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Daredevil: Born Again seems to have achieved what some Marvel fans thought impossible: bringing us back to the heights of the original Netflix Daredevil series. After a very turbulent first season (behind the scenes and onscreen), Marvel Studios and the creative team seemed to land on a solid, unified vision for what the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Daredevil would be, promising big things in Season 2. And now, judging from the hype, that promise is being kept.
Episode 4 of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is titled “Gloves Off”, and it is getting some of the highest reviews of the series after its release on Disney+. It was definitely one of those episodes that feels not only crucial, but one that will be referenced in all future rankings of Daredevil episodes, if not all Marvel TV series.
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“Gloves Off” holds a 9.6 (out of 10) rating on IMDb – a high score shared by another episode in the series, the Netflix Daredevil Season 3 (and series) Finale, “A New Napkin”. The Daredevil finale saw the three-way rivalry between Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), and Dex Poindexter/Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) come to a final, bloody showdown during Fisk’s wedding to his wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer).
That fight saw both Wilson and Vanessa get targeted for vengeance over the murders they ordered, and ended with Fisk paralyzing Bullseye; Daredevil nearly killing Fisk, and Kingpin taking a fall to protect Vanessa. It was a tense setup for the Daredevil Season 4 rematch we never got… until now.
“Gloves Off” Is Daredevil: Born Again‘s True Sequel to Daredevil Season 3
It’s no coincidence that “Gloves Off” is getting such rave reviews from fans: in almost every way, it is a true continuation of the story Daredevil Season 3 was setting up. Sure, Born Again Season 1 shifted around the details: Now Bullseye is angry at Vanessa for using him to kill Foggy Nelson (instead of FBI Agent Rahul Nadeem); Fisk is still pressing both Matt Murdock and Dardevil, but from the Mayor’s Office, this time, and this time Daredevil is frustrated that Kingpin countered his legal moves by assassinating a smuggler who was going testify against him (as opposed to bribing a jury). However, step back from the surface picture and the arrangement of characters and conflicts is almost entirely the same, down to Daredevil trying to beat sense into Dex Poindexter and stop him from being led to his own slaughter. If you were to play this episode after the Daredevil Season 3 finale, it would feel like a direct continuation – a rematch, if you will.
Of course, “Gloves Off” director Solvan “Slick” Naim should be credited with arguably having much more of a stylistic flair (and a Marvel Studios budget) than “A New Napkin” director Sam Miller did back in 2018. The episode arguably features the most action of any Daredevil episode yet, including an entire Bullseye battle sequence as the opener, which Marvel Studios and Disney+ previewed before the episode, making some fans worry they were giving away too much. They weren’t. (MAJOR SPOILERS) Daredevil and Bullseye had a close-quarters fight in an apartment building, which highlighted how far Born Again has come from their lackluster CGI-ridden fight in the opening of the premiere episode. Then there was Fisk’s brutal charity boxing match, which led directly into a rematch between the Fisks, Bullseye, and Daredevil. And, just when fans thought they could let their breath out, the cliffhanger revealed that a major character was, in fact, going to die.
The final set piece at Fogwell’s Gym undeniably has some of the best imagery Daredevil has ever produced. From Fisk looking like a human tank in the ring, to Daredevil’s desperate attempts to counter Dex’s kill shots on others, and protect himself, to that epic (and tragic) slow-motion shot of Fisk using his championship belt to smash the “New York Born Again” trinket that Bullseye hurls, only to have the shrapnel still kill Vanessa most horribly. And if watching actress Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel) perform a masterful death scene wasn’t enough, the Earth-shaking rage coming from Fisk in the final scene has Marvel fans everywhere terrified about what Daredevil, Bullseye, and all their allies are about to experience next.
We doubt this will be the last death we see this season.
What did you think about Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 4? Discuss with us on the Forum!
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