Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock / Daredevil), Vincent D’Onofrio (Mayor Wilson Fisk), Margarita Levieva (Heather Glenn), Nikki M James (Kirsten McDuffie), Eldon Henson (Foggy Nelson), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Wilson Bethel (Bullseye), Ayelet Zurer (Vanessa Fisk), Zabryna Guevara (Sheila Rivera), Genneya Walton (BB Urich), Arty Froushan (Buck Cashman), Michael Gandolfini (Daniel Blake), and Clark Johnson (Cherry), with Kamar de los Reyes (Hector Ayala / White Tiger), and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / The Punisher
DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN
A Kevin Feige Production
Produced by Marvel Television for Disney+
Number of Episodes: 9
Initial Streaming: March 4, 2025-April 15, 2025
Rating: TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Daredevil: Born Again Facts
Daredevil: Born Again and its stars boast a complex history with Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I go into detail about that history in my Daredevil: Season One review, which you can easily access in the dropdown menu for The Defenders Saga. The short version is as follows: Daredevil: Season One was produced by the old guard Marvel Television run by Jeph Loeb. The series was one of 13 streaming television shows produced by Loeb’s team for Netflix from 2015-2019. These shows featured other popular Marvel characters such as Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher, and included a team-up series (The Defenders). When Daredevil: Season One launched, it was marketed as being set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Said Universe would become known as the MCU 616-Universe (first teased in Spider-Man: Far From Home and later confirmed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), with its events taking place upon the Sacred Timeline (as revealed during the first Season of Marvel Studios’ Loki series which was produced by Disney+.) This Cinematic Universe began in 2008, with the release of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man.
Though it was marketed as such at the time, the notion of whether or not The Defenders Saga was set in the world inhabited by The Avengers on the big screen was debated as Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios team altogether ignored the Defenders characters, refusing to endorse anything that Jeph Loeb and his team were doing. A very real divide between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television quickly manifested itself, with Feige at odds with not only Loeb and his team, but also with Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. During this time, Loeb and his team worked hard to build their own street-level sort of world while dropping small Easter eggs that acknowledged what was happening in the movies, but Feige and his Marvel Studios team made no such efforts. On August 31, 2015, everything came to a head with the announcement from The Walt Disney Company that moving forward, Marvel Studios would move out from under Marvel Entertainment and would fall directly under the jurisdiction of Walt Disney Pictures with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige answering directly to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn instead of Ike Perlmutter. Essentially, Marvel Studios continued doing what they were doing, and Marvel Television continued doing what they were doing, but to the disappointment of Defenders Saga fans, no crossovers from the Netflix characters into the movies ever materialized. The 23-films that comprised the Marvel Cinematic Universe achieved unprecedented success and Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame briefly became the highest-grossing film of all-time.
On December 10, 2019, following the promotion of Kevin Feige to Marvel Chief Creative Officer by The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios with Jeph Loeb leaving Marvel Entertainment and the Studio focusing its television content on the production of shows for the upstart Disney+ streaming service that would be firmly and undisputedly set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with multiple character crossovers from movies to television and from television to movies. From there, Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched what Kevin Feige has since labeled The Multiverse Saga. As Phase Four evolved, Feige began to explore some of the toys that his suddenly deeper and wider sandbox boasted, beginning with a deal with Sony Pictures (with whom Marvel Studios began working in 2015 when Spider-Man was brought into the MCU) that would canonize all of Sony’s past Spider-Man films and the entirety of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe with it. All of this came together in the production of the Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home which brought several characters from past Sony Spider-Man films into the MCU 616-Universe including Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3, and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man from The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. What may have been the worst kept secret in Hollywood history was still monumentally exciting for MCU fans and longtime Marvel movie fans alike, but the dual Spider-Man appearances weren’t the only intended surprise. For also appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home was Charlie Cox, reprising his role as Matt Murdock / Daredevil! Though his appearance was little more than a cameo, it was immensely thrilling to see Cox share the screen with Tom Holland (Peter Parker), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), and Marisa Tomei (Aunt May) and after more than three-years following the end of the Daredevil Netflix series, MCU fans could finally get excited for the character’s future! Around this time, Vincent D’Onofrio appeared in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye in a reprisal of his role as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin as well.
As fans continued to wonder and openly debate whether or not the respective versions of Daredevil and Kingpin in No Way Home and Hawkeye were the same versions of the characters that appeared in the Netflix shows, each of Marvel Television’s Netflix shows moved over to Disney+ from Netflix on March 16, 2022. Then, at the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, Kevin Feige announced that Cox and D’Onofrio would reprise their respective roles in a Marvel Studios Disney+ series titled Daredevil: Born Again. Soon, Charlie Cox appeared as Daredevil once again in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series on Disney+ (complete with the familiar Daredevil Netflix theme when She-Hulk questioned who he was) and Cox and D’Onofrio each filmed scenes for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Echo. On top of all of that, Jon Bernthal (who debuted as Frank Castle / The Punisher in the Second Season of Daredevil) was confirmed to be appearing in Daredevil: Born Again in a reprisal of the role that he portrayed for Netflix as well.
