Daredevil: Born Again season two tackles tyranny and resistance in Donald Trump’s America

Robert Downey Jr appeared in 10 Marvel movies. Chris Evans clocked 10. So did Chris Hemsworth. All three will suit up again at the end of the year in Avengers: Doomsday to round the count up to 11.

And yet, the most prolific actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not those big cheque movie stars, but British thespian Charlie Cox.

He plays masked vigilante Daredevil, one of the most popular and enduring characters from the comic books and has done so across six seasons of TV as well as cameos in a Spider-Man movie and in a She-Hulk episode.

Cox debuted in a Marvel project in 2015 when the first iteration of the Daredevil series was on Netflix, part of a short-lived deal between the streamer and Disney for a slate of connected TV shows of New York-based “street level” heroes.

These series were more grounded and much more adult than the MCU movies. They were violent, featured sex scenes and the characters, which also included Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Punisher, were far more morally murky.

That run wrapped up four years later, and it’s always been fuzzy as to whether all the Marvel shows made before the studio merged its film and TV divisions in 2019 was part of the official narrative canon.

From the moment Daredevil ended, fans had clamoured for its return, and, crucially, with Cox still in the role as the blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen who was a fierce fighter, weighed down with a Catholic sense of torment.

When Disney commissioned a new Daredevil series with the same onscreen ensemble, it sought to connect the two versions, an acknowledgment of what came before, validating those earlier stories as canonical, but also marked it as a new era.

Hence the subtitled name: Born Again.

Daredevil: Born Again returns for its second season this week, a violent spectacle and a potent critique of political tyranny in Trump’s America.

In that sense, “Born Again” takes on multiple meanings – a second life for the show and this onscreen version of the character (Ben Affleck played the vigilante in a derided 2003 movie), a reference to Daredevil’s faith, and as an obvious born again/great again allusion to MAGA.

The Trumpian stand-in is Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Daredevil’s traditional nemesis from the comic books and the first run of the TV series, played with intimidating ferociousness by Vincent D’Onofrio.

Fisk is a “businessman” who has made his fortunes through grifting, corruption and criminal activities. In Daredevil: Born Again season one, he rehabilitated his image after a stint in prison and somehow convinced New Yorkers to elect him as mayor.

Now, he’s firmly cemented his power over the city, including giant banners plastered over government buildings with his image and the words “Born Again” splashed across the bottom. Sounds familiar? Walk around Washington D.C. right now and you’ll see.

Fisk has also formed his own private army of black-clad agents terrorising the city, disappearing people who are detained under the flimsiest of pretences related to his “anti-vigilante” agenda.

The task force acts with impunity and no scruples or respect for the law, rights or due process, putting them in opposition even to the New York cops.

It’s a terrifying depiction of how power and authority is wielded by those who have no interest in anything beyond their own agenda.

It puts Daredevil/Matt Murdock in a perilous position, as it does all those around him which includes Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and everyone resisting against tyranny, and asks what are you willing to trade for the illusion of safety.

There are further direct parallels to present-day America, and certainly some of the scenes will be triggering.

Most of the supporting characters fighting against or being victimised by Fisk and his task force, on New York’s streets and in its neighbourhoods, are from culturally diverse backgrounds, characters who are Latin and Black.

That is surely an intentional choice because even though this season was written and filmed before the worst of the ICE chaos in the US over these past months, it’s not as if that was born out of nothing.

The much-hyped return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, a Daredevil ally with super-strength who had three seasons of her own TV series on Netflix, doesn’t come until much later in the season (episode six), and she is, to an extent, under-used. But that doesn’t make her official induction into the MCU not exciting.

Just the sight of her black leather boots and jacket is enough to make you woop. Ritter is not yet confirmed for the third season, which is in production right now, but here’s hoping.

There are other familiar faces too linked to those earlier Netflix series, which will delight fans who have been following this Daredevil story for a decade.

The series is light on some of the more cerebral aspects of the character’s constant tussle with his Catholic morality, perhaps sacrificed in the name of a break-neck (sometimes literally) pace.

Like Daredevil himself, everything moves so fast in this world and this season could’ve used a little more chill time and a few more character beats. But there was certainly a lot of story to get through.

When Daredevil made its move from Netflix to Disney, it didn’t pare back the violence. It is still generous with the blood-letting, the headshots, the bone breaks and the brutality.

That makes it distinct in the generally sanitised MCU as an adult drama that not looking to play nice.

Daredevil: Born Again season two is streaming on Disney