DAREDEVIL Born Again’s first season delivers a dark, game-changing conclusion, setting up a new era for Marvel’s street-level heroes.
The episode titled Straight to Hell is jam-packed with risky revelations, brutal brawls and altering alliances, leaving the fate of Hell’s Kitchen hanging in the balance. Here’s everything you need to know.
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Plot
The episode opens with a flashback revealing the true mastermind behind Foggy Nelson’s murder: Vanessa Fisk.
A year prior, Vanessa orchestrated the hit by enlisting Bullseye to kill Foggy and his client, fearing Foggy’s legal work would expose her criminal enterprises.
This revelation rocks Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, who spends much of the episode trying to convince his allies, including Kirsten McDuffie and Heather Glenn, of Vanessa’s guilt.
Meanwhile Wilson Fisk, now fully embracing his Kingpin persona, tightens his grip on New York City as mayor.
He appoints Heather as Commissioner of Mental Health and eliminates dissent within his ranks by brutally killing Commissioner Gallo.
Fisk also declares martial law, making all vigilante activity illegal, with The Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF) — now decked out in Punisher skulls — becoming his personal army and operating above the law.
Confrontations
Matt, still recovering from being shot by Bullseye, is targeted by Fisk’s enforcer Buck Cashman, who is ordered to kill Daredevil and make him a martyr.
But Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, intervenes, having been called by Karen page, helping Matt fight off the AVTF in a brutal apartment battle.
The fight demonstrates the contrast between Daredevil’s no-kill philosophy and The Punisher’s lethal methods.
Together with Frank, they uncover evidence that Red Hook Port is a free zone used by the Fisks for money laundering — a case Foggy was unknowingly close to cracking before his untimely death.
Who dies and who survives?
Commissioner Gallo is Killed by Kingpin for his disloyalty in a gruesome display of power, crushing his skull in front of his enforcers.
He is the only main character who doesn’t survive the last episode of series one.
Also, numerous corrupt cops are taken out by The Punisher during the apartment siege and when he rescues Daredevil later on, but he is then apprehended by them.
While Daredevil survives both Bullseye’s attack and the hospital assassination attempt, his life is in chaos at the end of the series.
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The Punisher also makes it to the end of the episode, but winds up imprisoned by Kingpin and plotting escape.
Wilson Fisk/Kingpin is the winner in the first series of the show’s triumphant return, finishing up more powerful than ever and in complete control of New York.
His wife Vanessa’s role as the architect of Foggy’s murder is exposed, but she remains at Fisk’s side at the conclusion of the dramatic season.
Cliffhanger
The finale ends with Daredevil assembling an underground resistance at Josie’s bar, vowing to take back the city from Kingpin’s regime.
Meanwhile, Fisk’s crackdown intensifies, with the post-credits scene showing Frank Castle ready to break out of captivity, teasing the chaos to come.
Daredevil: Born Again closes its first season with the heroes battered but unbroken, the villains ascendant, and Hell’s Kitchen on the brink — everything perfectly primed for an explosive season two.