In the meantime, Kevin Feige relaunched Marvel Television as a division of Marvel Studios, putting producer Brad Winderbaum in charge. “Marvel Spotlight” and “Marvel Animation” divisions were also formed. All the while, no one from Marvel Studios would either confirm or deny that the continuity of the now former Netflix shows would be honored in the projects that they were hard at work developing. However, during an interview with Screen Rant on January 3, 2024, Brad Winderbaum at long last confirmed that the now former Netflix shows ARE in fact canon and that the events seen in those shows took place within the MCU 616-Universe and upon the Sacred Timeline. This was visually confirmed the following day when a new trailer promoting Marvel Studios’ Echo featured footage from the now former Netflix shows. On January 10, 2024 (the day after all five episodes of Echo dropped on Disney+), each of the shows that comprised The Defenders Saga were moved to fit into the MCU viewing chronology on Marvel’s Disney+ “MCU Timeline” menu page.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Marvel Studios’ Echo series debuted with a Mature rating and very much boasting the spirit of the now former Netflix shows with plenty of blood, violence, and hard-hitting action scenes mixed in. Charlie Cox briefly appeared in the first episode of Echo, suited up in his familiar red suit (Cox wore a predominantly yellow suit in She-Hulk) battling the deaf soon-to-be-hero. Meanwhile, Echo’s past with Wilson Fisk (first established in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye) was further explored with Vincent D’Onofrio stealing the show as Kingpin. As had been speculated in recent days, the past of Fisk as established in Daredevil was honored, specifically the murder of his father by his own hand when he was a child. Echo garnered a respectable 70% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was confirmed to have been significantly edited by Marvel Studios in post-production. While Echo was always intended to set the stage for Daredevil: Born Again, said series began to undergo numerous changes as well, with Kevin Feige and his team deciding to completely overhaul the series mid-way through production. The decision came at a time of self-reflection for Feige and his team following the return to Disney of Bob Iger and during a challenging time for the Studio that in addition to a Writer’s and Actor’s strike included some of the worst-reviewed and worst-performing Marvel Studios productions since Feige went into independent filmmaking from the divisive Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, to the critically loathed Secret Invasion series, to the box office bomb The Marvels, and on to outside controversies that included the leave of longtime Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso and the removal of actor Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror (The Multiverse Saga’s intended Big Bad) due to a domestic violence incident and his consequent arrest and conviction.
The reunited duo of Iger and Feige came together to approach the future of the MCU from a “Quality over Quantity” standpoint and Daredevil: Born Again was one of the projects most affected. In its early development and in fact, well into production, Daredevil: Born Again was intended to be a reboot. Yes, Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were leading the cast, but the versions of their characters were not going to share the exact same history of the Netflix shows and Born Again was intended to be lighter in tone to The Defenders Saga, with very few returning characters. Wilson Fisk’s love interest Vanessa was even recast! All of that soon changed, as the internal decision to canonize the entire Defenders Saga was made, despite most of the show having already been filmed. Entire characters and plotlines were reportedly cut out of the series and the show underwent an extensive creative overhaul. Producers Chris Ord and Matt Corman were relieved of their duties and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, who previously worked for Marvel Studios on Moon Knight and Loki: Season Two, were brought in along with Dario Scardapane (who worked as a writer on The Punisher series) as the new showrunner. Furthermore, several characters from the Netflix shows were brought back, including Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Jon Berthal as Frank Castle / The Punisher, Wilson Bethel as (Dex) Bullseye, and even Ayelet Zurer as Wilson Fisk’s beloved Vannessa.
Daredevil: Born Again was originally slated for a 2024 release on Disney+ but ultimately landed a Spring-2025 release date and would serve as a follow-up to The Defenders Saga, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Hawkeye, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Echo. Daredevil: Born Again draws inspiration from several Daredevil comic book runs, but most notably Chip Zdarsky’s run that spanned 36 issues and fueled Marvel’s Devil’s Reign story arc. This entire series comes highly recommended by yours truly.
In Daredevil: Born Again, Kamar de los Reyes portrays Hector Ayala / White Tiger. The original character was created by Bill Mantlo and George Perez, debuting in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu # 19 in December of 1975. Hector Ayala was the original White Tiger, but the mantle of the White Tiger has been worn by several different personalities over the years. Hector Ayala’s story ended during Brian Michael Bendis’ Daredevil comic book run (2001-2006). Kamar de los Reyes died from cancer on Christmas Eve 2023, at the age of 56, after his Daredevil: Born Again scenes completed filming.
The release of Daredevil: Born Again marks the 10th Anniversary since Charle Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio respectively debuted as Daredevil and Kingpin in the 2015 Daredevil series produced by Netflix for the original version of Marvel Television. The events seen at the beginning of the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again take place 10-years after Daredevil: Season One‘s modern setting (2015) in the MCU year of 2025. The show quickly jumps forward one year, which lands most of Daredevil: Born Again in the MCU years of 2026 and 2027 upon the MCU Timeline.
