Marvel’s latest Disney+ series, Daredevil: Born Again, has officially tanked-big time. According to Nielsen data for the week of April 14–20, 2025, not a single episode of the show made it onto the top 10 streaming charts. This is a first for any Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Disney+ original series, which usually at least scrape into the rankings.
Even the finale, “Straight to Hell,” couldn’t crack the list, falling short of the 385 million minutes watched needed to chart that week. To put it in perspective, Mobland on Paramount+ made the cut with fewer episodes available. The whole season consistently underperformed, unlike past Marvel shows-even the so-called flops like She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion all managed to appear on Nielsen’s charts during their debuts.
Disney hasn’t shared official streaming numbers, but Nielsen’s data is the industry gold standard, tracking millions of Disney+ accounts in the U.S. automatically. Meanwhile, Disney’s own Samba TV has stayed silent on Daredevil: Born Again’s viewership, which usually signals the numbers are embarrassingly low.
Here’s a rough idea of the minutes each episode needed to chart, courtesy of Cosmic Book News:
- Episodes 1 & 2: under 465 million minutes
- Episode 3: under 464 million minutes
- Episode 4: under 373 million minutes
- Episodes 5 & 6: under 344 million minutes
- Episode 7: under 470 million minutes
- Episode 8: under 463 million minutes
- Episode 9: under 385 million minutes
Week after week, Daredevil failed to hit those marks, with no last-minute boost or binge-watching surge.
Despite this disaster, Season 2 is reportedly still in the works, with Krysten Ritter returning and promises of better writing and a bigger cast. Charlie Cox hinted that the new season will be a course correction, calling it some of the best writing the show has had. But with Disney pulling back on big-budget Marvel projects after several underwhelming releases, don’t expect a lavish budget or sky-high expectations this time around. In fact, most of the episodes were already planned as a bigger, single series before the writer’s strike, so news of a so-called “second season” shouldn’t be surprising.
What is surprising is that this flop is another sign of the damage Disney and Marvel have done by turning what was once a “boy brand” full of exciting heroes into a watered-down “lifestyle” or “princess” brand obsessed with identity politics. Instead of focusing on solid storytelling and thrilling action, Marvel’s recent projects have been bogged down by forced political messaging, slow pacing, and awkward MCU cameos that alienate longtime fans. The brand’s shine is definitely tarnished, and Daredevil: Born Again is just the latest casualty in the post-Endgame era.
Marvel’s attempt to turn its once-mighty franchise into a more politically correct lifestyle brand has backfired spectacularly. Fans have checked out, viewers have vanished, and Disney is left scrambling to figure out how to fix a brand that’s been diluted and damaged by all the identity politics and misguided reinvention. Daredevil: Born Again isn’t just a flop-it’s a glaring warning sign for the future of Marvel on Disney+.
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