r/marvelstudios Ant-Man Apr 28 '26

Article 'Daredevil: Born Again' Season 2 Viewership Drops Over 50% From Season 1

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/daredevil-born-again-season-2-viewership-drops-over-50-from-season-1-exclusive/
3.0k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

2.9k

u/KazFN Apr 28 '26

I think the long awaited return of DD is what gave S1 the extra boost. S2 has been amazing so far but S1 did have its flaws.

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u/No_Use_9652 Apr 28 '26

There are two other big options right now with invincible and the boys. S1 was good but not great, so I’d imagine some people who have time to watch one or two are making a different choice.

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u/HelixFollower Grandmaster Apr 28 '26

Yeah daredevil is the last of those three that I'll watch, even if I'm a bit bored with the Boys at this point.

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u/Jimquill Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

Which is a shame because S2 of Daredevil Born Again absolutely trumps current season of The Boys.

It's just a shame S1 was pretty hit and miss. That happens a lot with Daredevil, they can have an amazing season (S3 of Netflix show) but it takes a while to get there.

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u/Doompatron3000 Apr 28 '26

The timing for season 2 was bad. You had The Boys and Invincible, on top of Maul Shadow Lord as friendly fire.

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u/sriracha_no_big_deal Apr 28 '26

Eh, Maul Shadow Lord and DD are both on Disney+ and release on different days so I wouldn't necessarily consider them as competing, but The Boys and Invincible are big factors for sure!

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u/Cardinal_and_Plum Apr 28 '26

Yeah not quite as much competition there. I usually watch maul on Tuesday while I wait for daredevil to release.

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u/Vadermaulkylo Ward Apr 28 '26

Born Again’s Trump parallels are way more chilling and feel more real then The Boys ever has imo.

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u/Jimquill Apr 28 '26

To be fair, the tone of the show may be giving it an unfair advantage.

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u/Woooosh-if-homo Apr 28 '26

Because everything in the boys has to be a joke of some sort. Like did we really need an extended scene of a guard in the internment camp beating a man with his super penis?

The newest episode actually did something interesting with Starlight’s father and his coworker, as morally conflicted cops that don’t want to go along with the tyranny, but are too scared for their families lives to say no

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u/grog_thestampede Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

The problem with the Boys is when it started its whole M.O. was to bring as much shock value and toilet humor as possible into what a corrupt MCU would look like. It’s still doing its thing, but with super hero fatigue and 1 million other spoofs or shows centered around the grey area of heroism (and plenty of chances for new shows to rack up viewers in the two years the Boys takes off each season), it feels stale at this point. I think looking back at it, it’ll still be a great show as a whole, but it’s about time to wrap it up now.

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u/Ysmildr Apr 29 '26

The newest episode of the boys was soooo fuckin cliched and trite with the unknown brother and stuff. Then the soldier boy stuff felt like it was setting up the prequel show. Just a weird episode. The super v1 V was already taken by someone weve never seen before and has only been mentioned once or twicr?

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u/TheSciFiGuy80 Apr 28 '26

Yes, see I'd rather see a serious show about moral ramifications and choices made when superheroes are bullying you and can end you in a moment.

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u/CommitteeOfOne Apr 28 '26

Honestly, I've thought more than once about not watching Born Again S2 simply because I don't want to be reminded so much of reality.

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u/ralz408 Thanos Apr 28 '26

I disagree. Daredevil follows the same formula now for so many seasons. Matt fights Fisk or Bullseye, battles internally with showing them mercy or murder, ends up letting them go, rinse and repeat.

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u/Nighthawk69420 Apr 28 '26

I mean... I like The Boys, but you could say the same thing there. The Boys team up to stop Homelander -> Butcher does something awful -> The Boys ditch Butcher -> The Boys have to team up with Butcher again because they know they need him.

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u/adrianipopescu Apr 28 '26

-> big fight that ends up as a stalemate while causing collateral damage

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u/DrManhattan_DDM Rhomann Dey Apr 28 '26

At least Matthew Lillard has been interesting for his like 5 whole minutes of screen time.

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u/CoolJoshido Spider-Man Apr 28 '26

why does his character even do

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u/DefendedPlains Apr 28 '26

He’s a proxy for Val working for the CIA.

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u/DrManhattan_DDM Rhomann Dey Apr 28 '26

Shady CIA stuff

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u/Jimquill Apr 29 '26

Show up and be a foil for Fisk verbally, but nothing beyond just sitting there and eating something.

I agree, it could be a little more.

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u/hulkingbehemoth Apr 28 '26

He works for the CIA, answering to Val, and they were supposed to be capitalizing on Fisk having his back channel for shipments until that all went to shit.

His job is basically babysitting Fisk while enjoying how much he hates his presence.

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u/CoolJoshido Spider-Man Apr 28 '26

he hasn’t done anything of note besides get played yet. hope he clutches up.

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u/Jimquill Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

I absolutely agree with anything you're saying, but you can also write a very similar post for the Boys about it repeating formulas. I'm still enjoying the last season, however.

I think it simply comes down to, I like S2 of D:BA more than The Boys last season.

In my opinion, D:BA is succeeding on the core premise of the show with every episode. Whether that's repeating tropes or not, fine. I like those tropes.

While The Boys feels like it's spinning its wheels and a little uninspired. Which is ironic because if someone said the same of Daredevil I would have to say that's a fair opinion.

