Daredevil: Born Again Ending Explained

Contains spoilers for "Daredevil: Born Again"

The Netflix "Daredevil" series really was something special. The show often told methodical stories focused on character development, but it also gave Daredevil some brutal action scenes that fans still remember fondly years later. "Daredevil: Born Again" promised to bring the series back to its original glory on Disney+, and judging by the overwhelmingly positive reviews, it definitely has.

Marvel has lied about Daredevil quite a bit over the years, but it didn't overstate things with "Born Again." The series is every bit as tense and entertaining as the Netflix show, and seeing the original cast come back for the a story is really great. Of course, "Daredevil: Born Again" is really just the beginning. The ending of the first season left so many tantalizing hints about what's next for the hero from Hell's Kitchen, and we're more excited than ever about Daredevil's future.

The story of "Daredevil: Born Again" kicks off with a nasty surprise. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and his friends are having a celebratory drink at Josie's bar when Benjamin Poindexter (Wilson Bethel), aka Bullseye, attacks and kills Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson). Matt joins the fight as Daredevil and chases Bullseye, and during their fight Matt throws him off a roof. Bullseye manages to survive the fall, but, mourning the loss of Foggy and fearing his own anger, Matt decides to retire as Daredevil.

The show really picks up a year after that fateful night. Matt is doing his best to live as a normal lawyer working with Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James) at their legal defense firm. Kirsten sets Matt up with a therapist named Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), who just so happens to be running counseling sessions for Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer). Following the ending of Marvel's "Echo," the Kingpin has returned to New York, but now he's playing a new role: mayor of the city.

Matt and Fisk have a meeting where they address their shared history from the events of Netflix's "Daredevil." Naturally, Matt suspects that the Kingpin might have hidden motives for becoming mayor, and Fisk doesn't believe that Matt has truly given up being Daredevil. The two still agree to leave each other alone, but Matt's already being pulled back on the path to becoming a superhero. Then he meets Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes), aka the White Tiger, and everything starts to change.

Hector is facing legal trouble because he accidentally caused the death of a police officer who was beating a civilian. The case is even more complicated because Hector is actually the vigilante known as White Tiger, and the mayor's office is running an anti-vigilante platform. Matt and Kirsten get Hector free, but on his first night back as White Tiger he's assassinated. Meanwhile, Fisk and Vanessa are healing their relationship with Heather's help, and the two of them are scheming up a plot to seize total control over the city and make millions via the mayor's office. When a serial killer named Muse (Hunter Doohan) starts leaving gruesome art all over the city, tensions around crime grow higher, and when Muse attacks Heather, Daredevil is pulled back into the action.

After Muse's death, Matt has a surprise breakthrough related to Foggy's death. He figures out that Vanessa Fisk hired Bullseye to kill Foggy because Foggy was working a case that would expose the Fisk criminal empire. Matt goes to confront the Fisks, and he ends up taking a bullet to save the mayor's life when Bullseye attacks again. Matt survives the shot, but Mayor Fisk uses the moment to declare all out war on vigilantes. As Daredevil, Matt teams up with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) to take down some of the mayor's goons and defend the city from the chaos of martial law. As the sun rises on New York, Matt has embraced his role as a hero, but now he's gearing up for a war with the mayor and his private group of loyal police officers.

Daredevil and the Kingpin have been mortal enemies from the earliest days of the Netflix series. Their rivalry in the comics goes back decades, and it's a major part of what makes each character work. The ending of "Daredevil: Born Again" has made their relationship more complicated than ever by adding a public dimension to it. Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have known each other's secret identities for a long time, but now that Matt saved Fisk's life, the entirety of New York City associates the two of them. It will be harder than ever for Fisk to make a move against his enemy. Matt is also going to have a hard time publicly distancing himself from Fisk's agenda now that he's saved the mayor's life.

Matt forever changed his relationship with Fisk when he took that bullet, but, more importantly, he changed his relationship with himself. Speaking on "Phase Hero: A Film & TV Podcast," "Daredevil" directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson explained how they originally wanted the camera to pan up from Matt's body to religious iconography floating above him. "It would kind of give this impression of Matt's soul leaving his body," said Moorhead, "but also this idea of him having committed this act of defending his worst enemy now gives him the grace that he felt like he lost in episode one." Matt's decision to save the Kingpin is what lets him truly become Daredevil again. Ironic considering that's probably the Kingpin's second-biggest fear, after getting shot.

