“Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 has come to a shocking conclusion. But what does it mean for Season 3 of the Disney+ MCU series?
We already knew some key details about the upcoming third season of Disney+’s reboot of Neflix’s “Daredevil,” including the apparent return of The Defenders. Still, the major plot of the show’s third season remains up in the air.
Yet the finale of “Born Again” Season 2, titled “The Southern Cross” (directed by Iain B. MacDonald and written by showrunner Dario Scardapane and Jesse Wigutow) introduced a massive new wrinkle to Daredevil’s future. So how did the show end, and what do the comics tell us about what’s next for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen? Read on to find out.
How does “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 end?
“Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 goes out with a bang as Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) reveals to the world that he is the vigilante known as Daredevil. Matt shares this news while defending Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) in court. Since Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) had already testified that Daredevil was onboard the Northern Star at the time of its sinking, Matt revealed his identity to testify that it was used as part of an illegal smuggling operation by Fisk to arm his Anti-Vigilante Task Force militia.
This revelation further escalates the rivalry between Kingpin and the vigilantes of New York, leading to a protest at the courthouse (one in which Kingpin brutally kills a number of protestors). Daredevil eventually convinces Kingpin to give himself up and accept a deal to leave New York and resign as mayor.
But Daredevil doesn’t get to celebrate his victory for long. Soon after Kingpin leaves the city, a number of police officers interrupt Matt’s date with Karen to arrest him for Daredevil’s vigilante crimes. “Born Again” Season 2 ends with Matt in prison, locked in the same facility as many of the AVTF enforcers he put away.
Cox outright told TheWrap that next season of “Born Again” will pay homage to a particular comic book storyline.
“There is an excellent ‘Daredevil’ run in the comics that this season, at least at the beginning, pays homage to, which is really, really fun,” he teased. “So when I knew about that, I was very excited, because it’s a very, very cool storyline.”
So, when has Daredevil gone to prison in the comics, and what run might he be referring to? Read on to find out.
When did Matt Murdock go to prison in the comics?
Technically, Matt Murdock only went to prison for one major arc in the comics: “The Devil in Cell Block D.” This storyline, with art by Michael Lark, comes at the start of Ed Brubaker’s time writing “Daredevil.” The main arc, released in 2006, takes place from “Daredevil (1998) #82” to “#87,” with Matt tying up loose ends outside of prison in subsequent issues.
The story follows Brian Michael Bendis’ iconic run on the character, which ended in “Daredevil (1998) #81” (art by Alex Maleev) with Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk both being sent to prison. The imprisonment comes as the world learns that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Though Matt doesn’t own up to this dual identity, he allows the FBI to send him to Ryker’s Island (the Marvel equivalent of Riker’s Island) to await trial. This occurs around the same time as Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s famous “Civil War” storyline, placing a heightened legal scrutiny on vigilantes and superheroes.
In the first issue of this arc, Foggy Nelson visits Matt in prison to speak about his long-delayed trial. By the end of the issue, Matt has been locked in solitary confinement as Foggy is escorted out of the prison. A group of prisoners then attack Foggy, stabbing him and apparently killing him as Matt helplessly listens.
After this incident, Matt becomes a man on a mission, willing himself to survive so he can track down Foggy’s killer. Outside the prison walls, a mysterious new Daredevil (later revealed to be Iron Fist) runs around to keep up Matt’s work and create doubt as to his identity. Meanwhile, The Punisher, learning of Matt’s situation in prison, turns himself in so he can be sent to Ryker’s as well.
Eventually, a riot breaks out as multiple prisoners attempt to kill Matt and Fisk, who begin working side-by-side (along with a recently imprisoned Bullseye). When Fisk and Bullseye offer an escape with Matt, Matt tricks Bullseye into shooting Kingpin before leaving with Frank as a “hostage” of Punisher’s.
Daredevil soon travels to Paris to search for Foggy’s killer — not knowing that Foggy is actually alive and in witness protection. Eventually, he tracks down Vanessa Fisk (who, just like in “Born Again,” ordered the attack on Foggy).
Vanessa reveals that she’s enacted an elaborate plot against Matt as she dies from a mysterious disease (caused by her festering emotions from killing her own son). Vanessa clears Matt’s name and reveals to him that Foggy is alive as part of a plot to make him feel that he owes her. As a free man, Matt returns to New York, where he gets Kingpin released from prison (on the condition that he leaves the U.S.) to repay his debt to Vanessa.
This story was clearly on the “Born Again” showrunners’ minds when they brought the series to life. Foggy’s assassination, Vanessa’s death and Matt Murdock’s imprisonment all factor into the Disney+ series, pulling directly from “The Devil in Cell Block D.”
When did Daredevil go to prison in the comics?
Matt Murdock may have only gone to prison for one major Marvel Comics storyline, but Daredevil did his own stint.