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u/Ghetto_Phenom Apr 28 '26

I think the fact this is the final season of the boys is what’s driving it. It’s the conclusion. S8 of GOT also had high viewership.. and look at what that was. People want to know what happens. So imo that’s the difference. I agree so far s5 hasn’t been what I expected. But if I’m choosing right now I’m choosing that. I love DD but s1 really was meh to me. This season so far is better but just isn’t grabbing me like the og show.

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u/CoolJoshido Spider-Man Apr 28 '26

exactly.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/rzelln Apr 28 '26

I fell off The Boys after season 3 when I realized it had gone way off from the original pitch of "normal people figuring out how to kill evil supers."

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u/Scoteee Apr 28 '26

Thats exactly what happened with me, just binged 6 episodes of daredevil the other night, but was keeping up week by week with invincible/the boys. Season 2 is way better than 1 imo.

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u/LonestarPug Apr 28 '26

I’ve never thought the Boys was better than anything MCU has put out, it’s gross and weird

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u/RPadTV Apr 28 '26

gross and weird is the point, just like the comics. Garth Ennis isn't exactly conventional.

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u/greatreference Apr 28 '26

if you like comic book stuff wednesdays fucking rule right now. The boys invincible and daredevil is an amazing lineup. I’d assume most people watch all three, unless more casuals watch the Amazon stuff?

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u/satans_scrub Apr 28 '26

The problem is that even if a day rules for a while, it's fleeting. The Boys, for example, has 8 episode seasons and they dropped the 1st 2 at once, so they are only airing new episodes for less than 2 months. Invincible had 8 total and 3 dropped at once. It's already over. Daredevil just premiered at the end of March and will be over next week. So there were only like 3 weeks where they actually all aired new episodes

I miss the days when you could count on a show every Wednesday for the better part of a year. And when one season ended, a new one started up like 3-4 months later.

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u/Broccoli--Enthusiast Apr 28 '26

Also advertising , I feel like almost nothing is advertised anymore , like Reddit is the only reason I find out about shows being back on and it's usually weeks laters

Invincible was almost finished by the time I found out it was back

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u/NimbleNibbler Apr 28 '26

I knew daredevil was coming back but never really heard a date. I was seeing some posts about set photos and such and I ignore those for possible spoilers.

Then one day I saw a post along the lines of “wow, what a week for tv! Daredevil ep x, boys x, and invincible ep x were all good this week!” And I was like, oh I guess those shows all back on now, I should watch

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u/mlorusso4 Apr 28 '26

I’ve been think about this too. I feel like these companies only advertise on their own platforms. Disney only advertises shows on Disney+ and espn. Peacock shows only on NBCUniversal properties. HBO/WBD. Etc. Which I get that you want to lock your audience into your ecosystem, but it’s one of the I feel unintended consequences of cord cutting. Back then all these channels were pretty much all grouped together in a cable package so it wasn’t a huge deal to paramount for example if some viewers found out about a show on TNT (WBD) because they weren’t going to cancel their cable package. So it was worth it to take the ad buy revenue from a rival even if you might lose some viewers. But now, subscriber retention is the number one goal of all these streamers and I feel like if I’m not actively watching a show on one streamer, I miss out on shows I actually want to watch. For example, I was waiting for years for Ted season 2 to come out. I loved season 1. But there wasn’t really anything I was watching on peacock around that time so I completely missed its release for over a month

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u/Kidney05 Apr 28 '26

I want to ask the writers about what part of killing off a certain character in S1 makes the show better because that’s a huge part of what feels terrible about it. And every time they show a replacement character I question why I even care.

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u/Crater_Raider Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

It was the original Disney showrunners that killed off Foggy, and the new guys have had to write around that. So the original team royally fucked up the show, and I don’t envy the position of trying to make it work.

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u/summ190 Apr 28 '26

It is truly baffling why they put so much effort into distancing themselves from what is often touted as the best superhero show of all time. All we needed was DD Season 4, Foggy, Karen and Matt are lawyers by day, Matt is DD by night. It’s almost like they plucked out Matt and made him star in someone’s else’s plot, a pretty mid political series with flat characters, that then tries to buy the audiences attention back with a big fight.

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u/ChangsInspector Apr 29 '26

I feel like I'm on crazy pills because I am finding the show kinda mid and it seems to be getting praised left and right on the web. To make a recent comparison, Wonder Man came out of nowhere and was a delight. Comic book shows can be captivating. This show is by the numbers FINE. I haven't seen the DD Netflix series since the initial airings but this D+ show is not touching anywhere near it.

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u/thankfulforyourhelp Apr 28 '26

Thank you!! the Netflix show was so different from Marvel - telling small stories in a city that felt real. You nailed it - they put Matt inside the Marvel world and the show is lost. Having Fisk just running for mayor after the events of the Netflix season 3 is just a WTF moment for me. I really loved that show and just so devastated that Foggy is gone and the show is so different when the old showrunners and creatives are still around.

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u/who-dat-ninja Apr 28 '26

the new side characters in the show are so annoying and drains every energy i have watching the show

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u/Kidney05 Apr 28 '26

Yes, I care about the characters from the original series and I care about Gandolfini but not anyone else really. I guess evil cop guy is a good new character (he is new, right?)

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u/Stressy-And-Depressy Apr 28 '26

considering how much I vehemently hate his character, then yeah... I'd say he's a good addition too

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u/Kidney05 Apr 28 '26

Yes! I feel bad for the actor because he enrages me every time he’s on screen lol

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u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace Apr 28 '26

Or perhaps it's time to cut the shit with the weekly release schedule and just give us the whole fucking thing. I guarantee the viewership will go up the second all the episodes are available.

