Daredevil: Born Again is just over a month away from its premiere on Disney Plus on March 4, and now ratings are coming in. Not review scores, but a raqting from the BBFC, the British Board of Film Classification.
This is essentially the body that would give R/TV-MA ratings in the US, and now, Daredevil: Born Again has received the highest classification possible, 18+, indicating this is likely at least tied for the most brutal MCU project ever with a few other entries.
For context, all the Deadpool movies and their ultraviolence are 15+, where maybe that’s because it’s often played for laughs. Heading back to Netflix, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and The Defenders are 15+. Hilariously, the allegedly hyper-violent Moon Knight, as promised by its overseers, is only 12+.
What’s 18+? Not much. The only things:
- Season 2 of Daredevil
- Season 1 of Iron Fist
- Seasons 1 and 2 of The Punisher
If you have one season of 18+ it appears to rate your entire series 18+, but they do break it up like that. They even go through individual episodes it turns out. In the 18+ season of Daredevil, there are only two 18+ episodes. Iron Fist has one. The Punisher has six across two seasons.
We don’t yet know about each individual episode for Daredevil: Born Again, as surely all of them can’t have brutal fight scenes, but I mean, you can watch the trailer and certainly get the impression of what’s going to happen here. And given what gets a 15+ in the country, this has to be pretty extreme, from the sound of it. My guess is that this has something to do with Muse, a truly twisted villain in the comics who may be able to live up to his full potential here.
This is of course what Daredevil fans want. After the goofy Moon Knight promise of “unleashed” fight scenes, everyone wants Daredevil to go back to the Netflix days. It’s bizarre to think that the first draft of this show was mostly a Matt Murdoch courtroom drama, but they shifted into “give the people what they want” mode, and that very much includes and 18+/MA-rated series (MA was never really a question in the US).
Disney has shown an openness to more R-rated projects when previously they seemed married to the PG-13 rating for effectively anything. Lots of fights but the bare minimum of blood. And maybe one f-bomb in the entire saga. However, given that Deadpool and Wolverine just made $1.3 billion as one of its highest-earning projects, and assuming Daredevil is going to be a hit, yeah, we’re going to see more of this going forward as Disney realizes what age most Marvel fans actually are at this point.
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