Daredevil: Born Again season 2 ending explained – Kingpin's fate is a grave injustice

**Warning: contains full spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2 episode 8.**

Daredevil: Born Again season 2 has ended on rather odd note, with the future of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) hanging in the balance while Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) essentially gets off scot-free.

The whole season has been building towards a conclusive showdown between these arch-enemies, which finally takes place after the earth-shattering trial of Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).

But while Born Again season 2’s finale, titled The Southern Cross, will have major ramifications for Matt himself, it may leave fans divided over the fate of New York’s unstable Mayor, formerly known as Kingpin.

For all the build-up and angst that preceded it, Daredevil: Born Again‘s towering villain is handed a gentle ultimatum that hardly seems appropriate given the extent of his violent and ruthless crimes. Is this really the end of his story?

Read on for our take on the strange Daredevil: Born Again season 2 ending – including Kingpin’s fate, Matt’s enormous sacrifice and the potential return of The Defenders.

Daredevil: Born Again season 2 ending explained – Kingpin’s fate is a grave injustice

Daredevil: Born Again season 2 ends with a battle at a New York City courthouse, where the dynamic between Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) is permanently transformed.

Prior to the riot breaking out, Matt had turned up to defend Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) against the trumped-up charges put against her by Mayor Fisk’s corrupt administration, making an enormous sacrifice in order to do so.

In front of the entire courtroom and media in attendance, he outed himself as the masked vigilante known as Daredevil, and used this revelation to provide damning witness testimony against the crook formerly known as Kingpin.

With Karen acquitted and Fisk’s credibility severely damaged, it initially seems to be a resounding victory for all those who have been working to topple the New York City regime.

That is, until reports of a shooter send the premises into lockdown, with Fisk using the opportunity to broadcast one last message to his dwindling supporters, appealing for their loyalty and defence against the rebels seeking to bring him down.

BB Urich (Genneya Walton) responds with a parody of the message, which successfully diminishes its impact (but the rapid rate at which she writes, films and edits these videos must rank as one of the most implausible elements of the season).

As both sides call their troops, the result is a chaotic scene somewhat resembling Washington DC’s real-life January 6 attack on the Capitol building, as swarms of enraged civilians descend on the premises seeking retribution.

Although Fisk still has a smattering of Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF) members to rely on, he appears to be outnumbered by the New York City residents seeking to end his reign. Not that it matters, as he makes short work of those who approach him.

On his journey through the courthouse corridors, Kingpin kills and maims dozens of the protestors, eventually turning up in the main reception with blood splattered across his once-pristine white suit. Finally, he is overwhelmed by the crowd.

Daredevil puts an end to the pile-on, before offering a rather lenient deal to his longtime foe. Essentially, he tells Kingpin to ‘just go away’ – to leave New York and never return.

The question is: does that seem a fair punishment, given Fisk’s countless acts of barbarity (in this season alone)?

At this late stage in his crime-fighting career, Daredevil generally doesn’t kill and has firmly resisted suggestions that he may have to break that rule in Fisk’s case, so it isn’t surprising to see him seek a non-lethal resolution to their feud.

However, that this proposition contains no real penalty for Fisk is arguably just as morally questionable as capital punishment. Sure, he’s banned from New York City and stripped of his political authority, but he’s given a loose leash to rebuild elsewhere.

To Matt Murdock, it appears, Fisk can commit whichever unspeakable crimes he likes, so long as they are geographically removed from his own stomping ground.

When we last see Kingpin, he is stood on a beach, yearning for the city from which he’s been banished. Although the moment is pitched as being the momentous, even emotional, conclusion to a decade-long storyline, it feels neither satisfying nor just.

The multiple murders and criminal conspiracies he’s been party to in just the past 12 months seem a distant memory to Matt, Karen, the NYPD, the District Attorney and, above all, the writers of the show.

Adding to the confusion, leaked set photos suggest that Kingpin will, in fact, be back next year. So what’s the point in any of this?

What will happen to Matt Murdock in season 3?

Once the dust settles on the courthouse catastrophe, Matt Murdock has to face the daunting consequences of his decision to unmask as Daredevil.

Although it helped put a stop to Fisk’s authoritarian rule, Matt has now definitively lost the legal and physical protection that his secret identity had once afforded him.

After a fleeting taste at a normal life with Karen, the police turn up to arrest him for his many years’ worth of vigilante activity. Resigned to due process, Matt goes quietly to jail.

It’s a perilous situation for Matt to be in, given that any one of the dangerous criminals that he’s put behind bars could take this opportunity to enact their revenge.

For more insight into how Daredevil in prison might unfold, check out Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark’s The Devil in Cell-Block D, which some fans speculate could be a key influence on Born Again season 3.

Luke Cage returns – but will The Defenders reunite?

Mike Colter reprises the role of Luke Cage in the Daredevil: Born Again season 2 finale, marking his first time in the role since the Netflix/Marvel shows were cancelled in 2019.

It had been strongly hinted that Luke and Jessica Jones were still together, and that Danielle was their shared daughter from the comic books, but Colter’s appearance is a welcome confirmation regardless.

What remains a mystery, however, is precisely what he’s been up to with the enigmatic Mr Charles (Matthew Lillard), who has apparently been recruiting powered individuals for covert missions overseas.

At the tail-end of this season, he releases Luke from active duty and replaces him with Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), freeing up Harlem’s unbreakable hero to play a larger role in Born Again season 3.

A leaked photo from the set of the next chapter showed Ritter, Colter and Finn Jones in costume as Jessica, Luke and Danny Rand (aka Iron Fist) respectively, which has raised hopes that Netflix’s short-lived The Defenders could, at last, get a second life.

For now, it’s unclear exactly what this trio are up to, but it might be that they return to the streets of New York City to fill the void when Hell’s Kitchen loses its horn-headed hero. (A refurbed Alias Investigations office suggests that Jessica is back for good.)

One ticking time bomb on the brink of detonating is Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), whose descent into villainy sees her don the Muse mask for the first time – but will she really continue his gruesome legacy?

Born Again season 3 is currently filming in New York City, so there won’t be too long until we find out.

Daredevil: Born Again is available to stream on Disney+. Sign-up to Disney+ from £5.99 a month.

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