In Daredevil: Born Again, Wilson Fisk audibly references Spider-Man when he says, “We don’t need a man who dresses in a spider outfit.” This line excited many Marvel fans, as Kingpin is a traditional enemy of Spider-Man (he actually first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #50 in July of 1967. Fisk didn’t actually start appearing in Daredevil comics until 1970. Fans hoping to see a physical appearance from Peter Parker or Spider-Man in Daredevil: Born Again were left disappointed, but Kingpin’s line does leave hope for a future live action showdown between the Mayor of New York and its resident spider hero.
The most notable MCU cameo in Daredevil: Born Again came in Episode Five: With Interest in the form of Yusuf Khan, portrayed by Mohan Kapur. Yusuf is the father of Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel (who he namedrops during the episode) and has previously appeared in Ms. Marvel (2022) and The Marvels (2023). Jack Duquesne also appears in Daredevil: Born Again after previously appearing in Hawkeye, portrayed by Tony Dalton, who reprises the role here.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
My Daredevil: Born Again Review
Heaven’s Half Hour – Directed by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson. Written by Dario Scardapane
The first episode of Daredevil: Born Again picks up with Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, and Karen Page following the events of Daredevil: Season Three. They are working together out of a store front as the Nelson, Murdock, and Page law firm. The three of them go out together for drinks and laughs at Josie’s Bar. There, the evening quickly turns fatal upon the arrival of Bullseye (the psychotic former FBI Agent with perfect aim known as “Dex” from Daredevil: Season Three). Bullseye makes instant impact, shooting Foggy Nelson in the chest with a violent gunshot that splatters Karen’s face with Foggy’s blood. Bullseye then begins to turn his rampage upon various patrons at Josie’s Bar. Matt has slipped away ever so briefly to suit-up as Daredevil and returns to the scene just in time to save Karen as Bullseye approaches her for a kill-shot and to traumatically realize that his best friend has been shot. Daredevil and Bullseye brawl inside and outside of Josie’s Bar with more people getting injured in the process. Their fight eventually is taken to the roof where Matt desperately tries to fend off a fierce onslaught from Bullseye while trying to concentrate on the slowly beating heart of Foggy, who is bleeding out in Karen’s arms. In short order, that heartbeat ends and Foggy dies just outside of Josie’s Bar. Overcome with grief and rage, Matt removes Bullseye’s mask, wanting to know why he had to bring himself to do what he’d just done. The psychotic former FBI Agent responds with a chilling laugh and gleeful smile that would make The Green Goblin jealous, prompting Matt to bitterly toss him from the rooftop where he splatters on the street below. “Dex” survives Daredevil’s attempted murder, but Matt Murdock has been forever changed. He allowed himself to go to a dark place that he’d always managed to resist no matter the circumstance and he has lost the most important person in his world. In his grief, Matt unmasks and is found out by his police friend “Cherry”, who instead of outing him, ultimately goes to work for Matt at the new law firm that Matt launches during the fallout of Foggy’s death. Matt Murdock is Daredevil no more.
The series jumps forward 1-year later to late-2026 upon the MCU 616-Timeline. Matt’s new law partner is former Assistant District Attorney Kirsten McDuffie. He is estranged from Karen and coping with his new normal as best he can while preparing to testify at Bullseye’s sentencing. This ends up being quite the emotional day for Matt as he grieves Foggy and spills his guts to the jurors and reunites with Karen, who returns to witness the sentencing. Benjamin Poindexter is sentenced to life in prison times 11 for his eleven counts of murder at Josie’s Bar. Following the sentencing, Matt’s reunion with Karen (who has moved away from New York) proves to be a confrontational one and he finds little personal closure in any of it. Move on he must though, and this is further complicated by the sudden return to prominence of Matt’s arch-nemesis Wilson Fisk, who has entered the New York City mayoral race. Hearing the voice of the now former Kingpin takes Matt back to more dark times in his life due to the violent and personal war that he and Fisk waged against one another for the better part of 3-years. Matt finds it extremely unsettling that Fisk could be considered anything other than a murderous criminal by the general public and he finds himself becoming more and more cynical with each passing day.
