Daredevil Born Again Season 2 Ending Explained: What's Next For Matt Murdock?

Contains spoilers for "Daredevil: Born Again," Season 2, Episode 8 — "The Southern Cross"

"Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2 picks up right where the exciting events of Season 1 left off. New York City is under martial law, and the Anti-Vigilante Task Force is patrolling the streets. The city is fighting back against its mayor, and the battle will shape the future of New York and its heroes.

The Man Without Fear was back and better than ever in "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 1, which brought back the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in style. In our review of "Born Again" Season 2, we noted that the show continues to build on the legacy of the Netflix era while also standing confidently on its own two feet. Season 2 escalates the battle between Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Mayor Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio), while also bringing back multiple characters from the Netflix Marvel universe.

Season 2 tells a great story on its own, but as is often the case with superhero stories, some of the most exciting details in the season are really just hints for the future. The ending of "Born Again" Season 2 completely changes the relationship between Daredevil and Kingpin and plants many seeds for Season 3 plotlines. Let's understand everything that happened at the end of "Born Again" Season 2, as we wait for Season 3 and speculate about the future with the rest of the fanbase.

"Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2 starts right in the thick of the action. The first episode opens on Daredevil fighting his way through a ship that's trying to smuggle weapons into New York City. When the smugglers realize a vigilante is attacking them, they scuttle the ship, which sinks into the harbor. Later we learn that the weapons shipment is tied to a secretive government organization, and a man named Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) is sent to work on the recovery operation with Mayor Fisk.

The assault on the ship is part of an ongoing plan that Matt and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) have been developing. They want to prove to the entire city that Fisk is corrupt and get him ousted as mayor. Fisk manages to trick NYC citizens into helping him hunt for Daredevil by putting out a PSA saying that Matt Murdock, the lawyer that saved his life in Season 1, is missing.

While all this is happening, Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) is developing a new plan to kill Fisk. Luckily for the mayor, Daredevil intervenes and saves his life again. During the attack, Fisk's wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) is stabbed in the head by broken glass. She doesn't survive, but Daredevil and Bullseye escape.

After Vanessa dies, there's no one to stop Fisk from being as brutal as his instincts push him to be. He orders his Anti-Vigilante Task Force to take Mr. Charles's weapons shipment for themselves and to intensify their crackdown on NYC. Mr. Charles goes to New York Governor Marge McCaffrey (Lili Taylor), offering to help her push Fisk out of the city, but she becomes concerned that Fisk is plotting her death. Mr. Charles also orders an attack on Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), who then offers to help fight alongside Daredevil.

At a protest against Fisk, Karen gets arrested, and Matt is forced to come out of hiding to act as her lawyer during the trial. While arguing the case, Matt shocks the world by admitting that he's Daredevil. Karen's case is dismissed, but Fisk remains in the courthouse while a massive protest erupts outside. Governor McCaffrey does get attacked by an assassin, but at Daredevil's request, Bullseye saves her. Back at the courthouse, an angry Fisk goes on a rampage and kills multiple protesters before coming face to face with Daredevil.

Ultimately, Mr. Charles and his government connections work out an exit plan for Fisk, who agrees to leave the city forever. Bullseye leaves the country with Mr. Charles, heading off for mysterious missions in foreign nations. Matt gets arrested because of his vigilante activities, and the season ends with him in prison.

The first two seasons of "Daredevil: Born Again" really tell a single story that's also another chapter in the ongoing saga of Daredevil versus Kingpin. The two have been battling their way through five seasons of television now, and "Born Again" Season 2 really seems like a turning point for their feud. Daredevil has taken off his mask, and Kingpin has left New York City, and it seems like we really might have reached the end of the road for their ongoing feud. 

The ending of "Born Again" Season 2 brings both characters to their lowest points. Kingpin has lost his wife, and after being forced out of the mayor's office h's left alone on a beach — the very place he said earlier in the season that he didn't want to be. Daredevil publicly revealed his identity and is now in prison for his extralegal superheroics. But no matter what either of them do, it seems certain that they'll both get pulled back into the fight.

Some clues point to Daredevil being in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," and set photos have confirmed that Kingpin will be back for "Born Again" Season 3. Their relationship has been changed forever, but their future is still a mystery. After everything that happened this season, Daredevil and Kingpin's stories aren't over yet.

The ending of "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2 brings the battle between Daredevil and Kingpin, or at least this leg of it, to a reasonable conclusion while introducing plot hooks, like Daredevil's imprisonment, for next season. It also brings back some familiar faces and sets them up for new adventures.

Jessica Jones helps Matt during the events of "Born Again" Season 2, and she tells him that Luke Cage (Mike Colter) is busy doing secret work overseas. The season finale reveals that Luke was apparently working for Mr. Charles. Luke trades places with Bullseye and returns to his family in New York City while the assassin flies off with Mr. Charles to sites unknown. His cameo at the very end of the Season 2 finale sets Luke Cage up for a bigger role in "Born Again" Season 3, but he's not the only familiar face fans will be seeing in the future.

Colter posted a photo on his Instagram that showed him riding in a car with Krysten Ritter and Finn Jones, the actor who played Iron Fist in the Marvel Netflix universe. Those three were also in "The Defenders" alongside Daredevil, and it seems pretty certain that the team is getting back together. Colter and Jones have also been spotted on the set of "Born Again" Season 3, but fans will have to wait to find out what role the Defenders will play in Daredevil's prison arc.

The ending of "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2 finally delivered on the promise of the show's title. By bringing back so many characters from the Netflix Marvel shows, "Born Again" feels like a rebirth of a mini-universe within the MCU. On top of that, by finally separating Daredevil and Kingpin, the show has given both characters room to grow beyond their conflict. Yet there's another character who was "born again" during the Season 2 finale.

The serial killer Muse (Hunter Doohan) died in Season 1, but his psychiatrist Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) has spent all of Season 2 seeing visions of him after he tried to kill her. Haunted by these images, Heather has gradually become angrier and more violent until she dons the Muse mask herself in the season finale. So far, Heather hasn't killed anyone the way Muse did, but now that she's put on the mask, it's probably only a matter of time. Some set photos from Season 3 have confirmed that the Heather version of Muse will play a role in the next story, and if Daredevil is still in prison when the new Muse strikes, that could be disastrous for New York City.