Aaron Moorhead

The fights in Daredevil: Born Again (2025) still hurt to watch. We winced because the violence feels painful, even when the plotting feels familiar. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are the chief reasons to return, and Moorhead’s grounded approach is a good fit for the crime series. The uneven pacing is a drawback, and no amount of conviction from the actors can make the plotting more surprising.

The earlier films with Justin Benson give that attention to character less familiar settings. Their feature partnership began with Resolution (2013), followed by the romantic body horror of Spring (2014) and the cult-themed science fiction of The Endless (2017). Across their work, ordinary human concerns remain important even when the questions become cosmic. Benson is a writer and frequent on-screen collaborator as well as co-director, while Moorhead typically handles cinematography and visual effects. Those practical duties matter to this approach: the strange things have to look as though they belong beside the people.

That partnership moved into television during the 2020s, including Moon Knight (2022) and the second series of Loki (2023). Benson and Moorhead then took lead-director roles on Daredevil: Born Again after its creative overhaul. The attraction is clear: their attention to character suits a series that needs its people to matter between fights. It also leaves them dependent on writing that gives those people something interesting to do.

The danger is that Moorhead becomes the director brought in to make familiar material feel credible, without being given much opportunity to make it strange. Daredevil: Born Again benefits from the grounded approach, but its strongest recommendation remains Cox and D’Onofrio rather than any surprise in the storytelling. We would like their television work to attempt more of the unusual combinations found in the films with Benson. For a less conventional premise, Spring is the place to go next.