Daredevil and the Punisher have always had a strained relationship. The two are ostensibly on the same side because they have a tendency to agree on who the villains are, but in practice they couldn't be further apart as heroes. The Punisher is willing to murder in the name of justice, and to a certain extent he seems to enjoy the violence involved in fighting crime. Daredevil, on the other hand, seems to view violence as an unfortunate necessity. There's no denying he's a skilled fighter, but when he pulls off his mask, Matt always feels a bit guilty for the violence he's partaken in.

The ending of "Daredevil: Born Again" forces Daredevil to team up with the Punisher in order to fight Fisk's men, and their partnership really highlights their moral differences. Even while fighting for his life, Daredevil begs the Punisher to not kill the people attacking them. Of course, the Punisher doesn't listen, and he actually pushes Daredevil to fully embrace more violent tactics. In the season finale, Punisher is forcing Daredevil to once again confront his actions in the premiere because the Punisher would have encouraged Daredevil to throw Bullseye to his death. By working alongside the Punisher in the season finale, Matt realizes that it really is possible for him to be a hero while staying true to his own moral code.

If there was ever any doubt about whether or not the Kingpin's wife is as vicious as the crime boss himself, it's gone now. Throughout "Daredevil: Born Again" we see that Vanessa is every bit as competent with and committed to the life of crime as her husband. In fact, one of the sources of conflict in their marriage is Vanessa's doubt in the Kingpin's ill intentions — she thinks he might really be aiming to become a benevolent mayor, and that just doesn't sit right with her.

Early in the season, we learn that Vanessa took over the Fisk criminal empire when the Kingpin left town during the events of the "Echo" TV series. That detail becomes even more important at the end of the show, when we learn that Vanessa had Foggy murdered. She wanted to kill Foggy because he was involved in a defense case that would have exposed part of the Fisk empire, and she almost managed to keep the whole thing covered up forever.

Now Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Matt are digging back through Foggy's old case and looking at the Fisks' past on an even more granular level. This season was all about setting up Vanessa as a major villain. Now that she's running the city hand-in-hand with her husband, Vanessa is going to be an even bigger threat heading into "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2.

Before the ending of "Daredevil: Born Again," it really seemed like Muse was going to be a major player in the drama unfolding across New York City. The trailers for the show put Muse front and center, showing him in heated fights with Daredevil. The show itself introduced Muse as Bastian Cooper (a troubled young man who's a patient of Heather's) very early in the season. After that, Bastian faded into the background, only to fully re-emerge as Muse in Episode 6. Because of all the build up, it was especially shocking when Heather shot and killed Muse during their confrontation in Episode 7. Muse's reign of terror in New York was short-lived, but even though he didn't live to see the finale, he might not be truly gone yet.

In the comics, Muse's dark story continued after his death. He was cursed to live in Hell for all eternity, but he found a way to communicate with a similarly troubled artist named Morgan Whittier. From the underworld, Muse managed to turn Morgan into a killer who had to be confronted by Daredevil. The Netflix show didn't really lean into the supernatural, though Matt does exist in a world where these things happen, so could we see something like this take place on screen in "Born Again" Season 2? After all, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a place where witches and sorcerers are fairly commonplace, so the comic-accurate Muse story might be a perfect fit for the second season.

Even though the cast of Netflix's "Daredevil" returned for "Born Again," the Disney+ series feels distinctly different. That's mostly because some of the biggest characters from the original series, like Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, barely got any screen time. That could change in Season 2 when it comes to Karen. The finale of "Daredevil: Born Again" sees her return to New York right when Matt needs her most, and the two of them start digging into the legal case that got Foggy killed.

By the time the finale is over, Matt and Karen have only just begun to uncover all the evidence that can be tied to the Fisks. The two of them have a lot of work left to do, and though the ending doesn't make it explicitly clear that Karen is back to stay, there are some encouraging signs. There's also comic book precedent to consider – Karen was introduced in the very first issue of "Daredevil" back in 1964, and she's been Matt's main love interest for decades.

Deborah Ann Woll has already confirmed that she'll be back in some capacity for Season 2, and she's hinted at more romance between her character and Charlie Cox's. "Karen has seen a lot of death in her life — [Foggy's] is one of the worst ones — and Matt has a tendency to feel responsible," Woll told Entertainment Weekly. "They probably can't escape each other on some level." For better or worse, the investigation into Foggy's murder and the Fisk criminal empire is going to force Matt and Karen together.

