The Daredevil: Born Again finale packed a brutal punch, literally and emotionally, but a lot of fans, are wondering why Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, or Iron Fist didn’t show up to back Matt Murdock in his moment of need?
According to directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, there’s a very intentional and poetic reason for their absence.
In an interview with Phase Hero, Benson explained the finale was designed to leave Matt and his ragtag allies in the dark, battling uphill against a newly emboldened Mayor Fisk.
“The dramatic beauty and also just the beauty of the tragedy of the season, and the oddly emotionally satisfying thing about that conclusion, is that the good guys lost. Matt Murdock lost. Fisk won.”
He continued: “But in those final moments, you understand just enough that despite the fact…the only one in that room with a costume is [Daredevil]. There’s something beautiful about them being, ‘Yeah, we lost. There’s not a lot of hope, but we’re going to have the grit to say, ‘F** it,’ and keep going.’ There’s something so satisfying about that.*”
Adding a squad of superpowered friends would’ve diluted that vibe, Benson said: “If you had had a bunch of other superheroes show up, it would almost give too much hope…That’s a cool ending. That’s heroic. It’s just him and these people. Humans. They’re going to keep going because they’re going to do what’s right.”
Moorhead went on to tease what’s next for Matt and Fisk as the show marches into its confirmed second season.
“They’ve both pulled off their masks. ‘I am Daredevil, I am Kingpin.’ We’re just going to be those things. So, as we begin season 2, we get to see what that’s like as they feel fully self-actualised.
“They’re stretching and at one with their skin. Matt is probably at his happiest being able to wail on Fisk’s bad guys. When he doesn’t have to hold back and play within the system. He’s happy, and that’s dark. It’s a darkness and a sickness.”
But don’t expect season 2 to be a clean slate. Moorhead clarified: “We’re not starting season 2 with everything in its right place. Matt being Daredevil all day, every day is not going to work.
“And Mayor Kingpin being a tyrant all the time isn’t going to work either…they’re never going to be satisfied, even though they’re in opposite places to where they started season 1.”
Another detail that’s become more obvious over time is that Wilson Fisk is getting bigger. Like, comic-book-Kingpin big. Moorhead explained:
“What’s really important is he’s eating really lightly in order to become Mayor, but once he becomes Mayor…we used to have a line in episode one when he’s about to announce his candidacy for Mayor. He says, ‘It’s time.’ But we did a take where he said, ‘It’s time to grow.’”
Moorhead also elaborated with a particularly unsettling metaphor: “We meant that to have a double meaning where he grows outside of his criminal enterprise, but he meant it literally.
“He needs to grow like an amoeba, absorbing and absorbing and getting larger like The Blob…One thing that was important was when we learned about Adam in his dungeon, that’s where he goes to eat and grow. It’s where he goes to let his id out.”
Bullseye and Karen Page are now set up to return, and Matt Murdock ready to enter the next round. Season 2 can’t come fast enough!