Daredevil recap: The 8 best episodes to watch before Daredevil Born Again

Marvel’s visually impaired superhero makes his Disney+ debut this week in Daredevil: Born Again. However, he has a complicated history that might require a little swotting up.

You see, this isn’t Daredevil’s first Disney rodeo. Yes, he’s already cameoed in Spider-Man: Far From Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But prior to that, starting way back in 2015, The Man Without Fear appeared in three acclaimed Netflix seasons (and one super-team-up) of gritty street-level hero drama.

Daredevil: Born Again could barely even be described as a soft reboot. It’s got most of the same actors playing most of the same roles, including Charlie Cox as the hero himself, Vincent D’Onofrio as arch villain Wilson Fisk, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, and Wilson Bethel as major antagonist Bullseye.

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Even Jon Bernthal is making a return as the violent vigilante and uneasy ally Frank Castle (aka Punisher).

With all that in mind, there’s a whole lot of backstory for the uninitiated to work through. Thankfully, Disney+ now has all of Daredevil’s Netflix adventures available to stream. We’d recommend watching it all.

However, if you don’t have the time to trawl through 39 episodes of backstory (never mind eight episodes of The Defenders), here are the Daredevil episodes you need to watch in order to fill you in the who’s who of this dark world, in running order.

Cut Man (Season 1 / Episode 2)

Episode 2 of Daredevil’s first season really lays the groundwork for what’s to come. It shows you the rules of this more grounded take on the Marvel universe (people bleed and swear way more), while it also quite literally supplies an origin story for Matt Murdock’s attorney-cum-superhero. This episode goes some way to explaining why he’s one of the most interesting heroes in the Marvel universe. It also culminates in a lauded hallway fight scene – a brutal action sequence executed in one extended shot.

In the Blood (Season 1 / Episode 4)

Up to this point, three episodes into the first season, Wilson Fisk has been portrayed as a shady string puller. Ruthless, yes, but also calculated and seemingly unwilling to get his considerable hands dirty. In the Blood offers us our first shocking glimpse at the rage-filled monster Matt Murdock knows him to be at the onset of Daredevil: Born Again. One scene in particular sticks in the memory, as Fisk rages at having his hermetically sealed bubble pierced by a supposed ally. You’ll never close a car door the same way again.

Shadows in the Glass (Season 1 / Episode 8)

Daredevil: Born Again has been described as a two-hander, with Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin) sharing almost equal billing with our hero. It’s only fair, then, that we take a trip down memory lane to examine the origins of Matt’s sworn enemy. Episode eight dives back into Fisk’s past as a poor, timid child beloved by his mother and tormented by his violent father. You’ll come away from the episode in no doubt of what Fisk is capable of, but you may also feel something unexpected for the giant man-baby: sympathy.

New York’s Finest (Season 2 / Episode 16)

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher really lit up season two of Daredevil, spawning two spinoff seasons of ultra-violent vigilante action. This third episode of season two cuts to the heart of the Daredevil/Punisher dynamic, contrasting the up-to-the-edge approach of our hero with the over-the-top brutality of Bernthal’s battle-scarred veteran. While the previous episode featured a thrilling fight between our two heroes, New York’s Finest sees them thrashing out their differences in a marginally more constructive manner.

Penny and Dime (Season 2 / Episode 17)

We’d recommend a decisive double-tap of Punisher-related episodes to get you fully up to speed on Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle ahead of his appearance in Daredevil: Born Again. If episode 16 tells you everything you need to know about his lethal methods, episode 17 tells you why he does what he does. Penny and Dime also represents a romantic high point (to date at least) in the halting relationship between Matt and Karen Page – something we’re hoping to see developed in Born Again.

Blindsided (Season 3 / Episode 30)

Episode two set an impossibly high bar with its hallway fight scene, but season three’s Blindsided somehow manages to raise the stakes. Our hero has never been more vulnerable than he is here, entering a maximum security prison as blind attorney Matt Murdock, only to discover that it’s in the pocket of arch nemesis Wilson Fisk. Besides offering a punishingly extended and gloriously choreographed prison break sequence, the episode works to drive home what a cunning manipulator Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin truly is.

The Perfect Game (Season 3 / Episode 31)

Wilson Bethel’s Benjamin ‘Dex’ Poindexter was a major antagonist in the last season of Daredevil, and we know that he makes a return in some capacity in Born Again. This episode, which follows neatly on from the epic prison break of Blindsided, provides the deepest insight into his character. In fact, The Perfect Game tells us a lot about what makes two of the show’s major villains tick – Dex with his deep-seated psychopathic tendencies and Fisk with his ability to subtly manipulate events and people.

A New Napkin (Season 3 / Episode 39)

The final episode of Daredevil prior to Born Again places many of the pieces in place for the start of the new series. After a climactic three-way battle, we learn of the uneasy truce that now exists between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, while we also get a glimpse at the possible birth of a supervillain in the downright broken-but-unbowed Bullseye. We also catch the whiff of a fresh start for our lovable ‘avocados at law’. And if you don’t get that last reference, add episode 10 to your list.

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