‘Daredevil: Born Again’s Major Netflix Cameos Can’t Soften the Show’s Darkest Turn Yet

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Daredevil: Season 2 Episode 5.

Daredevil: Born Again hit fans with a doozy of an episode last week, but it was so well-received that it’s currently one of the MCU‘s best-rated TV episodes ever on IMDb. Spearheaded by the FBI agent-turned homicidal maniac and still murder-crazed vigilante known as Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), one of Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) most notorious foes unleashed hell on Earth when he attacked Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) boxing match, which left the Kingpin’s wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) with a sizable shard of glass in her head. Naturally, fans are debating whether Bullseye succeeded in killing Vanessa or if Fisk got her to a hospital in time, and the show’s newest episode definitively reveals the answer.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 has also been widely praised for its tonal and practical return to form, akin to the Netflix series that first launched this street-level branch of the MCU. Where Season 1 underwent a massive creative overhaul for the exact reason of adding better continuity to Daredevil and making it and its various connected series definitively canonical, Season 2 was made with a dedication to honoring the OG series and its spin-offs already in mind (hence why Krysten Ritter‘s Jessica Jones is eventually returning this season). However, this new episode of Daredevil: Born Again offers several reasons why it’s a must-watch for fans of the original Netflix show, even if most are fairly basic fan service.

Foggy and Wesley Officially Return in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Episode 5

New York City is on high alert following the boxing match massacre, with the streets looking like they did when the Kingpin’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force went on their own killing spree in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1’s finale. Luckily for the Big Apple’s favorite homicidal politician, Vanessa was brought to the hospital and is currently stable. That hasn’t stopped Fisk from kickstarting a citywide manhunt for both Bullseye and Daredevil. Matt is reluctantly helping Poindexter escape the AVTF as the manhunt takes shape, even though this is the same assassin who killed his best friend just a few months ago. Speaking of best friends, these stressful circumstances have given Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk some time to reflect on their pasts and the important people they lost along the way.

Episode 5 of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is primarily a flashback chapter, treating fans to a glimpse of some people they haven’t seen in a very, very long time — the first of which is none other than the other half of “Avocados at Law,” Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson). The flashback reminds both Matt and the audience of simpler times before the rise of the Kingpin, the assault by The Hand, the serial killings carried out by Muse (Hunter Doohan), and all the other life-threatening adventures that Daredevil has faced in his MCU career. Matt and Foggy are tackling yet another near-impossible case in the flashback sequence, this time involving a person from Foggy’s past with whom he has a complicated relationship.

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Seeing Foggy again really does feel like a reunion with an old friend, but Fisk is taking a trip down memory lane himself, and he gets to revisit someone who Daredevil fans haven’t seen since the Netflix show’s first season in 2015 — James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore), Fisk’s original right-hand man, who quickly became a fan-favorite antagonist before he was shot and killed by Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). Even though he only lasted a single season, Wesley quickly made an impact with his subversion of frequent henchman tropes, frequently treating Fisk like a true friend and companion rather than just a business associate. Wesley’s return in the flashback also drops the surprising tidbit that he once knew Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan) long before he replaced Wesley as Fisk’s top operative.

Seeing both Foggy and Wesley again is a real treat for fans, and both of their performances are bound to remind people just how well-developed and fleshed-out the Netflix show’s supporting characters were. Daredevil: Born Again‘s production team also deserves a lot of credit for the subtle ways character design and lighting choices make these flashbacks feel like unused footage from the Netflix show’s first season. That being said, Foggy and Wesley’s returns don’t do much from a narrative point of view, as much of the info conveyed is either details we already knew or inconsequential to the wider story.

Wilson Fisk Says Goodbye to Vanessa in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Episode 5

After a nostalgic reunion with two fan-favorites, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2’s fifth episode ends with quite possibly the show’s most pivotal moment when Vanessa wakes up in the hospital. Fisk may be a pathological manipulator and a habitual murderer, but one thing that has never been called into question is his genuine love for Vanessa. She’s one of the few people in his long criminal career who has ever shown him an ounce of compassion or empathy, regardless of his unforgivable deeds, and the fact that we as an audience feel anything at all for this reprehensible character is a testament to just how pivotal he is as one of MCU’s most memorable villains. D’Onofrio gives one of his best and most vulnerable performances as his signature character, breaking down as he relays his fears to Vanessa about losing her.

Then, almost as if bad karma is finally catching up with the Kingpin, Vanessa’s condition rapidly worsens. The doctors rush in, but the tragic expression on Wilson’s face all but confirms what many fans have suspected. After five unforgettable seasons, Vanessa dies, officially putting the MCU series in uncharted territory as Matt and his companions brace for an increasingly unstable Fisk.

The first five episodes of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 are streaming now on Disney+.

Release Date

March 4, 2025

Network

Disney+

Showrunner

Dario Scardapane

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Pros & Cons

• Vincent D’Onofrio once again proves why he’s one of the MCU’s best villains with a fantastic performance.
• Vanessa’s apparent death sets up so many bold directions for the show to go in.
• Seeing Foggy and Wesley again was great…

• …but their inclusion feels more like fan service rather than a meaningful story development.