'Daredevil: Born Again' Will Break Your Heart In Episode 1
The following story contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again episode 1, titled "Heaven's Half Hour."
AFTER MORE THAN six years away, The Man Without Fear is finally back on TV. Daredevil: Born Again made its Disney+ debut on March 4, bringing things full circle for fans of the original Daredevil series (which streamed on Netflix between 2015 and 2018, and now lives on the Disney+ platform). The opening moments of the series (which is shot on location in New York City and totally embraces that feeling) brings fans right into the dynamic of the friends at the core of the original series: Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Foggy Nelson (Elden Hensen), and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). And for a couple minutes, everything seems nice!
The pals and partners are headed to a Manhattan bar for happy hour. But after an anxiety-inducing call leads Foggy outside, Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) appears from out of nowhere and shoots Foggy directly through the chest. It's totally jarring, and forces Matt to immediately don his Daredevil outfit and spring into action, as Karen tends to Foggy, bleeding out on the street.
While Born Again is in many ways a follow-up and continuation of the original Daredevil series, it also needs to do something to quickly establish itself as a new story and something that stands alone—and in this opening scene, it manages to do just that.
Is Foggy really dead on Daredevil: Born Again?
Daredevil: Born Again does a tremendous job of drawing us into the story, following Matt, Karen, and Foggy on a regular night out that eventually takes a horrific turn. Anyone watching a Daredevil show knows that while Matt is blind, his other senses are also incredibly enhanced. So after Bullseye shot Foggy and Matt takes him on in a fight, we simultaneously hear Foggy's heartbeat going, and Karen's pained exclamations, as Matt takes Bullseye on. In the episode's most heartbreaking moment, though, we hear Foggy's heart stop. And moments later, Matt's rage gets the better of him as he pushes Bullseye off the roof (somehow, though, the villain survives).
"We’re back with a new show, so you’ve got to be big, brave and bold. You’ve got to do something different and shake things up," Cox told Variety about the scene. "So, likely, there has to be a casualty, and sadly it is Foggy. It’s devastating on a personal level and for the characters.”
What Cox says hits the nail on the head. As beloved as Foggy is and was in the original Daredevil series, his death instantly creates a new world and reality for Matt in Daredevil: Born Again, and also becomes an incredible tragedy that hangs over everything that we see for the duration of the show. If somehow he wasn't actually dead, it would risk losing the gravity of including such a loss in the first place.
DEVIL'S REIGN
Now, having said that, this is a show based on Marvel Comics. And in the world of Superhero comics, everyone knows that with a few exceptions, no one ever really stays dead. Apparently Elden Hensen, who plays Foggy, will be returning for Daredevil: Born Again season 2; could this be a twist to come? Or could it be a flashback? We're going to lean toward the latter, but thanks to some Marvel comics history, have to remain open to the possibility of the former.
In the comic that Daredevil: Born Again takes much of its inspiration from, Devil's Reign (written by Chip Zdarsky, a storyline where Kingpin becomes mayor), Foggy does indeed die. And throughout the history of Marvel Comics (Foggy was introduced way back in 1964's Daredevil #1), he's died, almost died, and been revived a number of times.
So, really, what we're saying is: anything is possible. But in the grounded world of Daredevil: Born Again, and seeing the kind of pain that Matt is going through, we have to believe, for now, that Foggy really is gone. RIP King.
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