As for Fisk, he is in a very different place than we last saw him in Daredevil: Season Three when Matt refrained from beating the Kingpin to death and instead sent him away to a presumed life in prison, reaching a truce with Fisk in which Matt vowed to legally spare Fisk’s beloved Vanessa in exchange for Fisk not outing Matt as Daredevil and refraining from hurting his friends and colleagues. Of course, the “Snap” happened in 2018, and during the fallout of half the world’s population being erased from existence, Fisk (who we know survived the “Snap” due to events seen in Echo) presumably took advantage of the chaos and escaped incarceration, after which he began to rebuild his criminal empire, which had taken a drastic hit in recent years. Though he was still revered in some small circles of organized crime, he was far from the mighty Kingpin he’d once been. Still, Fisk maintained some partnerships, including one with the Tracksuit Mafia organization run by William Lopez. In days past, Fisk had bonded with William’s deaf daughter Maya, whom he grew to love as if she were his own. Desperate for power and influence post-Snap, Fisk quickly grew tired of William’s attitude and prominence within the Tracksuits and consequently set Lopez up to be murdered by the vigilante known as Ronin (the now former “Avenger” known as “Hawkeye”) who’d targeted the Tracksuits as part of his blood-fueled crusade against the criminal underworld. Fisk saw William’s death as a two-fronted opportunity: gain more control over the operations of the Tracksuits, and groom Maya Lopez (now herself a member of the Tracksuits) to be his own personal weapon. Fisk promised Maya vengeance, offering to serve Ronin up to her for slaughter in exchange for her loyalty, and in short order, the unique bond that he and Maya shared during her childhood was restored, now stronger than ever. The depths of Fisk’s mental and emotional manipulating of Maya became clear to her in the post-Blip year of 2024, when she discovered through Hawkeye, that Fisk was responsible for her father’s death. This information prompted Maya to shoot Fisk in the face, but he managed to survive her attack. As he endured what was a grueling recovery process, Fisk solemnly regretted what had become of his and Maya’s relationship and vowed to make amends with her as soon as he was able. In the meantime, his wife Vanessa (as we learned in this episode of Daredevil: Born Again) took over Fisk’s struggling criminal enterprise and eventually led it to new heights. In time, Fisk managed to recover enough physically to leave the hospital and track Maya down to Tamaha, Oklahoma, where he wielded his influence to call off a hit on Maya’s life before revealing to her that he yet lived and held no grudge against her, offering her the opportunity to finish the job and kill him, or take a place at his side in his planned return to prominence if she chose to let him live. Maya ultimately turned down Fisk’s offer and the disgraced former Kingpin lashed out against her in all the ways that he knew how, threating her friends and family. Summoning the mystical powers of her ancestors and sharing said powers with her family, Maya heroically stood strong against Fisk, but rather than make another attempt on his life, she instead used her healing powers to imbue the selfish and bitter Fisk with empathy, prompting him to flee Tamaha and end his vendetta against her. On his flight back to New York, an unusually emotional Fisk witnessed a television broadcast concerning the political upheaval underway in New York and quietly decided to eventually cast his hat into the looming mayoral race with sincere hopes of saving his city.
In present day, Kirsten McDuffie sets Matt Murdock up on a date with her therapist friend Heather Glenn, whom she concurrently sets up for a date with her lawyer friend. Matt and Heather are equally offended by Kirsten’s antics, but nonetheless hit it off and begin dating, quickly growing quite fond of each other. As for Matt’s new status quo within the MCU, his budding relationship with Kirsten sets him upon a new personal path following a very tumultuous few years dating back to the Snap. Matt too was not amongst the Vanished and he continued fighting crime as Daredevil during the 5-years between the Snap and the Blip. Though he was not directly involved with Wilson Fisk, he did fight Maya Lopez while waging his own (non-murderous) war against the Tracksuits while continuing on with his work as a lawyer (the fate of his partners Foggy and Karen during the time between the Snap and the Blip has not been disclosed by Marvel Studios / Marvel Television). Following the return of the Vanished, Matt enlisted the services of flamboyant superhero costume designer Luke Jacobson to make for him a new yellow-and-red Daredevil suit, revealing his identity to Jacobson in the process. Matt later legally represented Jacobson and met fellow lawyer Jennifer Walters, whom he soon discovered was herself a crime-fighting hero known as She-Hulk. Matt and Jennifer hit it off and began dating, and she even introduced him to her family, but obviously, Matt and Heather’s blossoming relationship in Born Again suggests that his relationship with Jennifer was for whatever reason grounded, most likely due to the mental and emotional fallout of Foggy’s death.
As Matt and Heather bond, we learn that Wilson and Vanessa Fisk are on the outs. Evidently, she begrudged him for his quiet exit from the hospital, which after five months of helping nurse him back to health, she saw as abandonment. She therefore moved on to another man and took solace in the success of her criminal empire. When Wilson returns to Vanessa to confirm the success of his mayoral campaign, she is none too thrilled to see him and the bond that they once shared has apparently been broken.
In short order, Wilson Fisk is elected Mayor. Remaining disturbed by his popularity, Matt Murdock sets out to meet with the former Kingpin to share a face-to-face conversation. In what is an absolutely captivating scene, Fisk and Murdock acknowledge their past while expressing timid hope for the future. There is a really weird sort of mutual respect between these two that works exceptionally well if you know their history. Fisk insists that he only wants what’s best for the city while solemnly swearing while expressing his sincere condolences that he played no part in Foggy’s death, and that he’d kept the promise he previously made to Matt. Matt meanwhile insists that he really has stopped being Daredevil and only fights crime now as a lawyer. Matt has changed too. Amongst all of the compliments and reminiscing, an awkward tension between the two remains. Consequently, Matt vows to bring Fisk down if his new role as sincere savior of New York is a ruse and Fisk vows to take Matt down if he dares resume his vigilante activities. There is a common darkness within these two despite their best intentions, and this mutual aspect of each of their souls promises to fuel this series as long as Kevin Feige and his team want to keep making episodes. The episode poetically ends with Fish standing atop a rooftop looking down on his city while Matt is surrounded by a crowd of impassioned Fisk supporters in the street. The game is on!