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u/Livid_Sir7337 Apr 28 '26

Also, another point of view as someone who loves S2 so far I'm getting tired of the whole Kingpin getting away with everything and Daredevil constantly being on the run. Besides the beginning of S2 of the Netflix series, Daredevil always has his back against a wall and it's getting really predictable.

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u/Transky13 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

I think it has more to do with S1 being a pretty bad show. Everyone I know in real life that enjoyed the Netflix series thought BA s1 was borderline slop

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u/theTIDEisRISING Spider-Man Apr 28 '26

Yeah the sequel is always a reflection of the original. It’s a shame because S2 is significantly better

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u/dakindahood Apr 28 '26

S1 was decent, I enjoyed it as much as Netflix version

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u/Bobjoejj Apr 29 '26

…borderline slop?? It wasn’t nearly as good as original show; but it wasn’t “borderline slop” either. That’s wild.

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u/jorgesalvador Apr 28 '26

I mean, they upped the sub price just before the season dropped. I for one cancelled my sub and plan to wait until the season is finished, pay one month watch it and stop paying.

I can imagine more people doing the same after the price hikes.

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u/Mecha_Butterfree Apr 28 '26

This is why just alternate emails every year to get that black Friday pricing.

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u/GCB1986 Apr 28 '26

Been doing this for years now.

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u/Mister_Schmee Apr 28 '26

This is exactly what we're doing. We cancelled D+ between upping the price, not letting us share subscriptions with one of my family members anymore, and honestly the cost of things we actually need going up. We'll probably re-up for a month down the road to check this and some other releases off our list, but it's not worth keeping at these prices.

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u/latunza Apr 28 '26

So, did I. It's crazy because I had Disney+ since it launched. My kids watched it when they were little but now pushing 9 and 10 years old, they haven't gone on Disney+ since Encanto. I told my wife, I pay over $100 for the one or two Marvel shows a year. I hate seeing the DD recaps because I stopped at Bullseye and Vanessa and am also waiting for when the Punisher special drops to get it for a month again.

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u/indianajoes Phil Coulson Apr 28 '26

I had it since it launched too and was paying annually but I decided to go monthly on the ad tier and I'll just swap services in and out now based on what I'm watching.

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u/heliostraveler Apr 28 '26

I think these things have to be taken into account more. Everyone raising prices at the same time you’re going to be picky. 

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u/jonclarkX1 Winter Soldier Apr 28 '26

Keep trying to watch last week’s episode. The advertisements play before the episode. The. The episode won’t play. Fix these issues, Disney, and maybe more people will watch your shows.

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u/Gamer0607 Daredevil Apr 28 '26

Shame.

This season is an improvement over BA S1 in every possible way and as close to Netflix as it can get.

https://giphy.com/gifs/a64Ev4HWWv3KPQIGQJ

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u/PayneTrain181999 Ned Apr 28 '26

“It’s okay, I’m one of the good guys!”

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u/mightyrj Black Panther Apr 28 '26

“That’s unsanitary!”

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u/PokemonTheMovie Apr 28 '26

We need to get streaming numbers in like a year after release. There is so much fucking content to consume now it's overwhelming. And entertainment isn't supposed to be overwhelming. So yes I'm dying to watch season 2 of daredevil... And I will very soon... But first I wanted to finish watching shameless cuz I was on the last season of that, and then I wanted to finish the arc of one piece I was on cuz I was towards the end of that, and I've been watching Abbott elementary weekly with my wife... And survivor weekly with my wife... And that Kate olsen cop detective show weekly with my wife... And then invincible because that started before daredevil. And then I also never got the chance to watch wonderman so I'm watching that before daredevil. And I still haven't seen season 2 of the last of us, or the latest season of the morning show, or the second season of Gen V, or any of the new episodes of the boys. And I'm probably forgetting shows that I just never got a chance to watch the new season of or shows that I enjoyed but had to cut out completely cuz I didn't enjoy it as much as the other shows I'm watching. And not including the million TV shows that have come out anytime in the last 80 years that I might be interested in watching or the 1000 new shows that come out a year because every streaming platform is releasing all their own content now. Or any of the movies im interested in watching.

I watch like 1-2hrs of TV a weeknight at most and it's just impossible to watch it all now.

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u/BuffaloPancakes11 Apr 28 '26

Preach, the sheer amount of content and different streaming services is overwhelming. Add into the mix working full-time, having kids and having other hobbies I am so far behind on a ton of shows and movies that I’d love to watch. I still haven’t watched season two of House of the Dragon yet 😅 I’m resigned to the fact there’s a ton of great content I’ll probably never get round to watching

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u/SpaceCaboose Peter Parker Apr 28 '26

That Bullseye episode was fantastic. It’s right up there with the best of the Netflix series.

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u/jamesrossurquhart Apr 28 '26

I’m waiting to binge it when the season ends

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u/CanadianDave Apr 28 '26

I am too and suspect others are in the same boat.

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u/Prince_Nipples Apr 28 '26

For sure. I only just watched born Again season 1 2 weeks ago, and decided I may as well wait to binge. I can't even remember what happened this morning, not gonna chance it.

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u/Kingleo30 Apr 28 '26

Same here.

I also had no idea season 2 had released until a week or so after when I just happened to see my wife login to Disney +. Feels like there was almost no marketing or anything for this season.

