Disney’s second season of Daredevil: Born Again is struggling to find an audience on Disney+, and the numbers show it. Six episodes into its new run, not a single episode of the second season of Daredevil: Born Again has reached Nielsen’s weekly top ten chart for original streaming programs, according to industry ratings data. Recent lists show that the minimum requirements to make it into tenth-place on the streaming original charts is around 239 million viewing minutes in a week, which means the latest Marvel series isn’t even crossing that low threshold.
For context, Star Wars: The Acolyte experienced low Nielsen viewership as well, but it debuted with 488 million minutes (Weeks 1-2), dropped to 370M by Week 3, then disappeared from top 10 charts for several weeks until the finale which saw a slight increase to 335M minutes, marking it as one of the lowest-performing live-action Star Wars series on Disney+. Comparitively, Daredevil: Born Again season two has hit an all-time low for Disney+.
The show’s weak performance follows a soft first season. None of the episodes from the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, Disney’s revival of the earlier Netflix hit Daredevil, managed to reach Nielsen’s top ten chart either, registering a track record that marks a sharp break from earlier Marvel shows on Disney+, which reliably landed in the rankings at least once, historically pulling enough viewers to show up in the ratings, even when reviews were mixed. Shows like She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel still managed to chart at one point, despite their woke storylines. The fact that Daredevil: Born Again has not cracked the list in either season stands out in that context and raises questions about the direction of the Marvel brand under Disney’s watch.
Disney has shifted from classic escapist storytelling to message-driven content that leans into current politics, and the shows have been starting to feel more like lectures than entertainment, resulting in ever declining interest. Daredevil: Born Again has been leaning into a storyline that’s little more than a heavy-handed allegory for real-world debates over Donald Trump and immigration enforcement, nothing like the thrilling character-driven drama from its Netflix glory days.
Of course, the best genre stories have always reflected the real world in some way, but the way Disney frames the plots tells the audience what to think rather than inviting them to think for themselves, which undercuts the story entirely. The original Netflix version of Daredevil fuels that frustration, because many fans still praise the original series for its grounded tone, its focus on heroism, and its balance of gritty action with moral conflict. When the rights moved to Disney, viewers were rightly worried that the studio would reshape the characters to fit its current corporate and cultural priorities. That seems to be the case.
They consistently weaken the male leads while elevating formulaic “girlboss” characters, which is the simplest reason they keep seeing slipping box office and weak streaming performances across the Marvel lineup. Marvel’s core audience wants strong, aspirational heroes and coherent world-building, not constant lectures and identity-driven plot turns. Whether Disney ever manages to adjust course, or once again doubles down on its current approach will shape not only the future of Daredevil on streaming but also the larger direction of Marvel’s once-dominant empire.
Pro-tip Disney; you chased the mythical “modern audience” and in the process you drove away the actual core fans. They’re not coming back. Sell Marvel to someone who loves it and its fans. It’s clear that you do neither.
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English (US) · 