This first episode of Daredevil: Born Again was everything that I wanted it to be! It was bloody, violent, tragic, suspenseful, and dramatic. I don’t know that there could have been a more perfect bridge between the now former Netflix shows and this soft reboot. The narrative was expertly fitted into the MCU Timeline with no noticeable contradictions to anything seen before or after the end of the Netflix shows. The character arcs of Matt and Fisk are both beyond compelling and somehow, the showrunners managed to honor the legacy of the now former Netflix shows while forging ahead with new ideas. Foggy is dead. Karen is gone. Matt is no longer Daredevil. Wilson and Vanessa Fisk seem doomed, and the former Kingpin is now Mayor of New York. The status quo has been significantly altered while staying true to the spirit of the original series. As a fan, I don’t know what more I could have asked for, and I truly believe that Kevin Feige averted certain disaster by NOT altogether rebooting this series and instead (along with Brad Winderbaum) deciding to retroactively confirm the original Netflix shows as MCU canon that took place upon the Sacred Timeline / Earth-616. I loved the new series theme, the graphics for the opening credits, and the performances of just about everyone involved! The past supporting players showed up big for this, particularly Wilson Bethel, who was appropriately repulsive as Bullseye. As for the supporting players of the future, Heather is very likeable as Matt’s new girlfriend, as is his new partner, Kirsten. I also just LOVE this new dynamic between Fisk and Matt. I am very intrigued to see where it goes!
The only thing I didn’t really like about this episode was the stuff with BB Urich and The BB Report. I get the potential importance of the character and whatnot (the niece of the late Ben Urich), but I didn’t like how her little news reports were dispersed throughout the episode. They just seemed to be a distracting tonal shift, and I just didn’t care for the execution of that, but this is a very, very small complain. 99% of the rest of this show was masterpiece-level stuff!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Optics – Directed by Michael Cuesta. Written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord
The second episode of Daredevil: Born Again didn’t start with quite the same punch as the first one did, but it was still a jaw-dropping scene that set the tone for the rest of the episode. Hector Ayala gets involved in a scuffle with two dirty cops when he rushes to the aid of a man Nicky Torres, whom they are assaulting at the train station. The cops warn Ayala against interfering but never tell him that they are policemen. As Ayala brawls with the two men and Torres flees, he sidesteps one of the officers and the man is killed by an oncoming train. It is only then that the man’s partner reveals his badge, and he places Hector under arrest.
Matt Murdock decides to take Hector on as a client after overhearing the corruption pertaining to him. Ayala has become one of the most hated men in the city, being dubbed a “cop killer”, despite his ongoing insistence that the death of the officer was an accident. Using his abilities, Matt quickly deduces that Hector is in fact innocent, but also that there is something that Hector is not telling him. This provokes Matt to have Cherry look into Hector’s wife, and Cherry discovers that Hector is the crime-fighting vigilante known as White Tiger; one of the people who began defending the city following Daredevil’s disappearance / retirement. Matt obviously realizes the gravity of the situation, knowing that Mayor Fisk has already begun to actively campaign against vigilantes, as promised. The entire situation could fuel a public uproar and make winning Hector’s case nearly impossible. Matt initially lashes out at Hector for his secrecy, but knowing all too well his own demons, Matt backs down and promises to do everything that he can to get Ayala acquitted. In the meantime, Matt grows increasingly desperate to find Nicky Torres; the one person that can testify and potentially prove Hector’s innocence. After Ayala was denied bail, Matt takes the truth concerning Hector’s vigilante identity to the Judge, who sides with Matt, disallowing this information to be presented to the jurors. From there, Matt tracks down Torres and discovers that the partner of the cop that Hector is accused of murdering has intentions to kill Torres that very night. Now having his physical address, Matt rushes to warn Torres, but the cop (who is not alone) arrives right behind Matt. After convincing Torres to flee out a window and directing him towards Cherry and protection, Matt lets the dirty cops in and taunts them with Nicky’s absence. Matt has underestimated the officers’ penchant for violence however, and they physically assault Murdock and prepare to kill him with a gunshot to the head right there in Nicky’s apartment, forcing Matt to defend himself. He takes both of them down but is emotionally rattled by the confrontation and the political complexity of Hector’s case as well as the unabashed corruption of the NYPD.
Elsewhere, Wilson Fisk attempts to get settled-in as mayor, uneasily coming to terms with the responsibilities. Mayor Fisk must maintain a positive rapport with the public while striving for each and every political endorsement that he can get. This includes the complicated tasks of winning over local law enforcement, which boasts many of his public enemies, and improving the dwindling public perception of his and Vanessa’s relationship. Fisk patiently takes these tasks on, but as well as a spur-of-the-moment traffic solution that wins over onlookers go, the meeting with the embittered police Commissioner Gallo goes equally as bad. Gallo pulls no punches concerning his distrust and outright hatred of Fisk, and goes so far as to announce his resignation, but Fisk fires back with a not-so-subtle threat to Gallo’s family and his colleagues, prompting Gallo to begrudgingly refrain. This shows that for Fisk – for all of Maya’s voodoo and his own good intentions – old habits die hard.