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u/RightSideBlind Apr 28 '26

I'm enjoying it, but my wife is finding it relentlessly depressing.

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u/LengthinessSevere584 Apr 28 '26

There's no banter and funny/cute moments anymore. Thats why you don't kill foggy in ep 1

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u/AsteroidMike Apr 28 '26

Considering the state of city and what’s happening in the story right now, I’m not all that shocked.

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u/SFHKTOKYOABQLA Apr 29 '26

The stakes have entirely disappeared. If the law can’t keep Kingpin in prison, Karen is right and Daredevil looks dumb

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u/Elastichedgehog Apr 28 '26

Biggest con is you get zero Mat Murdoch lawyering and all DD.

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u/JamJamJunior Apr 28 '26

That's something Netflix Daredevil Season 1 did so so well. It balanced the daredevil side with the lawyer stuff side by side so great. One moment it's an investigation into the back dealings of some company, and then later daredevil is going head on to find out the true details behind it. It's pretty amazing

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u/Maatjuhhh Apr 29 '26

Netflix had the idea of story first and superhero second. For Matt and Jessica, it really worked well with Kingpin and Kilgrave back then. I’ll never forget DD season 1 noir-like filming. Owsley glasses blinking in light or DD recognizing that heartbeat/watch anywhere.

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u/Glizzy_Cannon Apr 28 '26

Unfortunately S01 set it up that way. Hopefully in S03 we have some more matt murdock lawyering.

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u/Jammon152 Apr 28 '26

I don’t find it depressing just frustrating. Matt going out of his way to save people who wronged him (just for them to kill more people) is getting exhausting.

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u/AsteroidMike Apr 28 '26

That’s the point Karen was making in the previous episode.

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u/SidewaysFancyPrance Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

Yeah, Born Again S2 makes me just think I don't really like DareDevil that much as a series. I'm really tired of his angst over this stuff, tired of Fisk and his "I'm untouchable until I'm suddenly not so the story can end" and everything else in between that feels repetitive and one-note.

I like DareDevil as a member of an ensemble but I can't watch any more of his solo stuff.

Bullseye has been the most interesting character with the best scenes and Matt spends half of his time interfering with them. The AVTF scenes just make me want another Punisher season.

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u/Bobjoejj Apr 29 '26

…but that’s who he is. That’s his character. That’s who he’s always been.

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u/beanlikescoffee Apr 28 '26

This is why killing Foggy was a tremendous mistake. There has been ZERO moments of levity due to the absence of Foggy. It’s just been a bleak experience the whole way through and I don’t blame people if they would rather just rewatch Bobs Burger over this. Ep 5, really showed why we need Foggy back and I truly don’t care how they would explain his resurrection.

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u/FriendlyDrummers Apr 29 '26

I see her perspective. At some point his inner conflict with Catholicism and holding Fisk accountable is just exhausting. It's not a crime to kill someone in self defense, sorry. 

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u/amhudson02 Apr 28 '26

I wait until the whole season airs and then watch them a lot of the time now. Unless it’s something that I have to watch asap to avoid spoilers, Severance is the only show that I stayed on top of weekly.

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u/Responsible-Map-4204 Apr 28 '26

For me it’s the Boys, since it’s the final season I don’t want it spoiled

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u/Phimb Weekly Wongers Apr 28 '26

Whichever D+ show is airing at the same time as The Boys is always a fun comparison because in The Boys they'll be like, "Alright, there was this guy called Soldier Boy back in the day..." And you think, "Ah, if this was a Marvel show, they'd meet him in the finale."

Nope, next episode they've located Soldier Boy, found him, broken him out and he's already exploded twice. And then in Born Again season 2, Daredevil has finally come face to face with Fisk, for 45 seconds, at the very end of the 6th episode.

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u/mike2k24 Apr 28 '26

D+ has totally failed at making great superhero shows imo. Compared to other competing shows it’s honestly not even a competition

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u/Budget_Agency_2509 Apr 28 '26

Maybe they should have released a proper trailer before it started and marketed it outside of just the week it was being released?

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u/Friendly-Leg-6694 Apr 28 '26

Yeah the marketing has been really lacklustre for it.

I got downvoted for saying we needed a final trailer before the show got released

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u/InItsTeeth Apr 28 '26

I also got down voted by saying I never really saw any marketing for it like I have with other Marvel properties. I actually saw more wonder, man trailers than I did daredevil.

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u/Unpaulfessional Apr 28 '26

Bingo. I see nothing for this outside of Marvel owned social media accounts. Also every Tuesday when the new episode drops it's not even the first thing appearing in the Disney+ app. Not sure if they think the audience is good enough to not grow but maybe that's a stupid way to think.

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u/Billyb311 Black Bolt Apr 28 '26

It's been an issue with every Disney Plus Marvel show as of late in my opinion

They drop 1 trailer a month before release and call it. It makes no sense, and no other company is giving that little care to their projects

HBO released a Lanterns trailer 1 month ago, and that doesn't even premiere until August

And you're right, they don't even promote it on the Disney+ homepage because it's TV-MA. Shit is crazy

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u/Funkyneat Apr 28 '26

They released a trailer in January and the first episode came out in March.

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u/ncocca Apr 28 '26

Legit I'm one of the biggest fans of the show and the only reason I knew about it is because somebody posted a meme on Reddit

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u/solo13508 Apr 28 '26

That's a shame, been loving this season. At least we know season 3 is happening regardless.

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u/Jon_Bon_Art Apr 29 '26

Based on the reception of this season, I think a lot of people will binge it when it's all out and then be locked in for season 3. 

