SPOILER ALERT: This article contains SPOILERS about the season finale of ‘The Defenders’ and possible spoilers for ‘Daredevil’ Season Three. Turn back if you don’t want to know what may lie ahead!
‘The Defenders’ united the four headliners of Netflix’s slate of Marvel Comics-based series, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, a mismatched gathering of misfits who were reluctant to set aside their differences to work together to take on The Hand. After the dust settled the heroes were each left at a crossroads that will surely influence the upcoming seasons of their individual shows.
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But one hero didn’t appear to make it to another season. Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, stayed behind to attempt to redeem (or at least stop) Elektra. In the end, Daredevil seemed to perish when Midland Circle imploded with him and Elektra still in the deep pit underneath.
Though Luke, Jessica, Claire and Foggy are shown clearly mourning their perceived loss, Murdock’s sacrifice inspires Danny Rand the most as he takes his vow to protect Matt’s city seriously.
But just before the final credits rolled, viewers discovered that somehow, Matt had survived and was in the care of nuns, one of whom was named Maggie. This is almost an exact recreation of a scene from Daredevil’s most iconic comic storyline ‘Born Again’ written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli.
In the comic, Maggie turns out to be Matt Murdock’s mother. While he refused to confirm Maggie’s identity, showrunner Marco Ramirez did admit:
“I can say that visually that shot at the end of Daredevil’s story was definitely an homage, as were a couple of other scenes, to the comics. That’s one of my favorite Daredevil images, so regardless of who any of the characters are, I went to the production meeting saying this is the image we’re going for, we’re going to feel like this, and that came from that image that I purposely borrowed from the comics.”
In the original story, Matt and Karen had been estranged for years, during which time Karen had become a porn star and heroin addict because Frank Miller can only write one kind of woman. She sells Daredevil’s secret identity to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin and the villain completely destroys both halves of Murdock’s life. Emotionally and mentally destroyed, Matt is ultimately salvaged by Sister Maggie.
Though it’s unlikely that Deborah Ann Woll‘s Karen will walk down that dark path, enough people are now privy to his dual identity that there may be a weak link somewhere.
It’s almost a certainty that if Season Three of ‘Daredevil’ draws inspiration from ‘Born Again’ (and it certainly looks like it will), there will have to be some major changes made, otherwise those that have read the comic would already know what happens.
Daredevil himself, Charlie Cox said as much, when asked:
That’s such an amazing story. Everyone who loves Daredevil loves Born Again. You can’t not. And if that’s the case, then the implications of that would be very exciting to me. That would be great. Having said that, I know we don’t tend to follow any story blueprints too closely, because if you do, then you become a foregone conclusion. There may be elements from Born Again, but I’m sure there will be elements that are unfamiliar and surprising and different in order for the show to be compelling to fans who know the comics very well. If we start making Born Again page-for-page, then the people who have read it and loved it — the hardcore fans — they won’t have too much drama.
Are you a fan of the ‘Born Again’ storyline? Are you excited that it may inspire ‘Daredevil’ S3? Would you like to see Wilson Fisk back in power?
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly
