Despite critical acclaim, Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 just broke a bad MCU viewership record. After several years away from the franchise, Born Again finally saw the return of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil in a new R-rated adventure. The Disney+ show earned widespread acclaim for its return to the dark and gritty tone of the original Daredevil series, with fans eager for its already-in-production Season 2.
Daredevil: Born Again hit a new low for the MCU, being the first live-action Marvel Studios series to never chart on Nielsen's Top 10 Original Streaming Shows List. It is unclear what caused this lack of audience, but there could be a couple of key factors at play.
The series, which ran on Disney+ from March 4 to April 15 this year, never snuck onto the vaunted viewership list, marking a first for the MCU.
Previously, the only other streaming titles never to make the media research company's Top 10 were animated (What If...? Seasons 1 and 3, I Am Groot, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man), making it the only live-action MCU series not to hit the mark.
It is also worth noting that Born Again is the second live-action MCU Disney+ show not to make Nielsen's overall top 10, with the only other being the oft-maligned Secret Invasion.
During its run, the series peaked in its fifth week on the streamer (the week of March 31-April 6) with under 470 million minutes watched. Compared to other titles released that same week, its numbers were dwarfed by The White Lotus, 1923, The Resident, and Bluey, all eclipsing over 1 billion minutes watched in the same period (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Even when the show ended, it failed to sustain any momentum, even with a back catalog of several episodes. Even with the help of the cumulative effect of having nine total episodes to account for in the data, Born Again still fell behind shows with leaner episode counts like Paramount+'s MobLand.
See below for a complete list of Daredevil: Born Again's Season 1 ratings:
- Episodes 1 & 2: 465 million minutes
- After Episode 3: 464 million minutes
- After Episode 4: 373 million minutes
- After Episodes 5 & 6: 344 million minutes
- After Episode 7: 470 million minutes
- After Episode 8: 463 million minutes
- After Episode 9: 385 million minutes
Daredevil: Born Again picked up Charlie Cox's take on Marvel Comics' iconic lawyer-by-day masked crime fighter-by-night and dusted him off nearly half a decade after Netflix's R-rated Daredevil series came to an end.
Born Again follows Cox's Matt Murdock as he is forced to don the mask again following the rise of a mysterious, artistically inclined serial killer known as Muse and the returning threat of Vincent D'Onofrio's newly minted Mayor Wilson Fisk.
What Went Wrong with Daredevil: Born Again?
For MCU fans, this news that, despite Daredevil: Born Again (at least for the most part) hitting the mark, it still failed to capture audiences in the same way that every other live-action Marvel Studios Disney+ show had previously.
One of the big points likely to come up in the conversation surrounding Born Again Season 1's low viewership is the series' R rating. Some may argue that the show may have already been starting at a disadvantage, launching as an R-rated venture on a platform not typically known in the U.S. for its more mature fare.
To that point, R-rated content appears on the Nielsen Top 10 all the time, including back in January 2024, when Marvel Studios' Echo did it, peaking at number 10 on the list.
That is what makes this Born Again record all the more confusing. What held it back from reaching the streaming glory that so many of Marvel Studios' other projects to date have achieved?
Critical reception for the project was exceptional. Born Again earned a glowing 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the highest-rated projects of the Marvel Studios Disney+ era.
Ultimately, its underperformance may be the result of a greater sea-change happening in the entertainment landscape. Marvel Studios is not the brand it once was from a mass appeal perspective, and people are simply not seeking the MCU out like they once did.
Just look at what is happening with the recently released Thunderbolts* film. The Florence Pugh-led MCU epic earned glowing reviews, fans have loved it in theaters, and it still has had a relatively slow burn at the box office.
There is a chance Marvel Studios can win those lapsed fans back with big-name titles like Fantastic Four and Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, but this may also be the start of a cooling trend surrounding the trend.
Because of this, fans should not expect Born Again to be the last time an MCU streaming show does not hit the Nielsen Top 10 like this (especially with lesser-known names like Ironheart and Wonderman being the focus of its next two live-action streaming series).
Hopefully, Daredevil: Born Again can get back on track with next year's Season 2, making this nothing more than a simple hiccup rather than the start of a disturbing trend.