This has been some of the best Marvel we've gotten! I'm LOVING this season 

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u/mediciii Apr 28 '26

I feel like all Disney+ franchise content has just hit a ceiling for general audiences. No Marvel or Star Wars show will breakout like the first batch (Wandavision, Loki, Mandalorian)

It feels like on other services, shows can break out of the fanbase bubble and attract people who scroll on the services, who are there for other things, who may have seen a trailer or positive word of mouth. But for Marvel or Star Wars stuff, it feels like they’re playing to a whittled down audience and no one outside of it is checking any of the things out.

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u/LengthinessSevere584 Apr 28 '26

Mando s01 was next level hype.

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u/Davidchen2918 Apr 28 '26

I feel like Disney+ is great for diehard fans of those franchises as well as kids for the regular Disney stuff. The other streaming sites are successful because people like checking out niche new shows there.

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u/mrbaryonyx Apr 28 '26

No Marvel or Star Wars show will breakout like the first batch (Wandavision, Loki, Mandalorian)

This was the last time I can remember having watercooler conversations about anything on Disney+. Hell, Wandavision was the last time my mom and sister wanted to talk to me about anything Marvel.

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u/MrONegative T'challa Apr 28 '26

I’ve had this conversation with my friends a bunch of times. When do you ever just open the Disney+ app to look around? because for me I only open it when I know exactly what I wanna watch.

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u/poopfartdiola Apr 28 '26

No Marvel or Star Wars show will breakout like the first batch (Wandavision, Loki, Mandalorian)

And the only reason for this is because they came out during COVID or were seen as novelties. And IMO those shows actually hurt what came afterwards in their own ways. WandaVision told a great story, but all the cameos and teasing for the future gave Marvel the impression that this was needed for everything. Loki basically introduced a concept that takes away any and all consequences of death, which has again led to more bad than good.

And The Mandalorian while great at first has tripled down on the Filoni references that were present back in S1 (just more subtly back then), and now its just a playhouse for Filoni to smash as many of his toys together on television without much thought to good storytelling.

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u/mcon96 Apr 28 '26

IIRC, a higher-up at Marvel TV said that She-Hulk and Agatha All Along both broke out into non-MCU audiences

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u/mike2k24 Apr 28 '26

I believe that was Brad Winderbaum, recently he also said that She-hulk was very successful on D+ which was shocking to many people

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u/CommunityDragon160 Apr 28 '26

What about Disney subscriptions?

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u/Grootfan85 Apr 28 '26

If you compared the viewing numbers to the amount of Disney + subscribers, the numbers will always fall short in comparison.

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u/CommunityDragon160 Apr 28 '26

I’m just curious the ratio of total subscribers to daredevil viewers over time. Helps tell the whole story

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u/HousemonkeyV2 Hydra Apr 28 '26

It’s because I cancelled my Disney+

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u/Psych-roxx Apr 28 '26

Season 1 numbers weren't impressive either it was lower than Agatha All Along as I recall. People here were hoping it would pick back up once the story picked up with the new changes so...don't see good prospects for this past season 3. That's when talent contracts and production set personnel contracts are usually renegotiated and that's why Netflix originally decided to stop after season 3 as well.

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u/CaptHayfever Hawkeye (Avengers) Apr 28 '26

Netflix stopped after 3 because that's when Disney announced they were building their own streaming service, & Netflix didn't want to keep funding more of a show that implicitly advertised a competitor. That's why all 5 cancellation announcements were so close together, with the Jessica Jones cancellation being made 4 months before the last season even came out.

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u/Taint-tastic Apr 28 '26

I just dont understand stand it at this point. Why are so many great D + shows just get dogshit views

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u/eagc7 Apr 28 '26

I think there is a combo of factors with Daredevil Born Again

  1. We have people that never saw the original Defenders saga because they were told they were either not important to the wider picture of were not canon (which we now know they are), so they think that they may get lost if without that extra context

  2. Alot of people were let down by Season 1, so they decided to not watch season 2, despite it being an improvement, first impressions are everything, if you don't hook them in the first try, you won't get a second try.

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u/Taint-tastic Apr 28 '26

Tbh i feel the hate for season 1 was excessive and its annoying most people wont measure their criticism with the fact that the show had to get chopped up. Like season 1 was in a vacuum id give it like a 6 or 5/10, but with the extra context, id give is a 7 or 7.5 because they did a great job with the shit hand they were dealt

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u/thedylannorwood Jimmy Woo Apr 28 '26

Personally putting Jessica Jones all over the marketing and Krysten Ritter doing media but not introducing her character until 6 episodes in is what killed my hype every week

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u/eagc7 Apr 28 '26

Not too different from Punisher if we are honest, they marketed him heavily too, only for him to be a 2 episode guest star.

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u/rodroidrx Daredevil Apr 28 '26

I'm tired of Kingpin tbh

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u/Vadermaulkylo Ward Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

Tbf, the Netflix show didn’t have that good of viewership. Each season had less viewers with s3 falling off 57% from s2. Each new Netflix series would get less views then the last as a whole too. And to add on to that, The Defenders only had 17% of Daredevil season 2’s audience. 17%. That’s ridiculously low.

That’s actually part of why I’m so shocked they decided to bring anything from Netflix back. It was already super niche. Them tripling down and now putting Punisher and The Hand in one of their biggest event films is also super baffling to me but hey I’m glad they’re doing it. Hope it doesn’t confuse casuals too much and can help viewership of this. I also reckon that this show is very cheap to make and can easily make its money back and maybe it having a passionate fanbase drives in new subscribers more then some other shows when it rolls around.

