With the first several episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again released on Disney+, the main cast of characters has been firmly established. Audiences have gotten to know the motivations and personalities of the newest characters, as well as reconnect with the returning cast. However, something about the title character, Daredevil (Charlie Cox) himself, seems different than in the previous Netflix show.
By day, he is mild mannered lawyer Matt Murdock, navigating his way through even the toughest of courtroom cases. By night, he is the watchful guardian for the people of New York. At least, that’s what he used to be. In this new project, many of his actions simply don’t make sense. Normally, Murdock is very clever and precise. Due to losing his sight when he was young, he has learned to navigate the world differently than everyone else. His disability is not a disadvantage if he can outthink his opponents.
But what part of being a competent lawyer is revealing his clients biggest secret mid-trial on a whim?
This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again.
White Tiger Trial
In episode three, Matt must defend Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes), aka White Tiger, from allegations that he killed a cop in cold blood. The trial takes a turn for the worse when a key witness for the defense decides to lie during his testimony. What does Murdock do? He decides to reveal that Hector is actually the vigilante, White Tiger. While this risk pays off in the end, Hector makes a very important point later on: Matt didn’t even ask if it was okay to reveal his secret identity.
Matt Murdock defends White Tiger at his trial.
Although he is no longer acting as Daredevil at the time, it would make sense that Matt of all people would understand the importance of keeping a secret identity a secret. The inciting incident of the show, the very first thing that happens that sets Daredevil on this journey, is him losing Foggy (Elden Henson) due to a revenge plot. He just lost his best friend because they were fighting against some dangerous people, and yet, Matt doesn’t even think about how revealing this secret will inevitably put Hector’s family in danger.
Not only that, but Marvel is having a hard time keeping the status of vigilantes in this world clear. Sometimes they aren’t seen as criminals, and other times they are going against the law. Especially given Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) rise to power and anti-vigilante stance, Matt had every reason not to immediately jump to exposing Hector’s identity. He could have tried working with the judge to help the witness feel safe speaking the truth in court, something he would have been under oath to do anyways. Matt could have pressed the surviving cop during cross examination to expose the holes in his story. He also could have reminded the jury that they could only find Hector guilty if the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he did the things they claimed. Considering how weak the prosecution was, that wouldn’t have been difficult.
Matt fails to explain his actions during the trial to Hector.
In a later scene, Hector asks Matt directly why he never asked him if he was okay with the new plan. Matt responds by calmly saying he doesn’t know. Then it never comes up again. There is no moment of self reflection from Matt. There is no negative consequence, as Hector’s later death is not clearly connected. It comes across as an accident from the writers, but instead of rewriting the script so that Hector agreed to the plan, it was explained away by showing there was no explanation at all.
Ultimately, there were so many other choices that he could have made. He may have once been a very good lawyer, but his most recent case proves otherwise. Perhaps it has something to do with him suddenly becoming less observant and missing the obvious.
Daredevil Let Her Go
Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez) becomes very attached to Murdock after her uncle’s death. She wants him to resume the work that her uncle was doing as a vigilante, saying that he was onto something big and maybe that is tied to his death. This is obviously a dangerous situation. Even if Matt does not know about the serial killer at this point, he knows that a vigilante getting into something big that led to their death is no place for a young kid to be. He tells her that she should forget it and let the police handle things. She storms off, but not before saying something along the lines of, “If you want something done, you better do it yourself.”
Angela confronts Matt about her uncle’s death.
Instead of realizing that she is about to get into trouble and stopping her, he lets her go. Even more surprising, he is shocked to learn that she never made it home after leaving his office. But even more surprising yet is his spontaneous knowledge of exactly where the serial killer took her. If he used his skills to find her, the audience never got to witness that investigation.
Organic Character Change?
It may be fair to say that Daredevil’s changes have occurred as a result of his newfound cynicism. He no longer wants to be a vigilante and says that New York deserves Fisk. A turn like that could make a person more irrational and impulsive.
Matt denounces Daredevil.
However, he turns to his job as a lawyer to do good. Matt wants to work within the system, which means he doesn’t have much room for spontaneity. He could easily have run his idea to expose Hector’s secret identity by both Hector and the other lawyer defending him. He did not.
Daredevil and the No Good, Very Bad Plan
Oddly enough, there is yet another example of Daredevil making an impulsive decision without clueing his partner in. After a group of robbers take a bank hostage, Matt comes up with a plan that starts out rather promising. He uses his skills to separate and take down some of the robbers one by one, then opens the main vault to see what they were after. Matt and his friend then return to the area where the rest of the hostages and robbers are with the rare jewel they were trying to steal. The police are closing in, and he knows it is only a matter of time before the scene dissolves into chaos.
Somehow, everything works out well for Matt at the bank.
Instead of hiding the gem and telling the robbers that he won’t tell them where it is until they let the hostages go, taking all of the innocent bystanders out of the literal line of fire, Matt holds the jewel up to sparkle in the light. The robbers have no reason not to take him down, steal the gem, and face the inevitable showdown with the police. Not only did he put himself at risk with this stunt, but also the very people he ran into the bank to save.
What Will Happen to Daredevil?
If nothing else, Daredevil: Born Again may prove to be a cautionary tale of neglecting to write a notably intelligent character as intelligent. The story of the show is founded on the characters, especially Matt Murdock, acting in illogical ways. Not only can this compromise the story and create plot holes, but it has changed the character of Daredevil for the worse. While Cox has given each performance his all, it is hard to deny that when the audience can’t follow a character’s thought process, they lose their relatability.
Only time will tell how this will affect the popularity of Daredevil and his second show in the long run. The series premiered to a reported 7.5 million views. However, the more telling numbers come later. How many viewers will stay to watch this new version of Daredevil?
