The MCU Theory That Makes Daredevil More Tragic

"Daredevil" was one of Netflix's biggest series when it debuted, and yet the streaming network still canceled it after the conclusion of its third season. In spite of this, "Daredevil" has remained extremely popular, with viewership totaling 195 million minutes not long after the character made his surprise appearance in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (per Deadline). Clearly there's still a lot of interest in Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with superpowers who becomes a vigilante.

Daredevil isn't the only character from the show to appear in the MCU recently, however. Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) played a small but pivotal role in the final episode of the "Hawkeye" series, as the man who was secretly behind all of the criminal proceedings. With that in mind, some fans have speculated that the appearance of these characters paints a more tragic picture of "Daredevil" and the events that could have transpired after Season 3's conclusion.

Over on the r/FanTheories subreddit, u/GuingeAndProud put forth the theory that Matt Murdock was a victim of Thanos' snap, officially called "the Blip," because of Kingpin aka Wilson Fisk's resurgence as a criminal, well, kingpin. They use events from the ending of Season 3 of "Daredevil" to back this up, which saw Kingpin defeated by Matt and returned to prison under the condition that his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) face no legal ramifications. It's a huge moment for Matt and his friends, but it also seemingly leaves Kingpin without an empire to rule.

According to this theory, Matt and company's victory was relatively short-lived because of the Thanos event, which saw half the universe snapped out of existence for five years. "With Daredevil out the picture, Kingpin was able to re-establish his criminal empire," u/GingeAndProud wrote. Given that Clint is well aware of who Kingpin is in "Hawkeye," this theory makes a lot of sense. This is especially true, given Clint's time as Ronin, which he spent killing criminals indiscriminately.

Given that Kingpin's willingness to remain imprisoned was based on what Matt and his friends knew about Vanessa's complicity in Kingpin's own crimes, it's another checkmark in favor of Matt, Karen (Deborah Ann Woll), and Foggy (Elden Henson) being victims of the Blip. This makes "Daredevil" tragic because it completely undoes all the good that Matt did in Season 3 — especially his complex decision to allow Kingpin to live instead of killing him, as he originally planned to do in the Season 3 finale.