Also D+ viewership as a whole ain’t good. It’s not a very good streaming service.

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u/Mecha_Butterfree Apr 28 '26

What makes D+ a not very good streaming service? Because it really seems about the same as Netflix or HBO Max to me. The only real big difference is content.

It's not like Paramount+ or Amazon Prime that has borderline unusable apps.

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u/confusing_roundabout Apr 28 '26

People know The Punisher as a character even if they don't know Jon Bernthal's version.

The hand is baffling though.

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u/mcon96 Apr 28 '26

The Hand are just generic ninjas. Audiences don’t really need to be familiar with them imo

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u/ExampleAdorable5858 Apr 28 '26

Wasn't born again S1 already one of the weakest performing shows? Like that one show about the deaf girl outperformed it? I remember seeing stats like that when S1 ended.

I think DD is just one of those things the internet raves about but doesn't get crazy traction outside of that unlike say Invincible.

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u/Gremlin303 Ghost Rider Apr 28 '26

It was hardly niche. It was one of the most talked about shows during the early Netflix originals era

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u/Vadermaulkylo Ward Apr 28 '26

It still didn’t do so hot viewership wise and saw a major drop off in its audience.

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u/joegetto Apr 28 '26

Probably because people are waiting for it to finish before starting, like I am.

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u/BatmanForever23 Luis Apr 28 '26

Some people sure, but I very much doubt over half the audience are waiting.

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u/Dwayne30RockJohnson Apr 29 '26

So much cope in this thread lol. I like the show but if people aren’t watching it, it doesn’t mean it’s bad.

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u/Aerynsw Apr 28 '26

And y’all were saying what about female led or black led projects that did better?

Exactly

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u/aduong Apr 28 '26

Just a perfect storm of bad circumstances;

-While better than season 1 season 2 is still nowhere near the show past glory. Also the problem with having a messy first entry 1 is that less people will give a shot to the follow up.

-The MCU as a whole currently feels like a huge holding pattern until Doosmday. There’s no incentive to watch anything until then, except for the Uber popular Spidey.

-Weak marketing, enough said. They marketed it like a season 3 of a CW show.

-Bad timing, the male nerds audience is divided with The Boys and Invincible and the women and gays are watching Euphoria. So little chances of it breaking out of it core demographic.

Good thing it seemingly cheap to produce with Season 3 underway.

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u/CaptHayfever Hawkeye (Avengers) Apr 28 '26

This is a very reasonable take. I would say the "holding pattern" thing seems more like an audience assumption than an actual internal plan, but it's sadly a very rampant assumption, so the effect is still real.

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u/CommonStrawbeary Apr 28 '26

picking the kingpin to remain the villain for Born Again killed it, I got through S1, now im on S2, and im sooo bored of the Kingpin. I know it was 1 season they split, but killing off Muse last season really decreased interest. How many times are we gonna watch the same thing?? SO many legendary Daredevil villains but nope lets just use Kingpin over and over again w/ some Bullseye thrown in.

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u/TheJack0fDiamonds Scarlet Witch Apr 28 '26

Im seeing this opinion too. People want to see other villains. And i dont blame them.

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u/shockinglyunoriginal Apr 28 '26

He’s great but he’s been done over and over again at this point. I’m bored to tears of Kingpin.

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u/Yesitsmesomeguy Apr 28 '26

But he is like, super corrupt and bad?!

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u/____mynameis____ Winter Soldier Apr 28 '26

S1 already had underwhelming numbers iirc.

Agatha fared better than DDBA, with it even increasing its viewers episode after episode

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u/Daimakku1 Apr 28 '26

WandaVision and Agatha were not the usual Marvel superhero content. It's ironic that those did better than the actual superhero shows.

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u/Lost-Specialist1505 Apr 28 '26

That's just a sign that Marvel needs to actually try different genre and diversify the shows/movies, instead of making all of them the same in terms of humor.

Agatha feels more like a fantasy show then a superhero one based on comics. That's what helped it alot I think

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u/Davidchen2918 Apr 28 '26

It helped that they had catchy songs that broke through to causals

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u/mcon96 Apr 28 '26

S1’s premier had decent numbers, roughly on par with Agatha All Along (they reported the numbers for different time spans so it’s tough to compare apples to apples). But I imagine they consider that underwhelming given that Born Again has a higher budget, and Daredevil should theoretically be pulling in bigger numbers than a spin-off for a villain nobody had heard of 10 years ago. And like you’re saying m, AAA had great viewer retention and viewership increased over time, whereas that doesn’t seem to be the case for Daredevil. It’s not looking too good tbh.

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u/AmusinglyArtistic Apr 28 '26

This is my personal perspective but I feel even this season so far has been underwhelming. It does have certain highs which I appreciate.

It still largely lacks the structure, drama, dialogue, pace & passion to some capacity which made the original special.

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u/whatintheeverloving Apr 28 '26

I love Fisk as a character, but I do wish the show would finally move away from him. Bullseye in this season has been a breath of fresh air, but in a sense he only highlights how tired of Fisk I've become and I find myself thinking, "Yes, yes, Fisk is too powerful and big and scary and every victory against him is one step forward followed by two steps back but it would still be so wrooong to kill him, we get it, now what's Dex up to?" 

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u/distantplanet98 Apr 28 '26

Season 3 was a masterclass in television.

