Stripped, Revived, Purified: Why Daredevil: Born Again Decided to Break Matt Murdock

Daredevil: Born Again is a staple comic arc not only for Daredevil, but for the comic world in general. Daredevil: Born Again takes risks, most notably taking Matt Murdock down to his breaking point with nothing left in his life, giving him the chance to rise back up.

There is a reason that Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli remains one of the most revered works in comics for almost forty years, as the five issue arc does something that comics until that point had never done. Daredevil: Born Again essentially destroys its hero and protagonist, Matt Murdock.

Instead of building him up to be a larger-than-life superhero, like most stories of the time did, Miller and Mazzucchelli brought Daredevil to the edge. Miller is addressing his classic series once more in a special edition of Daredevil: Born Again.

Frank Miller Addresses Matt Murdock’s “Out-and-Out” Rebirth in a New Collector’s Edition of Daredevil: Born Again

The “Marvel Premier Collection” Kicked Off with Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again was first published in 1986, and the arc includes Daredevil #227-231. With the upcoming premiere of the Disney+ series, also named Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel has released a brand-new line of classic comics reprinted in new editions. The Marvel Premier Collection graphic novel line aims to celebrate the most pivotal and significant stories and authors in Marvel Comics history, making them more accessible for new readers. Daredevil: Born Again is the first title being released as a Marvel Premier Collection.

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Daredevil: Born Again Is Marvel’s Greatest Stories Because It Does the Wrong Thing

Frank Miller’s iconic Daredevil arc, “Born Again,” took a huge creative gamble, which ultimately paid off, by depicting its hero at his lowest point.

The Marvel Premier Collection of Daredevil: Born Again includes a brand-new introduction by Miller. In the introduction, Miller first paints an image of Murdock’s childhood and the origins of becoming Daredevil. But as for Miller’s origins with Daredevil as his “first gig”, he addressed returning to write the character in 1986 after his original stint in the late ’70s and early ’80s:

A few years later, circa 1986, now-editor Ralph Macchio invited me back [to Daredevil], and I decided it was time for another reinvention, this one far more dramatic than the last. Daredevil, I believed, didn’t need reinterpretation or reinvention. He needed an out-and-out rebirth.

He needed to be born again. Stripped to his essence, then revivified. Cleansed. Purified.

A calmer man.

A stronger man.

A happier man.

And that is exactly what Miller did with Daredevil: Born Again. By starting the story with Daredevil at his weakest and most irrational, the conclusion of the arc with him composed, clear-headed, and content is all the more striking.

Miller and Mazzucchelli’s Iconic Story Takes Daredevil on a Life-Changing Journey

Daredevil: Born Again Has Inspired Countles Future Daredevil Stories

These five issues start with Daredevil’s rival, Wilson Fisk (Kingpin), learning that Daredevil’s real identity is Matt Murdock. Using that information and his power, Fisk pulls strings to ruin Murdock’s personal life over the course of a few months. When Murdock – who is already in a depression and mentally unstable – learns that Fisk is behind his life unraveling, he challenges Fisk to a fight, which ends up with Murdock left for dead in the Hudson River.

After pulling himself out of the river, Murdock wanders New York, homeless and broken, until he is stabbed and once again left for dead, this time on the streets of the very neighborhood he protected as Daredevil. In the throes of a violent fever from infection, Murdock finds that he has been rescued by nuns and is being tended to in a convent. At this point, Murdock has to decide whether to fight or to give in to the fever and hopelessness. And it is at this point that Daredevil is truly born again.

Daredevil: Born Again Defied Tropes and Put the Hero in Peril

Matt Murdock Had No One to Save Him Except for Himself

A tried and true trope in comics is the hero coming to the rescue of a damsel-in-distress. Superman always saves Lois Lane as sure as Spider-Man always saves Mary Jane Watson. But Daredevil: Born Again was the first time a hero had to save himself from himself. While Fisk may have been the inciting factor leading to many of Daredevil’s misfortunes, Murdock was already on the path of self-destruction when the story opens, as he is on the brink of a mental breakdown. If it wasn’t Fisk, something or someone else would have pushed an already unstable Murdock over the edge.

When at his very lowest point in the convent, on the verge of death, Murdock has to decide his fate. That is the true moment that defines Murdock’s worthiness as a hero; it’s the content of his character and his drive to continue to fight for himself so he can be in the right state of mind and body to fight for his loved ones. Before the events of Born Again, Murdock was already in a downward spiral, as he felt as though Daredevil’s heroics went unappreciated by the people he saved.

In the basement of the convent fighting for his life, Murdock realizes that what he does isn’t determined by recognition or fame; he fights for what is right, because that’s who he is as a person. It is the person his father taught him to be, and that memory is what Murdock clings to in order to essentially claw his way back to life, to the surprise of the nuns. Once Murdock heals from his injuries and infection, his mind is also healed, allowing him to become the hero he was born to be: Daredevil.

Daredevil: Born Again is available now from Marvel Comics.