Daredevil: Born Again finally has a trailer, and it ought to settle some of the fans' major worries about the Disney+ revival.
The announcement of Daredevil: Born Again was met with both excitement and fear. Fans were eager to see Matt Murdock and Kingpin back on screens but simultaneously worried that Disney+ could do justice to the beloved Netflix series.
Disney+'s Daredevil Trailer Promises Familiar Violence & Darkness
While Marvel Studios is known for its family-friendly storytelling, the recent antics of Deadpool & Wolverine and Echo have dipped into the adult-rated market.
Daredevil: Born Again will be next up in this trend as it has been confirmed to be rated TV-MA (equivalent to an R-rating) just like the original Netflix show. This means Marvel Studios will be free to push the boundaries into adult television with brutal violence, gore, swearing, sex, and drugs.
Despite confirmation the Disney+ revival will follow the R-rated trend, many fans have expressed concerns the darkness and brutality may be dumbed down to accommodate families and younger audiences.
The first trailer for Daredevil: Born Again made it very clear fans shouldn't worry about the Marvel series dumbing anything down for Disney+, as it featured all the familiar blood, violence, sex, and drama.
While taking on several goons toward the end of the trailer, Matt Murdock seemed to snap his opponent's arm to the point his elbow popped out and blood oozed onto his sleeve, making it clear the action will be as violent as ever.
Wilson Fisk may be putting the Kingpin mantle aside to become New York Mayor, but his violent rage appears to be as fiery as ever since he was seen taking someone to the ground and brutally beating them.
The Daredevil villain has many examples of Fisk getting his hands dirty, as one moment of the Netflix series saw him repeatedly slam a head in a car door.
Amongst its brutal action in the criminal underworld, Daredevil had plenty of scenes with its main characters discussing their conflicting ideals.
The Disney+ trailer suggests those more mature moments will be perfectly intact as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk sit down to talk with a coffee in a diner.
Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, has already racked up four love interests in the MCU, from She-Hulk to Elektra, and the trailer sees him getting frisky with his latest romantic affair, Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva).
Daredevil: Born Again was always set to be a brutal affair thanks to its villain Muse, a serial killer artist who creates art from his victims' blood and corpses. Even his costume will be coated in blood, immediately declaring his gory nature.
The trailer may reveal one example of Muse's twisted artwork as two women appeared, seemingly dead or unconscious, dangling from a roof.
With four brutal villains already lined up for Daredevil: Born Again, it's no surprise to see Matt Murdock is in for just as much violence and brutality as ever.
What's Been Said About Daredevil: Born Again's Violence and R-Rating
Asked during a Rotten Tomatoes interview whether Daredevil: Born Again will be as violent as the original series, Kingpin actor Vincent D'Onofrio promises it will, in some ways, "go much further."
He went on to tease "one particular thing" his villain does that he was shocked made it into the final cut:
"There are some things in this show that we go much further with than we did on the original show. There's one thing in particular that my character does that I can't believe made it into the cut, but it did."
Daredevil actor Charlie Cox confirmed to Collider he even dropped the coveted F-bomb "almost under [his] breath" for the "first time ever" in Born Again:
"It's almost under my breath, but you can hear it. I was like, 'Oh wow. Great!' Good to know for Season 2."
Matt Murdock's MCU curse will come almost two years as Chris Pratt dropped the first F-bomb in the franchise's history in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The actor promised Born Again will be "continuing the darkness" of the Netflix series and includes "some things that are definitely a first for DIsney+:"
"We're continuing the darkness of the first series on Netflix. It is gonna be that dark and that intense. We worked our butts off to make it that way... It is dark. It is crazy. We do some things that are definitely a first for Disney+."
Cox spoke on a similar note to Entertainment Weekly, revealing both he and his Kingpin co-star D'Onofrio were said to have "really pushed" for Born Again to once again be "geared towards an older audience:"
"Vincent and I both felt like if you lose [the dark and sinister elements], you are at risk of losing the identity of our show. So we really pushed for the show to remain geared towards an older audience and not dumbed down to kind of capture a wider net of people. I think in some ways it’s even darker than a lot of the stuff we’ve done in the past."
From the early signs in the trailer to the latest comments from the series' stars, Daredevil: Born Again will clearly be the same old "dark and sinister" TV-MA superhero epic that fans have been eager to see.
Following in the footsteps of Echo and Deadpool & Wolverine, Disney+'s Daredevil looks ready to exceed what Marvel Studios has done before with brutal moments that even shocked Vincent D'Onofrio.
Going from the violence of Born Again to the comedy of She-Hulk, Daredevil is clearly a character who can span genres, ratings, and tones, which sets him up perfectly for his next reported MCU role in Avengers: Doomsday.
Daredevil: Born Again will premiere on Disney+ on March 4.