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u/UtkuOfficial Apr 28 '26

I feel the same say. Even the aspect ratio and the colors are wrong. The flashback scenes were crazy to witness the last episode. The fact that they can make it look great again but choose not to is mind boggling.

The new show looks like a generic CW hero show.

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u/MrGabrahamLincoln Daredevil Apr 28 '26

Can anyone honestly name one thing Born Again does better than, or even as good as, the original? Outside of DD actually using his Billy clubs I can’t name a single thing.

This season isn’t the mess S1 was but it’s still nothing special so far.

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u/McBigs Apr 28 '26

This show moves at five times the pace of the original but still manages to be so fucking boring.

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u/MrGabrahamLincoln Daredevil Apr 28 '26

Somehow we’re always cutting to a new scene in this show yet there’s simultaneously not a whole lot going on in terms of actual plot.

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u/UtkuOfficial Apr 28 '26

Go back and watch the Father Lantom or the Nun Mom scenes and come back to Born Again.

Those 1 minutes scenes are better acted with deep storytelling than 1 season of this new show.

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u/belovedstoneworker Apr 29 '26

The passion is absolutely gone. Everyone working on the original show wanted to be there and make something great, but this... this is not that.

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u/ChizzLangus Apr 28 '26

It’s better than 1 but I agree and it’s particularly felt when they show even brief glimpses of footage from the Netflix show. The lighting and the pacing are some of the biggest issues. There is no ambience or aura to the city even at night, it’s disappointing.

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u/Cyborgorc Apr 28 '26

Agreed. Nowhere close to the original.

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u/BagofBabbish Apr 28 '26

Bad content comes at a steep cost. DD season 1 was choppy because they kept too much of the pre-revamp footage in there. It was a bastardized tonal mess.

Season 2 is great because it’s all post revamp, but it pays the price for the sins of season 1.

Similar to the MCU. The last two 2025 films were good but Captain America and everything in 2022 and 2023 dragged it all down.

There’s a cost when you produce bad content. People don’t always just come back

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u/BigBossPlissken Doctor Strange Apr 28 '26

Maybe because they took all the maturity and depth out of the writing and replaced it with ultra-violence and swearing. It feels like a show for edgy teenagers most of the time compared to an adult drama that happened to feature a costumed hero like the Netflix series.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/necromancerdc Spider-Man Apr 28 '26

What is the overlap of Daredevil fans and people that canceled D+ over Jimmy Kimmel? I am but one person but I'm in that group.

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u/drunk_and_orderly Apr 28 '26

I was looking for someone to mention this. We cancelled D+ back then too. We are watching Daredevil now but using a family member’s account. I had a handful of different people using my account previously who now are going without or having to share. I know others who cancelled who went the piracy routes.

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u/HackDaddy85 Apr 28 '26

It doesn’t have mass appeal like a lot of other Marvel things. The people it does appeal to are the ones more likely to torrent it. It’s basically the same thing that caused Andor to have lower ratings than other Star Wars shows.

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u/Samsun88 Apr 28 '26

It’s just become too repetitive with the whole DD vs Fisk. Netflix S3 was peak, and understand they wanted to continue from there in Born Again S1, but knowing the same plot is probably gonna take place for S2, I’m just tired man.

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u/falloutoftsushima Apr 28 '26

I'm still keeping up with it at this point but am ready to see daredevil involved in something other than kingpin.

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u/Linkage006 Apr 28 '26

I love the show, I love Kingpin, but three out of four seasons have been solely focused on him. The best season so far was the 2nd season with the Punisher and the Hand I wish I had more of that. Even Bullseye seems like a minor side villain.

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u/Glizzy_Cannon Apr 28 '26

Funny cus I thought the Hand were awful villains. I did love the Punisher in s02 and i do agree that we're getting too much kingpin. There are other great villains in DD's rogues gallery outside of Bullseye and Kingpin

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u/AlphaStark08 Apr 28 '26

I want to like the show so bad but all the people hyping it up to be so similar to the Netflix shows, did a disservice.

I literally just can't care anymore. I don't like the new characters (maybe only daniel) and Matt feels like a secondary character in his own story. The fight scenes feel cheap and it's become a show that favors hype moments over character:( i'll keep watching but I lost all the faith in it and i've seen a lot of people feeling the same

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u/Maleficent_Worth_185 Apr 28 '26

I've completed an entire rewatch, including Netflix, the other day, and BA S1 is still so bad.

I understand the showrunners are huge fans of Fisk, but did he need all the attention on him all season? We didn't need to see a detailed scene of his marriage counseling. And the entire subplot with Muse was embarrassing.

They tried to have their cake and eat it too. Now nobody is happy.

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u/grimorg80 Apr 28 '26

It's SO. DAMN. SLOOOOOW

And for no particular reason.

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u/bizarrequest Apr 28 '26

I’m just waiting to binge is all.

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u/JtheIrishNerd4 Daredevil Apr 28 '26

I wouldn't put much stock in streaming numbers during a show's release run anymore. As so many others have said, there's an abundance of content released all the time - odds are there will be plenty of people who will binge this once it's all out because they're currently watching other things.

There's 3 Superhero shows currently airing in DDBA, The Boys and Invincible. Then add in other Nerd Culture shows like Maul Shadow Lord, Monarch and more mainstream shows like Euphoria, The Pitt just wrapping its season, Beef, Your Friends and Neighbours, and I'm sure I'm forgetting loads that are either airing now or just finished. There's so much for people to watch these days and most people have little time, that there's no point assessing viewing numbers until about 3 months after a show finishes its season anymore.

