After successfully reintroducing the world of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and dragging Matt Murdock back into the darkness that defined the Netflix series, Marvel Television is diving deeper into the Defenders-verse in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.
In late 2023, Marvel Television retooled Daredevil: Born Again, replacing the original creatives and aligning the show with the popular Netflix series that ran for three seasons. In January 2024, Marvel’s streaming skipper, Brad Winderbaum, officially canonized all 13 season and 161-ish hours of the Netflix Marvel series, retconning the events of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and The Defenders into the Sacred Timeline. All that allowed for Jon Bernthal‘s Frank Castle to pop in, help Red out a bit and set the stage for a Punisher Special Presentation. And now, it’s Krysten Ritter‘s turn to revisit the dark and gritty streets of Hell’s Kitchen, likely setting up an all-new, all-different Jessica Jones project.
Like Castle, Jones will be teaming up with Daredevil to take on Wilson Fisk as Mayor Kingpin looks to tighten his grip on New York City. If you’re looking to catch up on some of the major storylines that might intersect during the new season, we’ve got you covered with…The Ultimate List of What to Watch Before Daredevil: Born Again Season 2!
| Series / Movie | Approx. Runtime | Why It Matters |
| Daredevil Season 1 | 11h 40m | The foundation. Sets the Murdock/Fisk rivalry. |
| Jessica Jones Season 1 | 11h 10m | Introduces Jessica and the toll of fighting an “untouchable” monster in Kilgrave. |
| Daredevil Season 2 | 12h 15m | The debut of Frank Castle and Fisk’s long game in Ryker’s Island. |
| The Defenders | 6h 30m | The tactical blueprint for the Murdock/Jones alliance and fighting institutional rot. |
| Jessica Jones Season 2 | 12h 05m | Explores systemic failure and the lab rat distrust of government authority. |
| Jessica Jones Season 3 | 11h 50m | The Vigilante Line and Jessica’s refusal to leave NYC, ensuring she’s there for Born Again. |
| Daredevil Season 3 | 11h 15m | Fisk frames Daredevil and dismantles the FBI from within. |
| Spider-Man: No Way Home | 2h 28m | Matt’s official MCU proper debut. Establishes him as a really good lawyer. |
| She-Hulk: Attorney at Law | 4h 30m | Shows a different side of Matt, a stark contrast to his Born Again tragedy. |
| Hawkeye | 4h 02m | The Kingpin returns with a physical power upgrade and ties to the Tracksuit Mafia. |
| Echo | 3h 30m | The psychological rebirth of Fisk and the post-credits launch of his Mayoral campaign. |
| Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 | 7h 06m | The immediate prologue. Mayor Fisk is sworn in and the AVTF begins. |
| Total Prep Runtime | 98h 21m | Roughly 4.1 days of non-stop viewing. |
Mayor Fisk
Daredevil follows Matt Murdock, attorney by day and vigilante by night. Blinded in an accident as a child, Murdock uses his heightened senses as Daredevil, fighting crime on the streets of New York after the sun goes down. His efforts are not welcomed by Wilson Fisk — aka Kingpin — and others whose interests collide with those of Daredevil. Though Murdock’s day job portrays a man who believes in the criminal justice system, his alter ego suggests otherwise, as he takes the law into his own hands to protect his neighborhood.
_Official synopsis for Daredevil, via Disney Plus
Wilson Fisk isn’t just a crime boss anymore; he’s an institution. In Season 1, we saw him consolidate power and launch the Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF). Heading into Season 2, he is no longer running for office—he is running the city, and his first order of business is ensuring there is no room left for a Devil in Hell’s Kitchen.
Daredevil, Season 1 (2015)
🍅 99%
In the inaugural season of Daredevil, Wilson Fisk wasn’t just a villain; he was a dark mirror held up to Matt Murdock’s own ambitions for Hell’s Kitchen. If you’re tracking the DNA of the current Mayor of New York, it all starts here, in the shadows of a city he claimed to love while simultaneously tearing it apart.
When we first meet Fisk, he is a ghost—a name that causes men to commit suicide rather than speak it. He isn’t interested in being a crime lord in the traditional sense; he views himself as a visionary philanthropist. His goal in Season 1 was to gentrify Hell’s Kitchen by any means necessary—extortion, murder, and the systematic demolition of the neighborhood’s soul to build something pristine in its place. The most critical thread from Season 1 that weaves into Born Again is his relationship with Vanessa Marianna. She is the anchor that prevents him from being a mindless beast and instead turns him into a calculated tactician. His vulnerability through her is exactly what Matt Murdock eventually exploits, leading to the “mutually assured destruction” pact that defined their rivalry for years. Long before he was a politician, Fisk was practicing his stump speech. In Season 1, he attempted to step into the light as a Good Samaritan to counter the narrative of the masked vigilante. This was the beta test for his 2026 Mayoral campaign. He learned early on that public perception is more powerful than even his brute strength.