Foggy's death is the inciting incident in "Daredevil: Born Again," and that tragedy sets up Matt's character arc for the entire season. Without Foggy's death, Matt would never have retired as Daredevil, and his entire relationship with the Kingpin throughout this season would be different. Despite that, some fans think that Foggy's death is one big fake-out. They theorize that Vanessa could be keeping him alive somewhere, and that the show is setting up a massive reveal for Season 2.

Of course, this theory has its detractors, with people pointing to Matt's ability to hear heartbeats as confirmation of Foggy's death. This time, however, the comics side with the conspiracy theorists. In the "Daredevil" comics, there's a storyline where Foggy seemingly dies, and his death is even confirmed by Matt's super-powered hearing. In reality, though, the death was faked, and Foggy was forced into witness protection as part of a plot involving the FBI, the mob, the Hand, and Elektra.

In the comics, the Foggy death plot reaches its climax when Matt discovers that Vanessa Fisk was behind it all. At that point in the comics, Vanessa was dying, so it seems like the show is moving in a slightly different direction. Still, considering the other parallels between "Daredevil: Born Again" and the comics, a big Foggy reveal is definitely in the cards. It's been confirmed that Elden Henson will be back in some form for Season 2, but will this be in a flashback or a comeback?

New York City itself gets more attention in "Daredevil: Born Again" than it did in the original series. The Disney+ show opens by shaking up the city in a big way. Wilson Fisk becomes the mayor at the end of the season premiere, but it takes a bit longer for him to really take control of New York. The end of the first season changes the city in a much bigger way by showing how Mayor Fisk is rolling out new rules and enforcing them with the help of corrupt police officers.

Heading into Season 2, New York is going to be a completely different place. There's going to be a massive police presence in the streets, and the mayor's men will constantly be on the lookout for any vigilante activity. Daredevil has never exactly been embraced by New York, but now he's going to have a harder time than ever operating in the city. The ending of "Born Again" Season 1 sets up a conflict between Daredevil and the New York City government itself, which will certainly put Matt in a difficult place in his defense attorney day job. The public supports Fisk for now because of the Muse killings and the assassination attempt, but in Season 2, they just might balk at the mayor's extreme new rules.

In our review of "Daredevil: Born Again," we pointed out that even though the show is excellent, some cracks from its troubled production cycle still come through. Some of the storylines, like the bank heist in Episode 5, are exciting but slightly out of place compared to what surrounds them. The show went through some massive changes and rewrites in the middle of the production, but those changes can also tell us a little bit about why Season 1 ends the way it does.

If the "Born Again" finale felt like a midpoint to you, then you've got good instincts. This season was originally planned as an 18 episode story before eventually being whittled down to just 9. That really changed the pacing of the first season, but it probably didn't drastically alter the overall plan for the show. "Born Again" executive producer Brad Winderbaum has revealed that there are plans to make "Daredevil" an annual release, so that's probably part of why they didn't want to make the season too long.

"Born Again" hooked viewers with the mystery of Foggy's death and the Kingpin's plans for New York City. The season ultimately had us ride alongside Matt as he rediscovered his motivation to be a hero, but we still don't have answers to the biggest questions from the season premiere. That's because the real ending of "Born Again" is yet to come. All will become clear when the show returns for its second season.

Sometimes the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems overwhelmed by all the crossovers and connections between different properties. The world that "Daredevil: Born Again" sets up, however, is just begging for crossovers. New York has always been a major center of activity in the MCU and Marvel Comics lore, and it would be fascinating to see how other heroes react to the Kingpin being in charge.

From everything we know about "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," it seems like Marvel's first family won't have to worry about Kingpin's New York at all. There are plenty of other Marvel heroes that fans would love to see dealing with the Kingpin's war on vigilantes, though, and the stars of "Born Again" know it. In an interview with Josh Horowitz for the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Vincent D'Onofrio acknowledged the excitement that would be caused by having the Kingpin in other Marvel projects, but he also poured a bit of cold water on that possibility.

"The only thing I know is not positive," the actor said. "It's a very hard thing to use my character and for Marvel to use my character. It's a very hard thing to do because of the ownership and stuff." Unfortunately, the Kingpin as a character, much like Spider-Man, is in a dubious legal space that means Marvel can't necessarily do whatever they want with him. The ending of "Born Again" offers exciting new possibilities for the MCU's New York heroes, but whether or not Marvel will be able to capitalize on them is still an open question.