Daredevil: Born Again Aims for Realism, Challenging The Penguin for Authentic Comic Book Storytelling

Last year’s hit show, The Penguin, clearly won over audiences, but now it seems Daredevil: Born Again is ready to step into the spotlight, vying for a slice of that gritty, realistic superhero genre.

There’s this ongoing fascination with making superheroes hard-hitting and true-to-life, even though the genre is known for its more fantastical elements. It’s great every now and then, but it sometimes feels like a genre trying too hard to prove its worth. As we gear up for the return of Daredevil with the new Disney Plus series, Born Again, showrunner Dario Scardapane has apparently set the show on a collision course with DC’s The Penguin. Talking to SFX magazine, Scardapane noted, "It’s really strange. You work in a vacuum and then something else comes out and you go, ‘Oh, wow.’"

He went on to compare the two shows, saying, “I would say in many ways The Penguin is our direct competition. However, we’re even more grounded, even less stylized, even more rooted in the here and now. I loved Penguin. We’re a little faster, meaner, cleaner in our storytelling.” It’s nice to see him applaud The Penguin, but let’s be real, guys—at the end of the day, this isn’t about competition; it’s about making lots and lots of money for DC and Marvel.

Scardapane stressed the new show’s dark tone, especially when held up against the Netflix version: “It has a pace and a scope that, for a lot of reasons, Netflix wasn’t able to do. They were very dark cinematically, not necessarily story-wise, although there were some dark elements. We’re much darker. This is as far as a Disney Plus show has ever gone.”

The first trailer for Daredevil: Born Again finally dropped earlier this month after numerous delays due to reshoots. It’s shaping up to be quite dark and intense, though honestly, it seems just okay beyond that. And if you’re curious, the whole Daredevil and She-Hulk fling? Yeah, that’s not going to play a role in this series.