Marvel‘s original Daredevil series on Netflix was replete with brutal moments, but I think Daredevil: Born Again has far surpassed even its most gruesome scenes. As the MCU’s latest TV-MA-rated series, Daredevil: Born Again boasts its fair share of violent moments, with the titular superhero snapping plenty of limbs in his journey to re-embrace his Daredevil persona. This culminated in the show’s most violent episode yet with the Daredevil: Born Again finale, which reintroduced the Punisher and his ultra-violent methods and saw Kingpin and Daredevil fully unleashed.
This exemplifies a novel direction for the MCU that began in early 2024. Echo was the franchise’s first clear foray into mature ratings, though whether it truly earned that age rating is debatable. The only cinematic release of that year for the MCU, Deadpool & Wolverine, then followed suit in a big way, delivering the wanton violence for which the Merc with a Mouth is well known. Nevertheless, Daredevil: Born Again‘s most gruesome moment has challenged even those in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Daredevil Season 1 Set The Patt
Daredevil‘s canonicity with the MCU was relatively unclear when it was released in April 2015, being produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios. Sitting outside the parameters of other MCU productions allowed the show to branch out into R-rated territory, which it did so with gusto. This is partly what made the show so compelling, as audiences were, until then, unaccustomed to seeing Marvel’s foremost superheroes wreaking no-holds-barred havoc on their enemies. It also gave the show free rein to deliver some of Marvel’s most high-octane tooth-and-nail fight scenes, like Daredevil’s now iconic hallway brawl.
Subsequent shows would continue to lean into this new, more violent direction. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and other Defenders Saga installments would also be rated TV-MA, setting a distinct standard for Marvel TV shows before Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios would then continue to have its shows match the age ratings of its movies, with TV-PG age ratings that mirror the PG-13 standard of its movies. Shows like WandaVision and even The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wouldn’t deliver on moments nearly as violent as those seen in the Defenders Saga. That is, until Daredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again episode 9 was the show’s most violent episode yet, with Daredevil and the Punisher’s take-down of some corrupt cops being a standout example. Although it was particularly bloody, their fight was pretty standard fare and didn’t tread any particularly new ground, especially where the Punisher is involved. Their fight paled in comparison, however, to one of the last scenes of the show, where Kingpin sought to make a public show of his strength and remove Commissioner Gallo from the picture entirely.
Kingpin’s method of killing Gallo was as shocking as it was gruesome, opting to crush his skull with his bare hands. In doing so, he surpassed his most grievous killing until that point, which took place in Daredevil season 1 when he killed Anatoly Ranskahov by crushing his head with a car door. Kingpin’s head-targeting methods are gruesome enough, but Marvel Studios’ decision to maintain focus on the grisly scene as Gallo’s head was crushed was a particularly shocking decision that, quite frankly, blew all previous depictions of violence in the MCU out of the water.
If Daredevil set the standard for subsequent Marvel shows and their TV-MA ratings, I can’t help but wonder if Daredevil: Born Again will do the same for future MCU shows. Mature ratings now appear to be the standard for street-level shows featuring most New York-based heroes like Daredevil and other Defenders. It is hard to see how the MCU could surpass the gore and violence depicted in Daredevil: Born Again, but I admittedly thought the same thing after watching Deadpool & Wolverine.