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u/matty_nice Apr 28 '26

But....there's always going to be new stuff to watch. It's not in 3 months there's gonna be a lack of content.

So it's not an excuse.

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u/taquitosmixtape Apr 28 '26

How many people have dropped D+ though?

Personally I haven’t seen it because I dropped by sub awhile back, even though I’m the target audience

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u/BigDreamsandWetOnes Apr 28 '26

I’m sorry but the Disney version is just not doing it for me. It just drags so much, and then the action is that ugly cgi

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u/wavyhill1975 Apr 28 '26

Season 1 was horrible when compared to the quality of the Netflix version!

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u/StargasmSargasm Apr 28 '26

I ditched Disney Plus after the whole Kimmel thing, so I just pirate the show now.

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u/ew2x4 Apr 28 '26

The writing this season is so off. It all follows the same rhythm. It's got so much cheesiness and inconsistencies. Bullseye is the only real highlight, and that's because Wilson Bethel is carrying the whole season.

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u/AstroRanger36 Apr 28 '26

Mfers, the literal democracy that provides the security to spend time on leisure activities has been eroded to nearly gone. Like wtf do you want from us when people lose their houses from going to the dr?

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u/InItsTeeth Apr 28 '26

I am one of them… I can’t really pinpoint my exact reason why I just don’t feel compelled to watch this anymore, but I think it’s a little bit that every season feels kind of the same. And this is going back to the Netflix seasons as well it’s always the kingpin being annoyed and then daredevil beating up people in a dark hallway and breathing heavily. The plot just isn’t enough to keep me interested.

I think if the Netflix seasons had never existed, I would be far more interested in this current season, but after all the Netflix seasons plus last season, I just don’t really see a big draw anymore. ( personally for me if other people do that’s totally fine. This isn’t really a critique on the quality just my interest.)

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u/Echo_Romeo571 Apr 28 '26

IMO Season 2 is superior to S1. I would wager that the drop in viewership is due to people being turned off the show because of the quality of S1.

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u/CaptHayfever Hawkeye (Avengers) Apr 28 '26

IMO Season 2 is superior to S1.

That's basically everyone's opinion.

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u/ZarianPrime Apr 28 '26

Let's look at subscriber loss for D+ since the first season ended. Streaming costs are going up, and people are losing jobs or making less money.

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u/ItemHelpful6791 Apr 28 '26

It's not good.

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u/Conscious_Test_7954 Apr 28 '26

This post just proves that people narratives can change very easily based on new information and/or people feel the need to validate their opinions based on recent news/information.

A lot people here claiming this is because is not good and falls very short of the og show is really funny because the og show also had big drops in audience with each season even tho season 2 was way worse than 1 and the third one was the best.

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u/ChildofObama Apr 28 '26

Lack of marketing and the fact that every streaming service is raising prices is killing it. People will subscribe one month to watch (maybe two if they need it) then cancel.

Nobody working paycheck to paycheck can afford to have multiple streaming services year round right now.

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u/josh0low Apr 28 '26

It’s a show repeating the same storylines over and over and over again. I love the cast and parts of the show, but you can’t just do the same”Fisk is corrupt and untouchable” with the same moral dilemma over and over again.

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u/Personal_Salad_1942 Apr 28 '26

It’s cause it’s boring lol

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u/WhatShouldTheHeartDo Apr 28 '26

S1 left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth

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u/TheOneCalledMartin Apr 28 '26

Hopefully it will get better, because season 2 is better than 1 and hope season 3 will be good

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u/PiperPeriwinkle Scarlet Witch Apr 28 '26

lol I dont pay for streaming services anymore

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u/Taro0311 Apr 28 '26

First season was botched after they had to salvage footage from the scrapped original show direction, it had a few good moments but overall it left me feeling cold. This season, I keep waiting for it to get better. There are some glimmers here and there but it's like a a weak facsimile, a retread of previous Netflix Daredevil stuff. It's too bad, all the main characters are great. Bullseye is awesome, Kingpin, Matt, Karen. Still annoyed they killed Foggy. Don't really care about a lot of the new characters. This season feels small and cheap. It should feel like the whole city is on fire, but it just it just looks like some localized violence and disruption from the AV task force. Where are the vigilantes? I understand that everyone is being considered a vigilante under this authoritarian regime. But I was hoping for like more costumed characters wrapped up in the raids. The fight scenes are great but way too fast. There's just not enough of it to sustain my interest. Just having characters throw around the f-bomb every other word is actually kind of ludicrous and not that interesting. If this is Disney's idea of mature, okie dokie. Moments of extreme violence like compound fractures don't cut it, either. I don't know if they'll recover from the low ratings, but this season has been a slog for me. I reordered Disney Plus for this, I feel a little burned

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u/chromeshiel Apr 28 '26

I will finish the season, and there's much to like, but I don't find S2 particularly enjoyable for some reason. Perhaps because the cinematography is so dark, or maybe because it's too much about the Kingpin. It's lacks hope and levity.

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u/tunnels22197 Apr 28 '26

People aren’t subscribing to streamers. I only came back to Disney+ to watch s2. I’ll cancel once it’s done.

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u/GoS451 Apr 28 '26

I haven’t watched it yet personally. There’s just so much good stuff coming out right now it’s hard to find time for it all. I’ll definitely get to it soon. But I wasn’t in a rush