Marvel TV chief Brad Winderbaum has excitingly revealed how Daredevil: Born Again is taking inspiration from X-Men 97.
Speaking on episode two of the Official Marvel Podcast, Winderbaum revealed how the studio’s Daredevil reboot is taking cues from its hit animated cousin, which is also a recent revival of the beloved 1990s show X-Men: The Animated Series. In short: it’s all to do with bringing back a popular series – Daredevil, which originally aired on Netflix – and putting a new spin on its Disney Plus successor.
Asked for an update on Daredevil: Born Again, Winderbaum said: “Daredevil [:Born Again] is incredible. It’s similar in some ways to X-Men 97 because it’s reviving something that fans love, but it’s taking it in a new direction. These characters have matured [and] the universe is different than it was. Things have changed, society has changed, Matt [Murdock] and Wilson [Fisk] have changed, and their characters are going to collide in ways we’ve never seen before. It’s no longer enough to try and murder each other; there’s a whole game of politics at play.”
Daredevil: Born Again will launch on Disney Plus in March 2025 and, pleasingly, it’ll continue the story that was being told in the Netflix TV Original before that series was canceled after three seasons. The decision to pick up events after the original show was enthusiastically greeted by long-time fans, too, not least because Daredevil: Born Again was in serious trouble after Marvel admitted its initial plan for the series was failing to live up to expectations. Thankfully, Marvel’s hiring of a new head writer and directors, plus the studio’s decision to tie it more closely to its Netflix progenitor, put it back on a firmer development footing.
A curious glimpse into the future of Marvel’s Disney Plus line-up
Daredevil: Born Again was far from the only forthcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV show that Winderbaum updated us on. Indeed, the comic giant chief, who oversees the company’s live-action and animated TV productions, plus its streaming output, also delivered updates on numerous animated projects, including X-Men 97 season two, Black Panther spin-off Eyes of Wakanda, the final installment of What If…?.
“We have big plans for the second season,” he said of X-Men 97′s next chapter. “I’ve already seen all the animatics and we’re well on our way to creating something that hits the heights of the first season. I know the first season is an emotional ride [and] that ride continues in a very X-Men fashion in the second season.”
“What If…? season three feels like the completion of a trilogy,” Winderbaum continued. “It takes us to places you’d never expect. It goes beyond the fist two seasons in its exploration of the multiverse and it pulls in characters that are very unexpected. And it has, what I think, is an extremely moving and fulfilling culmination for Uatu the Watcher.”
As for Eyes of Wakanda, Winderbaum teased: “More than any other show – we’re doing an animation – Eyes of Wakanda ties directly into the MCU. This is a story about Wakandan history. It’s produced by Ryan Coogler [and] directed by Todd Harris, who’s one of our longtime storyboard artists. I first met him when he designed the Hulk versus Thor fight in [Thor:] Ragnarok. It’s an awesome show, the action is insane, and the storytelling’s fantastic. It’s both about the history of Wakanda, but also expands into the greater MCU at different time periods so, if you’re a fan of the movies, I think this show’s going to be a real treat.”
And what of some other forthcoming Marvel Phase 5 shows on Disney Plus, aka one of the world’s best streaming services? Winderbaum similarly waxed lyrical about the studio’s next live-action series Agatha All Along, which is out in September, before providing an overdue update on Marvel’s Spider-Man animated show, titled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
“Agatha is really fun, but it’s really scary and it gets quite dramatic,” he said. “She’s an amazing anti-hero and that show… it lures you in with the fun of Halloween and, before you know it, you’re crying. I’ll just put it that way. It’s also a Marvel brand of scary. It’s a Halloween show, there are deadly stakes in the series, it’s a fun ride, but it’s a dangerous one.”
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man… this is Peter Parker in high school,” Winderbaum added. “There are twists and turns that are amazing, but the real power is the ensemble [in] the neighborhood. The showrunner is Jeff Trammel, who made a show called Craig of the Creek, which was a kids cartoon that spent seasons in the connected backyards of this neighborhood and had a whole mythology that grew out of it, and characters you really grew to care for over the course of the series. He’s amped that up in such a major way playing with characters like, not just Peter Parker, but also Nico Minoru, Lonnie Lincoln – who’s my personal favorite – and Harry Osborn and others who really flesh out this teenage ensemble.”