SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “Daredevil: Born Again,” now streaming on Disney+.
Daredevil is going from Hell’s Kitchen to maximum security prison.
Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) revealed his identity to the world in the blockbuster Season 2 finale of “Daredevil: Born Again,” which also sent the hero to prison with many of the crooked cops he put behind bars.
The finale starts off with Murdock getting patched up and running late to Karen Page’s (Deborah Ann Woll) trial after he was shot last episode. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) both testify in the anti-vigilante case, but Murdock steals the show as the key witness when he reveals to everyone in the courthouse that he’s actually Daredevil. Kingpin’s case gets dismissed, he’s sued by the attorney general and told to step down as mayor — but not before he incites a riot at court. He orders his police force to march on the courthouse, while pro-Daredevil civilians put on red masks and fight back.
Pandemonium erupts in downtown New York City. Kingpin goes on a bloody rampage, bashing citizens’ heads, snapping limbs and throwing them around the courthouse. Daredevil and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) stop the mayhem with the help of Angela del Toro (Camila Rodriguez), the new White Tiger. They quell the violence and even prevent Kingpin from getting torn apart once he’s overwhelmed by guerrilla fighters.
In the end, Kingpin ends up alone on a beach, stripped of his title and still mourning the loss of his wife, Vanessa. Murdock and Karen have a romantic dinner together, but it’s short-lived as police arrest Murdock and send him to prison for his vigilante deeds. In a surprise cameo, Jones is reunited with Luke Cage (Mike Colter), her partner and “Defenders” teammate, who returns after working with the shady Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) overseas. The two return home to their daughter and reopen Jones’ Alias Investigations. Finally, it’s also revealed that Charles has found a new partner in crime: Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). The two are last seen flying on a plane together, jetting off to an unknown mission.
It certainly seems like “Born Again” Season 3 will reunite Marvel’s street-level Defenders team, composed of Daredevil, Jones, Cage and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). The four heroes starred in solo Netflix shows then came together for a “Defenders” team-up series, but they haven’t reunited since Marvel migrated all their shows to Disney+. With Ritter and Colter officially back in Season 2, fans are calling for Jones’ Iron Fist to return as well — and it seems like a full reunion will happen next season. Paparazzi captured photos of Ritter, Colter and Jones on the “Born Again” Season 3 set last month, further fueling the fan theories.
And while Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle was left out of “Born Again” Season 2, he’ll get his own spotlight next week in the TV special “Punisher: One Last Kill,” directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and co-written by him and Bernthal. “Daredevil” showrunner Dario Scardapane, who executive produced Netflix’s “The Punisher,” discusses Murdock’s big reveal in the finale, how that sets up Season 3 and when “One Last Kill” takes place.
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I want to start with Matt announcing his Daredevil identity in court, which was very similar to Robert Downey Jr.’s iconic “I am Iron Man” scene. Was it always the plan to end with that big reveal?
We knew going into Season 2 that we were heading towards the “I am Daredevil” moment. One of the tricky parts of it, that actually turned out to be fun, was Matt’s “I’m the unknown witness” came late. It was super awesome because it allowed Charlie to give one of his best Matt Murdock performances as a lawyer and then literally shift into Daredevil in the middle of the scene. So that was pretty cool. We probably started talking about the end of this season while we were working on Season 1. Once we got into paying off the Mayor Fisk story, this place for both of these guys at the end was where we wanted to land.
An even bigger development is that Matt is now in jail. How is that going to change his story in Season 3?
I’m gonna be really cagey right now. There are some iconic runs in the comic book. When we get together and start putting together a season, we take this run and that run and mash them all up. There’s a very, very legendary run that Matt in jail nods to where we’re going.
One of the things we really wanted to examine, and I don’t want to get too flowery here, but the fun part of this season is that both these characters, Murdock and Fisk, Daredevil and Kingpin, have really become their true selves. Kingpin is full-blown Kingpin the entire season. Matt is full-blown Daredevil. For both of them, there are consequences of truly letting the id out. In the last five minutes of Season 2, you see what those consequences are for both of them. I’m literally watching the shoot of Season 3 in the corner of our Zoom screen while I’m talking to you. I know where they’re heading, and I think it’s pretty fun. These two have kind of an endless battle, but in a lot of ways the battle shifts at the end of this season.
Speaking of Season 3, some photos came out recently of Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter and Finn Jones on set.
Oh, yes. I guess those guys were hanging out playing D&D in some black robes. I’m not exactly sure what that’s about.
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Fans have been hoping for a Defenders reunion in “Born Again,” and we get three-fourths of the members back when Mike Colter pops in as Luke Cage in the finale. He had been name-dropped earlier in the season, but where did the idea come from to have him back in the flesh at the end?
It was October 2023, when I started the conversations with Marvel about what I’d want to do. Jessica Jones was at the top of that wish list. I came from those shows. Working on “Punisher,” our writers room was right next door to the writers room for “Jessica Jones” and our sets were next door to the “Luke Cage” set. The world of Matt Murdock extends into the world of Jessica Jones, and then, because of what’s happened in her life, her world really extends into the world of Luke Cage. So that last moment you see in the finale when the door closes and it says Alias Investigations, I probably had that shot in my head two or three days into Season 1. It’s a cool place to go when you’re starting with these two people, Fisk and Matt, but you’re expanding out into the world of the street-level heroes.
We knew Krysten Ritter would be back as Jessica Jones this season, but we get her only in the final three episodes this season. Was there a world in which we could’ve gotten her back in Episode 1 in a bigger role, or did you need to hold her back a little bit?
For me, I would have taken a Jessica Jones teaser in Episode 1. But story-wise we needed to get to a place with Fisk’s campaign against the vigilantes where we’ve seen Swordsman, White Tiger, we know what’s going on with Matt and there are others out there. For me, the question always was, if Fisk is going after the vigilantes, how does this particular vigilante handle that? We were plotting out the season in acts, and it definitely seemed to be the second half, third-act area to bring her in. It also had a lot of scheduling. The thing that people don’t realize when you’re bringing together these actors, everybody’s career went to big places after the Netflix shows. So scheduling Mike, Krysten, Jon and others is like herding cats.
Were scheduling issues part of the reason we’re getting the “Punisher: One Last Kill” special?
That came out of a lot of discussions with Jon over the years. I know that Jon had been talking to the people at Marvel and had a very specific idea in mind about what happened to Frank after the end of the “Punisher” series. He came in so graciously, gratefully and wonderfully in Season 2 for a pretty eye-popping pair of scenes. That got him, Reinaldo and the producers talking about a Punisher special. So, yeah, not having Jon in Season 2 more reflects about the story he wanted to tell with the Punisher special.
Is “One Last Kill” a continuation of Punisher escaping Kingpin’s prison at the end of “Born Again” Season 1, the ending of his Netflix “Punisher” series or a prologue to him showing up in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”?
I don’t know a ton about what goes on in “Brand New Day,” and I know very well where we left him at the end of “Punisher” Season 2. I think this tells the story of what happened next after “Punisher” and before and during the events of [“Born Again”] Season 2.
We see Mr. Charles and Bullseye teaming up and flying away in the final moments of this finale. Will we see what they do together in Season 3?
So the idea of an ending of Bullseye being pulled into the world of Mr. Charles and his global manipulations — yes, this could go places. Am I going to tell you where and who? I cannot. But both Mr. Charles and Bullseye are part of our world still. Anybody who’s alive at the end of Season 2 can come back.
We also get Kingpin sitting on the beach free after he survived that brutal attack by New Yorkers.
Free?
Maybe “free” isn’t the right word. What word would you use to describe where Kingpin’s story ends this season?
In the crazy ending in the rotunda, when Matt and Fisk are face to face, Fisk was offered a deal to go into exile, which, without giving it too much away, that nods to another classic comic book run. At the end, both of these men are in prisons of their own making. We have never seen this version of him. I don’t want to hype it too much. “Feral” is the word that I can use.
Finally, fans have pointed out that Danielle Cage-Jones, Jessica and Luke’s daughter, becomes Captain America in an alternate, future universe in the comics. What are the odds we ever see her take on the role?
Isn’t that the question? That is so far out. That’s for the guy who comes five, 10 years from now. I know that in one version of the universe, that is who she is. All that stuff is fun to play with. Who knows, Marvel can always rush the timeline.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
