Ryan Kirksey
The following recap contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again S2E2, “Shoot the Moon” (written by Dario Scardapane and directed by Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson) and S2E3 “The Scales and the Sword” (written by Heather Bellson and directed by Solvin “Slick” Naim). Spoilers also include information from Daredevil: Born Again Season 1.
When you read a comic book, you can count on one of two things happening. You are either getting a massive battle between the comic’s hero namesake and the villain of the month, or something tragic is going to happen to the people in the orbit around the superhero. This is why splash pages exist—to blow out these exciting and climactic parts of the issue, and give us the gritty details of all the action.
Through three episodes of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, we have seen a whole lot of intriguing comic book page standard panels, highlighting the drama, the political machinations, and the street-level fighting of the world Daredevil is in. But we haven’t had any of the splash page moments that define comic books and, in recent years, comic book movies and shows.
Your mileage may vary on whether you think that is a good thing or a bad thing. The first three episodes of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 are more of a slow burn. They are shining dull lights on the dark world that Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) built, and how Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) are trying to bring it down.
After the events at the end of Episode 1, where Cherry (Clark Johnson) has a heart attack and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) saves Daredevil from the Anti-Vigilante Task Force (ATVF), Episodes 2 and 3 pick up immediately in the aftermath and begin to dive deeper into Wilson Fisk’s new world order.
New York is now actively under siege, and the riots and confrontations look like they are drawn from real-world ICE clashes in 2026. Fisk continues to weaponize fear and authority through the AVTF, turning public sentiment against heroes whom he claims are dangerous.
Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) reemerges and presents an interesting question for the rest of the series. Bullseye used to work for Kingpin and Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer). He used to take orders from that family, but now he appears to be on the side of the vigilantes after he was betrayed by Fisk. Bullseye brings new chaos, and neither Daredevil nor Fisk knows what to do about it.
Matt Murdock, meanwhile, is facing a new problem. Fisk makes a calculated move when he announces that Matt Murdock (a hero) is missing and implies Daredevil is responsible. This effectively turns Matt into both a victim and a suspect in the eyes of the public. It’s a brilliant play by Fisk, and one that Murdock and Page don’t know how to react to.
By the end of Episode 2, Daredevil is no longer the protector of Hell’s Kitchen. He’s become a symbol of resistance around the city, and many people are starting to push back against Fisk, not just Murdock, Page, and their small team.
Episode 3 builds on that idea and opens with Murdock and Page hiding out in a basement, interrogating a captured AVTF agent. This scene shows how far things have fallen for Matt. After initially refusing, it’s clear he is no longer working within the law. He is doing whatever he can to stay hidden.
From this, Daredevil and Karen come up with a plan. The kidnapped officer offers to help Murdock and Page by giving them his security card for the Red Hook port so they can infiltrate it. They then send a copy of the Red Hook charter to the governor, which would hopefully allow her to remove Fisk’s access to the port, which she agrees to do.
Meanwhile, Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James) is thrown into a farce trial for the Swordsman, Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton). He is forced to answer for crimes of being a vigilante, and Kingpin wants him in jail now and forever. With McDuffie given no time and no true legal recourse, Duquesne is convicted immediately by a panel of three corrupt judges and is sentenced to prison.
Later that night, Daredevil breaks into Red Hook port to destroy the weapons that were on the Northern Star (with help from the ATVF agent’s access card), but discovers Fisk’s prison located there and works together with Duquesne to free the prisoners.
Karen is also there to help Daredevil and Duquesne escape, but they also get some assistance from another unlikely ally. Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez), who is the niece of Hector Ayala (aka the White Tiger) from Season 1, has found his White Tiger amulet and now wears it, giving her super strength, even as a young teenager. This is an interesting development and another potential member of not only Daredevil’s band of rebels, but also for the Young Avengers in future Marvel projects.
Daredevil and the prisoners escape, which prompts Fisk to put another plan of action in motion to counteract the fact that he lost his leverage on the prisoners. Fisk orders that the wrecked Northern Star ship, still sitting in the East River, be blown up, and those who see it be persuaded to believe that vigilantes did it, killing innocent people in the process. Each series of events is a hard body blow to the other when we consider Daredevil and Kingpin on opposite sides of a boxing ring.
These two latest episodes are both strong narratively and work together to escalate the stakes of the season. What started as a political drama is now evolving into a war for New York City, and we know both sides are going to be adding to their list of soldiers in the episodes to come.
Most importantly, Episodes 2 and 3 make it clear that everything is building toward a splash-page-like confrontation. Fisk is training, not just for a boxing match, but also for the next time Daredevil crosses him. The collision between them now feels like it’s coming soon, and is even inevitable (shoutout Thanos).
As the season continues next week, these episodes leave no doubt: the stage is being set for a brutal showdown between Daredevil and Wilson Fisk. And when that clash finally comes, it won’t just determine who wins the one-on-one battle; it will decide what kind of city New York becomes in the aftermath.