On top of all of this, Fisk and Vanessa begin couples counseling at Wilson’s behest, and this proves to be quite the challenge, as Vanessa has seemingly lost most – if not all – of her romantic feelings – as well as her respect – for her husband. To add to the drama of the situation, their therapist is none other than Matt’s girlfriend Heather! What a tangled web we weave!
Mayor Fisk furthermore shares his time with BB Urich, taking a specific interest in her due to her familial ties to her Uncle Ben.
This was another sensationally compelling episode of Daredevil: Born Again that moved the story forward with a few surprising twists. Due to my comics fandom, I had a pretty good idea of how the Hector Ayala story was going to end, but I loveed how it was being presented and found myself really enjoying the performance of the late Kamar de los Reyes. Charlie Cox, too, was sensational during the scenes that he shared with Hector, particularly the dressing-down scene on the jail phone.
As for Vincent D’Onofrio, he too had plenty to chew on here. I really liked the way he seemed subtly intimidated by the responsibilities of being mayor and then underscoring that with the familiar comfort he finds in the manipulation of events so that they fall in his favor. He was coming across as both boyishly vulnerable and devilishly confident with his performance as Fisk, and that was a throwback to the way that he portrayed the character in Daredevil: Season One. We all knew how Vanessa anchored the volatile Fisk in the first Season, serving as his greatest strength as well as his greatest weakness, and I wondered coming out of this episode where his character would go if they truly failed to work things out. For an unanchored Fisk could be an unimaginable nightmare for all those who oppose him; even Daredevil had never actually opposed a Fisk that had nothing to lose.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
The Hollow of His Hand – Directed by Michael Cuesta. Written by Jill Blankenship
Tension between Wilson and Vanessa Fisk continues to escalate as Mayor Fisk believes that they should stay out of all business pertaining to Vanessa’s criminal empire and allow those who comprise it to kill one another after they begin to fight amongst themselves due to the complexities of the former Kingpin’s return to New York and his influence. We see that Vanessa’s people respect her for the ways she stepped out of her husband’s shadow and led in his absence, and there is also a specific resentment for the former Kingpin, whose vision seems unfocused and whose ways seem outdated. As for Vanessa, she has taken great pride in her successes and is frustrated by the notion of her empire crumbling.
Meanwhile, a brave and determined Cherry gets Nicky Torres safely (no easy task) to the courthouse to testify in Hector Ayala’s defense, but once on the stand, Torres denies being at the train station on the night that he was rescued by Ayala, choosing to lie rather than face the consequences of the hungry-for-revenge NYPD. This leaves a frustrated Matt feeling like he has no other choice but to out Hector’s identity as White Tiger to the jury, despite the obvious hypocrisy of such a choice.
The decision works in Matt’s favor however, as Murdock, in detailing Hector’s many heroic exploits, is able to build up enough sympathy from the jury that Ayala is acquitted. Matt’s triumph does not go unnoticed by Mayor Fisk, and he publicly denounces Hector’s acquittal while maintaining his strong stance against vigilante activities.
Matt advises Hector to refrain from suiting up as White Tiger, but Hector doesn’t, and at the end of the episode, we see him murdered by a man boasting the familiar “Punisher” skull.
This was a solid episode. I liked getting to see Matt in court and I always welcome more of that. The White Tiger arc didn’t end exactly how I thought it would (he was gunned down on the courthouse steps in the comics), but it had the same effect. White Tiger is dead, and there is obviously a dangerous faction of police who view Frank Castle as not only a hero, but an inspiration.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Sic Semper Systema – Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Written by David Fiege and Jess Wigutow
After an emotional meeting with Hector Ayala’s niece Angela, who believes that the police were to blame for his death, Matt starts looking deeper into it and quickly realizes that she is correct. After discovering a bullet casing with a Punisher symbol at the site of White Tiger’s murder, Matt seeks out Frank Castle to inform The Punisher that he has some rather disgusting fans. Frank wants no part of Matt’s guilt trip and turns the conversation on Matt, audibly insulting Matt over not avenging Foggy’s murder and suggesting that Matt had only come to meet with him for an endorsement should he decide to become Daredevil again.
Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk, even as Mayor, is finding it to be quite the challenge to execute his agenda, which includes the goal of rebuilding the city’s ports. Fisk doesn’t have the patience for bureaucracy nor betrayal, which is highlighted in this episode when he discovers that his protege Daniel Blake drunkenly leaked information to BB Urich, causing Fisk’s reputation to take a hit, as he was labeled a “union buster.” In a great scene, Blake comes clean with Fisk, who surprisingly shows the admiring young man mercy while warning him that should it ever happen again, things would be handled much differently. Fisk also continues to work on his relationship with Vanessa, openly discussing her cheating on him (with a man named Adam) with their therapist Heather. Vanessa privately tells Heather that she does not see her husband as a threat to her safety.
