone to in order to bring their Netflix heroes under the proper MCU umbrella, this could mean a potential comeback for not just Daredevil and the Punisher, but also Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. And there is good reason to think that a possible Iron Fist season three could give Danny Rand the redemption story he’s been waiting for.
Compared to the rest of Netflix’s roster of Marvel heroes, Iron Fist has a much more complicated history, with Iron Fist season one being subject to a notoriously poor reception, primarily from issues like the show’s writing and especially the letdown of it lacklustre fight sequences for Marvel’s famed martial arts hero. However, Danny Rand rebounded considerably in The Defenders, with the crossover series giving Finn Jones’ Danny Rand an overall much stronger script, while Danny’s fight scenes were also significantly better. That continued in Iron Fist’s guest-starring role in the Luke Cage season two episode “The Main Ingredient”, which really allowed Finn Jones and Mike Colter to showcase their chemistry in a proper Power Man & Iron Fist-style partnership. Danny’s luck finally did a complete about face in Iron Fist season two, which improved virtually every aspect of the show from season one, including Finn Jones’ stronger performance as Danny Rand and fantastic martial arts fights orchestrated by Black Panther fight choreographer Clayton Barber.
In all, while Iron Fist clearly didn’t have the strongest start of the Marvel-Netflix era, Danny bounced back in a big way over the course of The Defenders, Luke Cage season two, and Iron Fist season two, and with Daredevil: Born Again canonizing the Marvel-Netflix shows into the MCU, Danny Rand could have a real shot at capitalizing on the second chance Iron Fist season two set up. What makes that even easier is that, like Daredevil season three (which Born Again seems all but confirmed to directly carry on from), Iron Fist season two teased exciting possibilities for a third season that would include a deeper dive than ever into the Iron Fist lore.
At the end of season two, Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing has become the new Iron Fist, while Danny and Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphrey) are on a quest in Asia to locate Danny’s Iron Fist predecessor Orson Randall (with Danny himself having even re-gained the Iron Fist through some unexplained means.) With the added revelation that Colleen might be a descendent of the first female Iron Fist, Wu Ao-Shi, Iron Fist season three had set up all the pieces on the chess board for all kinds of possibilities, on top of the show fully delivering the amazing martial arts action that an Iron Fist show requires.
With the new developments for Daredevil: Born Again and Marvel-Netflix’s MCU canonization, The Man Without Fear could well be picking up the ball and running from where he left off. That could also be the best approach for the return of Iron Fist in what could be an epic completion of Danny Rand’s redemption arc.
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Daredevil: Born Again |
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Daredevil: Born Again is an upcoming American television miniseries created for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character Daredevil. |
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| Creator: Dario Scardapane |
| Cast: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Sandrine Holt |
| Genre: Action, Crime drama, Legal drama, Superhero |
| Number of Seasons: 1 |
| Streaming Service: Disney+ |
