While most fans currently hold little, if any hope that The Man Without Fear’s upcoming return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe will treat his character and mythos with the respect they deserve, Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D’Onofrio says that, as far as he can tell, Marvel’s second draft of the Disney Plus series is looking like it will at least give the idea of doing so an earnest try.
The man behind the current live-action incarnation of Wilson Fisk offered his thoughts on the studios’ current ‘redo’ efforts on the series while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter’s Brian Davids about the character’s post-Echo future.
Asked by Davids whether or not Marvel’s use of footage from Netflix’s Daredevil in their promos for Echo was confirmation that the Disney Plus versions of Kingpin and Daredevil were the same ones who starred in the original series, D’Onofrio asserted, “I think it is.”
“During our restart of all the creative on Daredevil: Born Again, all the creatives got together and said, ‘Look, this is how we’ve got to do it now,'” he then detailed. “So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original Daredevil, and that’s a great thing. It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons.”
“So we now get to start this Born Again situation with all of that history behind us and the outcome of all that history,” the actor continued. “So we’re all talking about Daredevil: Born Again in those terms now.”
From there, D’Onofrio was then pressed whether or not he agreed with the critical reaction from Marvel fans towards the fact that Echo retcons the type of hammer the villain used to kill his father from a claw hammer, as seen in Netflix’s original series, to a ball-peen model.
In turn, the actor admitted, “I’ve been acting for forty-something years, and so I’m used to working with many different kinds of creative people. The best ones have a completely unique look at things, and so it never surprises me when things change a bit from project to project. It just doesn’t.”
“The most we can do is be very savvy when it comes to the canon of these characters, Daredevil and Kingpin,” he opined to Davids. “We need to be on it when it comes to the right tone, and we need to give them what they’re looking for when it comes to this kind of storytelling. It’s different from the other stuff. Neither of us have superpowers, and we’re not from outer space. We’re character-driven story characters. That’s the way we were presented originally, and that’s the idea now. So all of the artists and creatives behind this stuff are going to change things slightly to make our story interesting.”
Turning his attentions back to his host’s original question, D’Onofrio then added, “But I love it that everybody has things to say.”
“I get told all kinds of crazy stuff and I just love it,” beamed the actor. “I love that they’re paying attention. I love that everybody has their opinions and that they would rather it be this way or that way. As an actor, I can’t answer all of that stuff, but I can bring a performance forward for them that they’re going to appreciate. So the rest is just the world that these movies and shows live in. There’s a big, strong fanbase, and that’s what makes these movies and shows survive.”
“So, complain away, have opinions, do whatever you want to do,” he further encouraged. “I love the excitement, and it doesn’t bother me. But every creative person I’ve ever met is unique, and they should be allowed to make unique choices. So it doesn’t bother me [what people say] whether I agree with them or not.”
Following a brief discussion regarding the Kingpin’s ending in Echo, Davids eventually inquired with D’Onofrio as to whether or not he had “met with your new Born Again directors yet” – otherwise known as the Loki and Moon Knight directorial duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead – to which his guest exclaimed, “I’m a huge fan of those guys, and I talk to them all the time now. I’m so happy that they’re doing this show.”
“I’m just so happy about it,” he explained. “When I heard that, I was like, ‘OK, not only are we switching things up, but the bosses are doing the right thing for us.’ They’ve given us their hottest talent, and that’s pretty cool.”
“So the first thing I did was thank them,” D’Onofrio ultimately revealed. “I thanked Kevin [Feige] for doing that and sticking with Charlie and I. It’s a pretty amazing thing.”
Unfortunately for both D’Onofrio and Marvel as a whole, given the franchise’s post-Avengers: Endgame implosion of quality and the abysmal treatment his character has suffered in both Hawkeye and Echo, they’ll be facing an uphill battle in getting viewers interested to watch Daredevil: Born Again ahead of its planned January 2025 release date.