There was a lot of good stuff in this episode, with the highlight being Matt’s meeting with Frank Castle. It’s so great to see Jon Bernthal back as The Punisher, and the moral conflict between The Punisher and Daredevil will never get old. Matt says that Bullseye got life in prison and that justice was served, while Frank defiantly asks “What about ‘ol Foggy? Did he get life?” Brilliant stuff, and while Frank mocking Matt over Foggy’s death was cruel in a sense, it was also motivating for Matt, who we see pick back up his billy clubs before the end of the episode.
As for the Fisk stuff, I really liked Wilson showing mercy to Daniel, who is pretty much his biggest fan. His drunken words about Fisk’s goals were spoken with admiration and enthusiasm – he genuinely believes in Wilson Fisk and his vision, and it was cool to see Wilson show Daniel a kind of mercy that his father never showed him. I also loved the end of the episode where we see Fisk has poor Adam locked up. He really has kept his word to Vanessa that he wouldn’t kill Adam, but he never said anything about not torturing Vanessa’s love, did he?
For both Fisk and Matt, old habits die hard.
Last but not least, we got our first glimpse at serial killer Muse at the end of this episode, and Muse looked great!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
With Interest – Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Written by Grainne Godfree
This episode aired untouched and as the old Daredevil: Born Again team wrote and filmed it. It therefore gives the viewer a small glimpse at what this show would have been had so many changes not been made. The plot simply sees Matt, after being denied a loan, get caught up in a bank robbery and his work to meticulously save the hostages, which include Yusuf Khan.
There was a lot of humor in this episode, which was set on St. Patrick’s Day. There is a brutal fight scene near the end of the episode, and it was really cool to hear all of the references to Ms. Marvel, but I felt Yusuf was written to be too bumbling here and I started getting annoyed by him as the episode went on. It had a lot of “buddy cop” kind of stuff, and I just didn’t love it.
It wasn’t all bad but this felt more like an episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law than Daredevil: Born Again, and it was easily the worst episode of the series for me.
Still, worth it for that sick shot of Daredevil kicking that guy’s knee alone!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Excessive Force – Directed by David Boyd. Written by Thomas Wong
There were two main plot points to come out of this episode. The first was Mayor Wilson Fisk’s assembling of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. The AVFT is comprised of dirty cops, and they commissioned by Fisk to enforce the law in any way that they see fit. The other major plot point was Matt Murdock’s return as Daredevil!
Hector Ayala’s niece takes her theory that her uncle was investigating Muse to Matt, but he refuses to appease her in terms of his efforts to look into it, prompting young Angela to look it to herself and wouldn’t you just know that she ends getting abducted by the serial killer. Muse has every intention to kill Angela. His layer is super creepy, and he begins draining her blood with hopes of using it in his perverse art, but Daredevil arrives, and the fight is on! Muse isn’t much of a match for Daredevil. He flees the scene, and Matt gets Angela away to safety. Daredevil is back, baby!
Elsewhere, Jack Duquesne (Hawkeye) returns during this episode of as an enemy of Fisk’s, whose AVFT is publicly announced as having been formed to deal with the Muse situation, but you just knew that Daredevil would be targeted as well, in short order, and as Fisk had promised.
The episode ends with Fisk arming poor Adam with an ax and challenging him to a fight, which Fisk wins with ease.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Art for Art’s Sake – Directed by David Boyd. Written by Jill Blankenship
Word that Daredevil has returned infuriates Fisk, to the point that he doesn’t want to believe it. He encourages his AVTF to address the situation and to continue investigating the Muse situation. A troubled young man named Bastion Cooper emerges as the top Muse suspect.
In the meantime, Bastion meets with his therapist Heather Glenn and as their session moves along, she deduces that Bastion is in fact Muse. Bastion attacks Heather and Matt arrives dressed as Daredevil to come to his girlfriend’s rescue. The AVTF also soon arrives upon the scene. Daredevil and Muse brawl, but Muse is ultimately taken down by Heather, who shoots him before blacking out. Matt tends to Heather, but must flee as the AFTF closes in.
Fisk, of course, awards public credit to his AVTF for taking down Muse and dubs the men “heroes.” No one involved in the situation is to acknowledge the involvement of Daredevil, and when BB Urich does that very thing, Daniel Blake confronts her and in a very threatening way and orders her to cease all such references.
Elsewhere, the city’s gang war comes to a head when Luca (who has been a consistent thorn in Wilson Fisk’s side), meets with Vanessa and proposes they kill Fisk and return the criminal underground to its former glory that was obtained under her lead. Vanessa seems to conspire against her husband with Luca, but Vanessa actually lets Wilson in on the would-be coup and the threat of Luca is decisively neutralized.
Great episode.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Isle of Joy – Directed by Juston Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Written by Jesse Wigutow and Dario Scardapane
With Vanessa having proven her undying loyalty to her husband, he comes clean with her, taking her to see the imprisoned Adam. Vanessa seems excited to see that the former Kingpin hasn’t lost his ruthlessness after all and sees Adam’s situation as a reflection of Wilson’s love for her. Vanessa kills Adam right then and there with the Mayor’s encouragement and the Kingpin and his bride are together again!
