Born Again’s Most Interesting Dynamic

November 4, 2024

Key Takeaways

Daredevil & Kingpin won’t fight much in the upcoming Born Again series due to writing decisions.
Despite the lack of direct conflict, the characters’ subtle interactions will still be central.
The show’s slow burn & occasional explosive meetings will amp up the narrative.

Daredevil: Born Again might be gathering momentum off the promise of its two leading men butting heads in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Charlie Cox has come clean about how much his Daredevil would actually clash on-screen with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in the upcoming series.

Daredevil has been a fan-favorite with a more mainstream following since the character was brought to life by Cox on Netlfix’s Daredevil, a show that birthed a whole interconnected universe of other Marvel characters like Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and the villianous New York Kingpin Wilson Fisk. When the rights to the characters fell back to Marvel Studios, Daredevil: Born Again was announced to bring its titular character to the fore and into the MCU, with D’Onofrio’s Kingpin being brought into the franchise with some positive changes, both to much fanfare.

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While fans are skeptical about Daredevil: Born Again living up to promises of brutality, that promise made everyone far more interested in the Man Without Fear throwing down with D’Onofrio’s powerhouse Kingpin. However, those expectations will have to be tempered a bit when the show airs, according to Cox himself. “With these characters, you have to always feel like, were they to cross paths, they would fight to the death… it would be hugely explosive,” Cox revealed during a talk with Collider. “So, you have to, in the writing of a show, in the construction of it, you have to limit the amount of time they can be together or you have to give them real reason for them not to be together.” Cox also alludes to a “loose truce” that would have the Kingpin and Daredevil “stay out of each other’s lane.”

So despite how central both characters are to the upcoming project, Daredevil and the Kingpin won’t be duking it out for the majority of the show’s runtime, figuratively or literally. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean it’s all going to be long-distance conflict, as D’Onofrio cleared up for fans when he said, “We do spend time in the same room together at times in the show.” With rumors that Daredevil: Born Again might adapt the Devil’s Reign storyline, a storyline that kicks off with the Kingpin becoming mayor of New York, D’Onofrio’s imposing character could be set to rule over the MCU’s planned underground crime world, which will be a boon for many grounded, street-level projects that are in the works.

The true battle between the two might be far more subtle than the brutality the show promises would have fans think. One scene that the recently leaked Daredevil: Born Again trailer revealed was one of these rare interactions, with the two characters in question meeting at a diner and having a conversation with subtle undertones that confirms that the Kingpin knows Daredevil’s secret identity. While this could be confirmation that the reveal in the final episode of Netflix’s show where Kingpin discovered the secret is canon to the MCU, it could also be another indication that the show is going with the Devil’s Reign storyline. While that comic book arc tells a number of interesting stories over its course, one of the more interesting parts of it come when the Kingpin discovers Daredevil’s identity. Notably, this arc also didn’t see the two clash perpetually.

Whether or not D’Onofrio’s supposed story clue for Daredevil: Born Again happens to be the case, he’s going to be just as central to the show’s plot as Cox’s titular character. While fans might like the idea of constant clashes between the two marquee characters, the show will certainly gain a ton from a slow burn with impactful, explosive meetings placed at auspicious points in the narrative.

Daredevil: Born Again is confirmed for release to stream on Disney+ on March 4, 2025.