Daredevil Season 3: 10 Ways To Make The Perfect Born Again Adaptation
3. Go All In On The Comic's Symbolism
Marvel Comics
Born Again is a comic filled to the brim with symbolism, and does much to examine Matt Murdock's faith over the course of its story.
It's not exactly uncommon for a film or TV show to make attempts to mirror comic book panels from the source material; Captain America: Civil War famously had Steve and Iron Man clashing in a similar way to how artist Steve Epting depicted the two in the 2006 comic, and even 2003's Daredevil mirrored some of Joe Quesada's pencils from the Guardian Devil storyline. Daredevil in particular has always had his comics perforated with gothic and religious symbols, and, while the Netflix series has featured the occasional throwback to the comics themselves, it's never really laid on the imagery all that thick and fast.
While there are certain elements to be found in any comic book that are inherently unsuited for live action, there are specific panels from Born Again that necessitate a live action recreation. David Mazzucchelli's pencils are certainly iconic, and, given the time and attention to detail, they could look truly magnificent on the small screen.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
