Netflix’s Daredevil has always been vague enough with its world-building that it could neatly fit into the larger MCU, but its world never explicitly confirms itself as a part of it. With the Netflix Marvel universe of characters, there was a distinct tone that was much darker than the MCU proper. And although it’s unclear which Netflix Defenders will the MCU, that should not be the sole focus of the series going forward.

Related: The MCU's Daredevil Season 4 Needs To Learn From Thor: Ragnarok

While it’s been confirmed that Daredevil: Born Again won't continue the Netflix show’s storyline, Disney+’s Daredevil will have to be faithful to its predecessor in of character, action, and tone in order to truly work. It’s likely the Daredevil reboot will have a group of new writers who may have a difficult time replicating the feel of the original show. In comparison to Netflix’s Daredevil, Disney+ shows usually opt to take fewer risks. They can get serious and somewhat tonally complex but ultimately tend to drop those complexities in favor of quickly and simply wrapping up their stories. That potentially spells bad news for the Born Again series.

What Disney+'s Daredevil Needs To Focus On To Be Successful

Simply bringing back the old cast won’t be enough, however. When Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin returned in Disney+’s Hawkeye, he was handled differently than in the Netflix series. Hawkeye's Kingpin feels more simplified than Netflix's incarnation because his personality and intelligence aren’t what drive him anymore. Instead of posing a threat through manipulation and scheming, Kingpin showcases cartoonish super strength and mostly sticks to utilizing ineffective goons. Since the new series will likely fall in line tonally with other Disney+ shows, it's possible this new tone will be incorporated into Disney+'s Daredevil.

Another potential effect of transitioning from the original to Disney+ is losing what made Netflix's Daredevil great: the iconic, mature action. Shows like Hawkeye and Falcon and the Winter Soldier are violent, but they operate in a higher reality than the original Daredevil series where bones got broken and blood spilled. It's possible that Daredevil's next season will adopt the same approach to heightened reality, refraining from depicting Matt Murdock suffering from wounds or coming close to dying. That willingness to portray the main character's weakest moments, however, is what made the original show stand out.

A new story can work as long as it has characters that stand on their own. Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again will not merely be a carbon copy of the original show or act as Daredevil season 4, but it also doesn't need to in order to be successful. It just has to deliver a story that works just as well while keeping the tone. What made Netflix’s Daredevil work was its devotion to making the narrative a dark, complicated, lived-in world with real stakes and characters that had solid motivations beyond defeating the villain of the week. In order to stay true to the spirit of the Netflix series, Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again will have to adopt its predecessor’s dark complexities, careful approach to storytelling, and willingness to take risks.