Every hero has a code, some stricter than others — and it doesn’t get much stricter than Daredevil. When it comes to lethal force, the hero doesn’t play around. Matt Murdock’s staunch moral compass, paired with his super-Catholic upbringing, prevents him from taking any life, victim or villain. That code serves him well more often than not, even when locking horns with more radical vigilantes like Punisher. But as we’ve seen in Netflix’s Daredevil, our angsty hero doesn’t always feel like following his modus operandi. He nearly fatally wounded his enemies a few times throughout the series, particularly when facing off against unstoppable forces like Kingpin or Bullseye. He managed to walk himself back from the edge every time — but that’s all beginning to change in Daredevil: Born Again.
In Marvel’s soft reboot of the Netflix series, Daredevil is more at battle with himself than he’s ever been. Our hero is surrounded by all sides by villains new and old, and in the Born Again premiere, each finds a way to wear down his moral compass. It all culminates in a worrying cliffhanger ending, one that could finally push Daredevil over the edge and into unfamiliar territory.
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again Episode 2 Ending Explained
Born Again reintroduces Matt Murdock, and all his inner demons.
The two-part premiere of Born Again wasted little time bringing Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) to rock bottom. The series opens with Matt and his two best friends, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) at a new professional peak — but a blindsiding attack from Benjamin Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) changes their luck in no time at all. Bullseye murders Foggy and a handful of civilians, driving Daredevil into a blind rage. He attempts to return the favor to Bullseye and, had it not been for the villain’s vaguely defined regeneration powers, he would have succeeded.
Matt later gives up his dual life as Daredevil. As he tells Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) a year later, he felt like he crossed a line, and forfeited his right to protect the city shortly after. That said, his innate rage hasn’t gone away; if anything, losing Foggy only exacerbated it. He tries to busy himself with legal work by taking on the defense of Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes), who moonlights as the vigilante White Tiger. But his case is a tough one: after a fateful altercation with two plainclothes cops, Hector is labeled a cop murderer.
With the help of Cherry (Clark Johnson), a retired officer turned private investigator, Matt finds a witness to support Hector’s defense. But he has to defend himself against the same cops framing Hector for murder... and they have no qualms about using deadly force to keep Matt quiet. Matt gets the chance to unleash some bottled-up anger in his fight, but he may also go a step too far. Born Again ends on a shocking cliffhanger, suggesting that Matt might have actually fatally wounded one of his attackers.
Did Daredevil cross his one line?
Daredevil is serious about using non-lethal force... but he may not have a choice in Born Again.
Born Again Episode 2 leaves things on a vague enough note, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that Matt Murdock just did the thing he swore never to do. As Daredevil, he’s always been careful to pull his punches (unless his opponent far outranks him in terms of skill). On the rare occasion that he brawls with a cop, he usually keeps his strength in check... but this version of the character is in a darker place than we might have seen him in before. Matt is also out of practice as Daredevil: at this point in time, he’s been non-violent for at least a year. That could have resulted in a more explosive display of strength, and a more ruthless exercise in self-defense.
If Matt did just cross the line and commit a mortal sin, that’d be a major bombshell — but it also wouldn’t be a major departure for the character. He’s used lethal force once or twice in the comics, and the best storylines use that choice to explore the darker aspects of his psyche. Daredevil was all about walking the line between Matt’s religious beliefs and his inner demons, and while it did explore his reluctance to step over that line in fresh ways each season, that moral back-and-forth got a bit old by Season 3.
Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane has been adamant about taking the revival to even “meaner” places; maybe that means Matt Murdock will finally (if accidentally) take a life, and find a way to live with the consequences. It’d certainly keep Born Again from rehashing the same beats as its predecessor; it’d also allow Cox to dive deep into a character he’s played for almost a decade. We’ll find out the truth when Born Again returns next week — but either way, it’s clear not all is well for the Man Without Fear.
