An Ode to Good Lawyers and Poor Superheroes, or Why You Should Watch Daredevil: Born Again
Our son wants to be Daredevil. He was eight when he first watched the Netflix series with us, and it impacted him in a big way. From that moment on, it had always been his goal to become a lawyer who helps the less fortunate. Normally, parents would be thrilled to hear their child aspiring to a career in law, but this is the Philippines, where lawyers who fight the good fight routinely get gunned down. At least 61 lawyers were killed from 2016 to 2022, during Duterte’s tenure as president; and continues today under President Marcos, including Atty. Maria Saniata Alzate, who was shot dead in broad daylight as she sat in her car in front of their home in Abra.
We told him to consider corporate law and join a firm where he could make a comfortable living (but mostly because we feel it’s a safer option). But he’s dead set on studying criminal law and helping the poor, probably as a public defender. "You’ll get paid in chickens," his mom and I chided him, pointing out that Matt Murdock didn’t make much money in the Netflix series. "I like chicken," he responded.
He likes justice even more than chicken, so there has been no dissuading him from his goal. Besides, his second choice of profession is journalism, a slightly more dangerous line of work in the Philippines, where 147 members of the press have been killed since 1986. "You’re a writer, Dad," he pointed out, "I could be like you."
"I watch films and write about them, champ," I told him. "Nobody is going to try and kill me."
Disney’s Daredevil: Born Again is a soft reboot of the Netflix series that picks up where the latter left off, complete with cameos from Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, who play Matt Murdock’s besties Karen Page and Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, respectively. But Born Again breaks from the past in a decisive and shocking way from the get-go, letting viewers know that it’s a new chapter and that all bets are off.
In Born Again, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) has come to a crossroads, losing something so important to him that he’s forced to give up his horned cowl and meander through life as an ordinary lawyer. Or as far as a man with super-powered hearing and radar sense can be ordinary, anyway. On the flip side, his longtime arch nemesis Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin (Vincent d’Onofrio) takes on a bigger, more public role that uncomfortably echoes much of what is happening in governments the world over. Just like in the Philippines or the United States, where convicted felons and persons charged with graft and corruption get elected into public office, crime boss Fisk becomes the Mayor of New York.
The series kicks off with an overwhelming feeling of defeat and helplessness, something we can all relate to as ordinary citizens watching from the sidelines as criminals and oligarchs take control of public policy. It’s this precise feeling of helplessness that inspired my son to want to pursue a career in law. I wonder if he would’ve been as inspired if he was introduced to Daredevil in Born Again rather than the Netflix series because the Disney+ version of Matt Murdock is a broken, defeated man who no longer sees the point in wearing his red, kevlar-lined suit to protect the streets.
My son, a martial arts prodigy who started wushu at age four and got a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 16, thankfully has no plans to pursue vigilantism. However, it’s arguable that people could use more vigilante justice in a world where law enforcement officers are often found to break the law as much as the criminals they’re supposed to catch. Daredevil: Born Again introduces a new vigilante into the mix with White Tiger or Hector Ayala, played by the late Kamar delos Reyes, who passed away from cancer before the series dropped last week. Matt takes on the task of defending Ayala, who, in attempting to help a bystander who was being assaulted, unwittingly gets entangled in the death of a police officer.
On August 16, 2017, high schooler Kian delos Santos was dragged away by plainclothes police officers, who then shot him dead, ostensibly as part of the so-called "war on drugs." Delos Santos and many others like him, teenagers like 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman and 19-year-old Carl Arnaiz, lost their lives to police officers. This sort of lawlessness from law enforcement isn’t uncommon in the Philippines, where the police are known to moonlight as muscle for the very sort of people they should put behind bars. What happens when the people meant to enforce the law are the ones who break it? How do you play fair if the system is rigged?
Matt knows the system is rigged, but he tries to play by the rules anyway. Born Again puts just a little more focus on Daredevil’s career as a lawyer, with parts of the show treated as a legal drama, and it’s just as intense, if not more, than a man in red spandex beating up criminals. In one of the most earnest and powerful exchanges in the entire Daredevil series, Matt tells Hector that he can no longer be the White Tiger. "There are other ways to help," he says, "other ways to contribute. Ways that don’t require a mask."
For almost all of us, this is the only way forward. We can only help, we can only contribute in ways that don’t require masks. For my son, who was inspired by Daredevil to pursue law, it’s to be a lawyer for the poor. Whatever trepidation we might have for his career choice must be set aside because he’s doing it for the right reasons. As Matt asks Hector, a working-class Puerto Rican struggling to pay his mortgage, why he continues to put himself in harm’s way to help others, Hector simply responds, "It’s the right thing to do."
Daredevil: Born Again is a more Disney-fied Daredevil, slightly less gritty and just a little more fantastic. Daredevil’s powers are more in line with those of a character in the MCU, and he swings through the air with some CGI assistance. But the themes and situations feel more real than they ever were, living in such interesting times. The Kinpin’s political ascent, like Lex Luthor’s election to the US Presidency in a comic storyline in 2001, would’ve only existed in the realm of fiction two decades ago. But we live in an age where convicted felons and oligarchs accused of P205 million plunder cases get elected to the highest office in the land. We live in an age where truth is even more uncomfortable than fiction, and there are no masked heroes to be found.
All we get are people who try to do the right thing, like journalists or lawyers who don’t enrich themselves and devote their lives to public service. Netflix’s Daredevil inspired my son to want to become a lawyer, and Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again is a reminder to always do the right thing, even if the cost is high.
