MarvelBlog News for January 19th, 2025

This week: Daredevil begins anew, Spider-Man comes to your neighborhood, and Avengers: Doomsday may have added a big name.

We’ll discuss it all in this week’s MarvelBlog News. Warning: I have to talk about Kraven the Hunter again, too.

The Daredevil Hype Begins

Here’s the official trailer for Daredevil: Born Again:

You gotta love that the clip starts with a fight in a hallway. Disney and Marvel know what sells.

Meanwhile, fans will never forget the impact and brutality of this scene from the Daredevil Netflix series:

This video has 6.2 million views, and it’s but one of many showing the same sequence.

Anyone who watched Daredevil on Netflix will never forget the shock of watching a Marvel hero absolutely wrecking thugs.

Nothing like that had ever happened in the MCU before then. It’s part of why fans desperately wanted Daredevil’s story to continue.

When Netflix made its Marvel deal, it focused on the street-level characters of New York, including the Defender of Hell’s Kitchen.

Gritty realism became a hallmark of the Marvel shows on Netflix. These were real, approachable protagonists living their lives.

The brilliance of Daredevil led to other high-quality shows like Luke Cage and my favorite, Jessica Jones.

Netflix even did its own mini-Endgame story arc, teaming the characters together in a limited series called Defenders.

Sadly, that show marked the beginning of the end as A) it wasn’t well-received and B) Disney was eyeing Netflix warily.

Soon afterward, Disney announced its own streaming service, and the writing was on the wall that Netflix’s Marvel Universe was ending.

They’re Baaaaaack

Fast forward to today, and everything old is new again. That trailer is decidedly Netflix, not Disney+, in tone.

Once all the Marvel shows ended on Netflix, a funny thing happened.

Fans championed the programs, while the actors portraying them refused to let go.

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, the hero and villain of Daredevil, repeatedly indicated that they’d happily return.

Cox has stated that he considered D’Onofrio delusional for believing it could really happen, though.

The politics between Netflix, Disney, and Marvel made the possibility remote at best.

Now that the impossible has happened, the trailer highlights the intense nature of their relationship.

Here we have a hero and a villain reunited after a prolonged absence, and they have…missed each other?!

Notably, we’ve seen both these characters not just in the MCU but on Disney+ already.

Daredevil appeared in She-Hulk wherein he fought crime and…seduced She-Hulk.

D’Onofrio’s Kingpin took a beating in Hawkeye, was left for dead, took another beating in Echo, and then successfully ran for Mayor.

Politically, that premise would have failed the laugh test until about November 2024. So, it’s somehow timely.

Importantly, Marvel has fully committed to this franchise, too.

Daredevil season two will be filming at roughly the same time that the final episodes of season one debut on Disney+.

Given all the chaos that occurred behind the scenes on this project, I’ve been warning you all not to get your hopes up too high.

Now that I’ve watched that trailer, my hopes are probably higher than any of yours. That’s exactly the Daredevil we’ve all missed.

Doomsday Rumors and Facts

We’re in the slow season when it comes to Marvel news.

During the holidays, Hollywood mostly shuts down because all the assistants who do the heavy lifting are on vacation.

You’d be stunned how many studio vice presidents cannot even download files from the cloud without assistance.

Ordinarily, the news would ramp up in mid-January. Alas, the Southern California fires have thrown a wrench into everything.

Nobody’s talking about it yet, but Hollywood is facing its third prolonged series of production delays since 2020.

First, we had the pandemic, followed by the Hollywood strikes, and now there’s this.

Some projects will be delayed due to the fact that the workers are currently displaced.

In many instances, the industry won’t fully recover until construction crews build entirely new neighborhoods.

Then, there’s the uncomfortable subplot that studios cannot talk business right now without seeming distasteful.

Ergo, the news cycle has mostly come to a screeching halt. Thankfully, interviews and podcasts are still a thing.

That’s how we know why the Russo Brothers returned to the MCU for Avengers: Doomsday.

According to the brothers, this is a story they had to tell, which makes sense.

The duo has long been linked to Secret Wars, which is the backdrop for the next two Avengers movies.

Meanwhile, the hot “rumor” of the moment is that Gwyneth Paltrow will return as Pepper Potts.

Technically, this one’s unconfirmed, but come on! Marvel was always gonna write that check.

With Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom, Potts’ presence is a must for the emotional resonance.

As near as I can tell, Marvel’s getting the entire band back together if it can, budget be damned.

The studio learned its lesson about cutting corners on casting and paychecks.

Marvel Miscellany

Here, watch this previously unseen clip of Kraven the Hunter:

#KravenTheHunter is now available on Fandango at Home! Check out this exclusive deleted scene, and watch today at the link below. https://t.co/3DpTLCekm7 pic.twitter.com/PzcVXU39u9

— Fandango (@Fandango) January 14, 2025

Yeah, literally nobody wanted that. And this scene makes me especially sad.

Imagine being the part of Kraven so lousy that it’s not good enough to make the final cut!

Anyway, as I mentioned last week, the film is now available for purchase on digital. It’s not-at-all a bargain at $24.99 plus tax.

If you buy this, please write me and explain why.

In happier news, Faran Tahir will return to the MCU as his nefarious terrorist character from 2008’s Iron Man.

The plan calls for Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, to appear in Vision Quest. It’s unknown whether this will tie back to Xialing.

Remember that she became the new leader of the Ten Rings during a mid-credits scene in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Finally, the media embargo lifts for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on January 23^rd.

While full reviews won’t be published for another few days after that, we should know whether Marvel got it right this week.

I’m hearing good things and expect a very good series.

Note that this is a fast-tracked binge series in that all ten episodes will be available by February.

So, I REALLY need to get caught up on my Marvel recaps. I’ll barely finish What If… by the time this show starts!

 

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