Daredevil: Born Again trailer bows as 2025 looks to be the year of the superhero

As Hollywood yearns for a return to past box office glory, this superhero fan is just hoping to see a few more good stories.

It’s looking like 2025 is going to be the year of the superhero in film and TV. And I’m here for it.

Those who have followed me for a bit won’t be surprised. I’ve been a comics fan for a long time, and when I was a kid first devouring this material in the mid ‘70s, I dreamed of a time when the technology of movies and television could tell those stories in a realistic way.

Cue the groans from folks with a massive case of superhero fatigue, boosted by those who never liked these kinds of stories in the first place. And I get it – viewers have been subjected to a massive amount of terrible storytelling in this space, from Marvel’s fumbled fourth phase of films to the misguided Flash movie, and way too much money thrown at showcases for also-ran characters like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web.

Small wonder there’s been the most love recently for superhero stories light on actual superheroes, like HBO’s The Penguin series (without Batman) or the magnificent, recently concluded Superman and Lois show on the CW (best when Superman was out of his cape). Here’s my interview with The Penguin showrunner Lauren LaFranc, BTW.

But I maintain one reason this fatigue exists is because there were just too many mediocre-to-terrible projects out there. Storytellers have forgotten how to create compelling narratives in the space, and fans, frankly, have been spoiled by massively successful epics like the Avengers Infinity War and Endgame films.

Which is why I’m so hyped for this new trailer previewing Marvel’s new Daredevil: Born Again series. Good as Netflix’s early seasons of this show was – I always felt there was more to this story of a blind lawyer-turned-superhero which could be mined by the right creative minds.

The Netflix series created a breathtaking array of signature characters and performances: Charlie Cox as Daredevil/Matt Murdock; Vincent D’Onofrio as powerhouse crime boss Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin; Jon Bernthal as deadly vigilante Frank Castle/The Punisher; Deborah Ann Woll as Murdoch’s friend and law partner Karen Page, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye. But too often the Netflix series couldn’t provide stories to match the skillful casting and actors.

Daredevil: Born Again, developed through Marvel Television and releasing on Disney+, has gone through a lot of creative overhauls and changes in storytellers. Hopefully, that will result in a better story and stronger product.

Particularly since comics genius Frank Miller revamped the character in the early 1980s, Daredevil the character has always been a curious mix of guilt, anger and vengeance, with a hero devoted to institutions which so often let him down, including the law and the church.

I grew up as kid who got bullied and messed with for my love of reading, comics, rock music and more. So I have a soft spot for stories about people who can cut through the nonsense of life and make bullies pay – in the end, most superhero stories turn these kinds of narratives into universe-shaking events. But it’s still usually about delivering justice to those who can’t get it for themselves.

Daredevil: Born Again bows March 4, in a year that will see Anthony Mackie’s Black Captain America get his own standalone film, Brave New World; a film centered on Marvel’s misfit heroes The Thunderbolts, the long-awaited debut of the toughest superheroes to bring to film, The Fantastic Four and the official debut of new DC Films honcho James Gunn’s take on the biggest superhero brand in show business, Superman.

This string of projects feels like an embodiment of Hollywood’s fervent wish to get back to a time when more people were crowding into multiplex theaters and superhero flicks were setting box office records. That’s probably not in the cards this time around, I’m sad to say.

My hope is just that each one of the projects is fun, entertaining and reminds viewers how exciting these projects can be, when done well.

Because, in the end, that’s all a great TV series or film really needs to be – and no genre has a monopoly on that quality.