Meanwhile, Matt Murdock visits Dex in prison with hopes of getting Bullseye to confess that Mayor Fisk had hired him to kill Foggy. Dex’s lack of any real conversation combined with his unapologetic tone prompts Matt to smash Dex’s head into a desk, cracking one of his teeth. Dex later uses the tooth as a weapon and escapes captivity. (We are later shown that it was actually Vanessa Fisk that hired Bullseye to kill Foggy Nelson). I really loved Dex thanking Murdock after he smashed his face and Matt responding with a very defiant “F*ck you!” Great stuff!
As for Matt, we learn that his girlfriend Heather is very ant-vigilante herself and this of course, threatens to complicate their relationship as it moves forward.
A Ball is held in which Fisk blackmails the city’s wealthiest into endorsing his port project. The festivities are interrupted when a masked Dex arrives at the Ball and takes a shot at Fisk, only for Matt to push Fisk out of the way and take the bullet himself!
Matt just saved Fisk’s life!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Straight to Hell – Directed by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson. Written by Heather Bellson and Dario Scardapane
The Season Finale of Daredevil: Born Again had a lot to like!
Mayor Fisk cuts the power to New York City and orders Buck Cashman (more or less his new Wesley) to take Matt Murdock out, but Matt recovers enough to unite with Frank Castle. Daredevil and The Punisher join forces against the AVTF and Karen Page returns to New York, revealing that she requested that Frank look out for Matt after learning of Bullseye’s prison escape.
In the meantime, Fisk horrifically murders Commissioner Galo, literally crushing his head (this scene has to be seen to be believed)!
A lot of the details pertaining to Fisk’s agenda are revealed during this episode, most notably his goal to establish a city-state in the Red Hook district. We see Fisk declare Martial Law and we see his AVTF emerge to be quite good at their jobs. Both Jack Duquesne and Frank Castle are arrested and imprisoned by the Task Force. Fisk also hires Heather Gleen to be his Mental Health Commissioner as part of his ongoing campaign to restructure the city’s working government.
The episode does not end with any big Daredevil vs Kingpin fight. Instead, Fisk is positioned as having won up to this point. He is free and he is reunited with Vanessa and is successfully reshaping the government of the city towards the goal of serving his purpose. Matt, meanwhile, acknowledges that he can’t stop Fisk alone this time around and that he is going to need all the help that he can get!
Daredevil: Born Again: Season One was not perfect. There were some obvious pacing issues and things felt choppy sometimes, which is probably to be expected when a show undergoes the creative overhaul that this series did. The Murdock-Fisk dichotomy was far and away this Season’s greatest strength. Watching them both trying to be a different person but ultimately being unable to truly change made for a very compelling journey! Watching each settle back into their notorious roles was written and filmed very well, and the acting of both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio throughout the Season was exceptional. They are these characters at this point!
It felt like Muse was maybe killed off too soon, but his arc was intriguing and served the narrative quite well. Making art with the blood of your victims is sick, and really, pretty much everything with Muse and what he did to his victims was horror movie kind of stuff and fittingly defined the TV-MA rating. Having Frank Castle back is just all kinds of good! I love watching The Punisher punish and I hope to see more team-ups with him and Matt. In the meantime, a Marvel Spotlight project revolving around The Punisher has already been announced, and I can’t wait to see that! I liked seeing that the Fisk’s are reunited by the end of the series. Watching them argue and bicker wasn’t one of my favorite things; Wilson works best when his heart is set on Vanesa. but I really did like the wickedness that was showcased from within her throughout the Season. It’s clear that Vanessa had become unattracted to Wilson due to her feeling like he’d gone soft. Once he started putting back on the girth and began showing her that he was still someone to be feared, you saw that attraction coome back, and that was very well done!
I liked pretty much all of the fight sequences and the violence that the series incorporated. There was a lot of language and blood, and these things were actually turned up quite a bit from what was done in the now former Netflix shows. I should also say that I really liked most of the supporting characters. Heather Glenn was probably my favorite, but Daniel Blake was really interesting, and Buck Cashman was as well. They each in their own way added intrigue to Fisk as Mayor.
I never did get on board with the BB Urich character or her “BB Reports.” These segments usually took me out of the show and made certain episodes feel choppy.
Overall, my complaints are few and far between though. I think the creative overall did save this series and that building off of the foundation laid by the former Marvel Television regime was always the right idea. I will forever be shocked that Kevin Feige and his team weren’t going to go in that direction originally. A blind man could have seen that it was the right thing to do. At least they saw the error of their ways before they reached the point of no return. Hopefully, with Matt looking to build a team, we get some more Defenders Saga returns in Season Two!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Daredevil: Born Again
Charlie Cox is Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Vincent D’Onofrio is Mayor Wilson Fisk
Chemistry Between Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio
Daredevil vs Bullseye!
The Death of Foggy Nelson
Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / The Punisher
Wilson Bethel as Dex / Bullseye Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake
Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk
Matt Visits Dex in Prison
Fisk Murders Commissioner Galo
Spirit of the now former Netflix shows captured Perfectly
Muse
Everything is canon!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Continue following the MCU journey of Daredevil and Wilson Fisk in Daredevil: Born Again – Season Two (2026).
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