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Many fans of Daredevil fell in love with the Netflix series. But when that relationship ended after three seasons and the Marvel/Disney era threatened a permanent end to more outstanding serialized Daredevil, we fans were cast into limbo.

Unlike the Marvel universe(s), in the real world, things can end end; yet, we continued to hope for resurrection.

Death and resurrection are one of the most persistent (and maybe even cliche at this point) motifs of the superhero comic book genre (Batman experiencing about 22 deaths, for example)—powerfully represented by the career of X-Men’s Jean Grey/Phoenix:

When Disney announced a reboot of Daredevil, fans rejoiced, and the death/rebirth motif once again resurfaced. This filmed rebirth, similar to the Netflix series, appeared committed to Daredevil’s print comic book roots:

Yes, the Disney reboot leaned hard into a favorite storyline from the Miller era:

Increasingly in the comic book world, however, any joy we fans feel can be incredibly short-lived (I barely began collecting Black Widow during the stellar Kelly Thomas v8 run before the series ended, along with the Black Widow solo title, after only 15 issues).

As anticipation mixed with dread grew about the Disney reboot of Daredevil (when cast members were announced, Foggy and Karen were noticeably absent), a strike delayed most original productions. In that pause, even more troubling news came: ‘Daredevil’ Hits Reset Button as Marvel Overhauls Its TV Business.

Daredevil canceled.

Daredevil rebooted.

Daredevil paused.

Daredevil rebooted again (for the better?).

During that same time span, print Daredevil also experienced a significant shift after the highly praised Chip Zdarsky run over two (inexplicable) volumes, 6 and 7.

Zdarsky’s Daredevil focused on extended explorations of Frank Miller’s focus on Matt as a Catholic and an increased emphasis on Daredevil in the ninja/supernatural world with Elektra (fully removed from Matt the lawyer and Daredevil the street-level superhero). In short, there was an abundance of spiritual fretting and an inevitable trip to Hell—and back.

The current reboot (v8) of Daredevil with a new creative team—Saladin Ahmed and Aaron Kuder—includes a soft shift back to Daredevil as a street-level superhero with a clever twist, “Recently, Matt somehow returned to life—born again as a Catholic priest”:

As with Zdarsky’s run, the priest/devil duality of the newest volume hints at plenty of Miller still surviving, including a Miller variant cover of v8 issue1:

Fans of Daredevil remain in a sort of nervous limbo while waiting for how Disney finally achieves the series Born Again, but in the mean time, we are gifted a somewhat classic rebirth of Matt and Daredevil as priest and devil with spectacular artwork and spreads:

The superhero genre of comic books provides a bittersweet irony since the one thing readers can count on is the death/rebirth motif sitting beneath the distorted passing of time—Matt/Daredevil barely aging over 60 years of comics.

While we readers can only depend in the real world on time passing and the inevitability of death.

Yes, in this real world, things will end end.

So we cling to the things that matter, the things we love.

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Daredevil 1 (1964) and facsimile from 2025: