Note: This story contains spoilers from “Daredevil: Born Again” Episode 1.
Years after the original series ended on Netflix, “Daredevil” is back on a new streaming home — but the jump to Disney+ isn’t the only thing that’s changed for Marvel’s beloved street-level superhero in “Daredevil: Born Again.”
In the new series’ haunting, 16-minute opening sequence, Matt Murdock’s life is turned upside down after Benjamin Pointdexter (Wilson Bethel), aka Bullseye, attacks, killing Matt’s best friend, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson). The heartbreaking character death was widely speculated about, leaked online and telegraphed in the lead up to the “Born Again” premiere, so it’s Daredevil’s response that might surprise audiences even more — he intentionally tries to kill someone.
Marvel’s most famous no-kill superhero battles Bullseye while he listens to his best friend’s final dying heartbeats, and when he hears them stop, he pummels Bullseye brutally and shoves him off the roof with a clear intent to kill.
“It’s massive,” Charlie Cox tells TheWrap of the moment, explaining how that choice is a total challenge to Matt’s signature faith.
“I mean, obviously there’s something else that happens in that scene that is hugely traumatic and is going to change Matt Murdock for the rest of his life,” Cox said, referring to the death of Foggy Nelson, “But that cannot — what you reference, the almost attempted murder, is huge for a person like Matt. I mean, that goes against everything that he is, that he believes. Any thread of faith that he has, that challenges it. That endangers it so much. And I think that going forward, he will spend a lifetime trying to reconcile that moment and try and and pull himself further away from it as possible.”
Co-star Vincent D’Onofrio, who returns as Daredevil’s nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, added some further perspective on Matt’s shocking action and its consequences from the perspective of his character.
“You know, it’s an interesting question too, because as my character, I’ve actually asked him to kill me when he was in a position to do so. Knowing that he’s Daredevil and Matt Murdock, I asked him to kill me and he can’t,” D’Onofrio said, referring to the Season 3 finale, in which Fisk stops fighting, promises to keep hunting Karen and Foggy, and tries to coerce Matt into killing him. “So it’s a big deal, that. It’s a big deal for Fisk and it’s a big deal for him, simultaneously. For different reasons, obviously, But yeah, it’s not something to be taken lightly.”
In fact, director and executive producer Aaron Moorhead says that moment sets up the character’s “entire arc” throughout “Born Again.”
“It’s his entire arc, is recovering from this, if he does it all,” Moorhead explained. “Because he commits this act that makes him think he’s no longer worthy of the Grace of God, and therefore no longer worthy of wearing the mask and fighting crime, because he’s not even sure if he’s good anymore.”
“Daredevil: Born Again” isn’t just reviving Matt Murdock—it’s tearing him down to his foundation and re-building him anew (just look at those new opening credits). The brutal rooftop scene sets the stage for a personal reckoning that will push the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen to his limits. Whether he can claw his way back from the brink—or if he even wants to—remains the burning question at the heart of the character’s rebirth in his new series.
New episodes of “Daredevil: Born Again” stream Tuesdays on Disney+.