The run on “Daredevil”, penned by Chip Zdarsky (which started in 2019 with art by Marco Checchetto), begins with Matt Murdock returning from a temporary stint away from the cowl after he was hit by a truck. When Matt jumps back into action as Daredevil, his reflexes are off, causing him to inadvertently kill a man due to head trauma.
Matt searches for someone (mainly Kingpin, who is the mayor at this time) to blame for the death before eventually realizing it was his fault. This causes him (at Spider-Man’s insistence) to put away the costume and stop being Daredevil for a time. It isn’t long until other citizens begin wearing their own Daredevil masks — an idea adapted for the “Born Again” Season 2 finale.
Matt eventually starts training alongside Elektra to regain control of his powers and aim for bigger targets than low-level street criminals. Meanwhile, Fisk attempts to go legit as mayor, leaving behind a power vacuum for Hell’s Kitchen’s Kingpin.
During this period, Daredevil is hunted by Cole North, a Javert-like cop new to Hell’s Kitchen who seeks to do things by the book and prosecute vigilantes. Realizing that the Kitchen is plagued by dirty cops, Cole and Daredevil eventually develop a working relationship. In “Born Again,” Cole North is played by Jeremy Isaiah Earl and depicted as the second-in-command of AVTF leader Connor Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley), though this character scarcely resembles his comic book counterpart.
Eventually, a gang war erupts in Hell’s Kitchen, with officers ordered by the uber-wealthy Stromwyn siblings to stay out of the way. Daredevil, Kingpin and Cole North fight side-by-side to save the city from villains like Bullseye and Stilt-Man, though Kingpin insists that Daredevil be taken in. Though Cole and others try to stop him, Matt quickly agrees.
Represented by District Attorney Ben Hochberg (who is played in “Born Again” by John Benjamin Hickey and prosecutes Karen Page), Daredevil pleads guilty to second-degree manslaughter. However, since the Supreme Court had already ruled that superheroes should be allowed to testify without revealing their secret identities, the court ruled that Daredevil would be the one sent to prison — keeping Matt Murdock’s secret safe.
While Daredevil served out his prison sentence, Elektra (who bought a large part of Hell’s Kitchen to appease Matt) took on a new Daredevil persona herself, attempting to prove to Matt that she had changed and could be a non-lethal vigilante like him. Meanwhile, Daredevil began working for the FBI in prison to find out why so many inmates had gone missing.
Daredevil eventually learns that the prison is using a transmittable gaseous drug called re-cid to infect inmates (and, in turn, their communities after they leave prison). Re-cid promotes (you guessed it) recidivism, making the prisoners violent and easily agitated. Matt is infected by re-cid himself before overcoming the effects to go help Elektra fight Bullseye (and a small army of Bullseye clones).
Though Daredevil escaped from prison to fight the Bullseyes, heroes like Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man argue that his heroism proves he doesn’t belong in prison, leading to his release shortly after. Kingpin, enraged by this release and the fact that Daredevil’s identity has been erased from his mind, soon uses his position as mayor to outlaw vigilantes in New York during the event “Devil’s Reign” (a plotline already adopted for “Born Again” Season 2).
Where is “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 3 headed?
“Born Again” Season 3 will likely not be a direct adaptation of either of these storylines. Rather, it will likely be like the rest of the show so far: drawing key elements from Brubaker and Zdarsky’s work while still forging its own path.
The Zdarsky prison arc largely hinges on Matt Murdock’s identity remaining secret, making it difficult to do a direct adaptation in “Born Again.” The Brubaker arc, however, sees Matt enraged and searching for Foggy’s killer — a storyline that’s already been resolved in “Born Again.”
With the return of Finn Jones as Iron Fist, it’s possible that “Born Again” will see Danny Rand step into the Daredevil suit like “The Devil in Cell Block D,” giving Hell’s Kitchen a new protector while Matt is away. Yet Danny is largely driven to become Daredevil in the comics to create reasonable doubt as to Matt’s double identity. This reasoning doesn’t quite work in the show, where Matt willingly confessed his vigilante activities to the public.
Unlike “The Devil in Cell Block D,” Matt does not find himself imprisoned alongside Kingpin, who simply left New York at the end of “Born Again” Season 2. As such, it’s unclear how his exile will affect Matt’s time in prison and Hell’s Kitchen as a whole.
Though Fisk’s exit does create a vacuum, with a shaken and broken New York City looking for new leadership. This could build into a key element of Zdarsky and Checchetto’s “Devil’s Reign” storyline: Luke Cage’s mayoral campaign.
Luke becomes mayor at the end of “Devil’s Reign,” opposing the lawlessness created by Kingpin’s anti-vigilante officers (in the comics, a new crew of villains-turned-Thunderbolts). With Mike Colter’s return as Luke at the end of “Born Again” Season 2 and his expected appearance in Season 3, the stage could be set for that character to take on a larger role in the MCU by replacing Fisk’s allies as New York’s mayor.
However “Born Again” progresses from here, Daredevil’s imprisonment is sure to shake up the superhero show next season.