Runtime: 11 hours and 40 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: If you want to understand why Fisk is so effective as Mayor, watch 1.08, “Shadows in the Glass.” It’s the definitive look at the trauma that shaped the monster that now runs the greatest city in the world.
Daredevil, Season 2 (2016)
🍅 81%
While Season 1 was about Fisk building an empire, Season 2—specifically his stint in Ryker’s Island—was about him mastering the art of the long game. Even behind bars, Fisk proved that a cage is just another room to run a business from. Indeed, Wilson Fisk’s Season 2 arc may ultimately have proven to be the secret ingredient to his eventual Mayoral win.
Fisk begins Season 2 at his lowest point, but he doesn’t stay there long. This season is a masterclass in institutional capture. He doesn’t fight the prison system; he buys it. By the time Frank Castle arrives on the scene, Fisk has already turned the guards into his personal security detail and the inmates into his infantry: he is the Kingpin of Ryker’s. The most pivotal moment for the future of the MCU’s New York happens in a blood-soaked prison hallway. Fisk manipulates the Punisher into eliminating a rival, effectively handing Fisk total control of the prison’s black market. This taught Fisk a lesson he uses as Mayor: vigilantes are tools. He realizes that a man of action like Castle can be pointed at a problem to solve it, a tactic we see him replicate in Born Again by weaponizing official task forces to do his dirty work under the color of law. The brief, violent meeting between Matt and Fisk in the prison visitation room is the spark for Born Again. When Matt threatens Vanessa’s safety, the Good Samaritan facade officially dies. Fisk doesn’t just want to beat Matt anymore; he wants to destroy the very idea of a hero. This interaction is where Fisk realizes that to truly win, he has to change the rules of the city so that Matt’s brand of justice is no longer just illegal, but obsolete.
Runtime: 12 hours and 15 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: If you’re short on time, skip to Episode 9, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” It’s the definitive look at Fisk’s transition from a businessman to the Kingpin. It’s the blueprint for how he eventually treats New York City: as a prison where he holds all the keys.
Daredevil, Season 3 (2018)
🍅 97%
In Season 3, Fisk orchestrates a move from Ryker’s to a luxury penthouse by turning the FBI into his personal concierge service. He paints himself as a victim of the system and a cooperator helping the government take down even worse criminals. He realizes that if you can control the narrative, you don’t have to hide in the shadows. He begins to position himself as a man who was unfairly persecuted by vigilantes and a corrupt legal system—a platform he eventually rides all the way to City Hall.
Of course, Fisk’s greatest achievement in Season 3 wasn’t beating Daredevil; it was corrupting Benjamin Poindexter. By turning a decorated federal agent into a mass murderer dressed as Daredevil, Fisk effectively turned the public against their hero. The season ends with Fisk back in a cell, but the damage was already done. He had successfully mapped out the corruptibility of every major institution in New York—the courts, the FBI, and the press. When he returns to the public eye in Born Again, he isn’t trying to corrupt the system from the outside anymore; he has become the system.
Runtime: 11 hours and 15 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: If you want to see Fisk at his most terrifyingly brilliant, watch Episode 4, “Blindsided.” It’s the famous one-take prison riot, but more importantly, it shows the sheer scale of his influence. It proves that even when he’s losing, Wilson Fisk is always three moves ahead of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
Hawkeye (2021)
🍅 92%
Following the events of Daredevil Season 3, Fisk was supposedly neutralized. Matt Murdock had him pinned with a mutually assured destruction pact involving Vanessa. But as we’ve seen in the MCU, the Blip changed the rules of the game. While the world was mourning half its population, Fisk was quietly rebuilding. By the time we catch up with him in Hawkeye, he’s no longer just a rumor in Hell’s Kitchen; he’s a man looking to reclaim a city that belongs to him.
After the chaos of the Blip, Fisk didn’t just survive; he adapted. While the world was reeling from the Snap, Fisk was rebuilding his empire from the ground up, using the Tracksuit Mafia as his blunt-force instrument. In Hawkeye, we see a Fisk who is less concerned with “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” and more concerned with territorial dominance. He’s grittier, he’s wearing the comic-accurate Fat Man floral and he’s more physically imposing than ever. The finale of Hawkeye saw Fisk take an arrow to the chest and survive a massive explosion, establishing his increased durability in the MCU. But more importantly, it provided the physical scar that fuels his platform in Born Again. When he’s shot in the eye by Maya, it doesn’t break him but rather gives him a visual receipt of the vigilante violence he promises to end as Mayor.
Runtime: 4 hours and 2 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: If you’re watching for the lore, pay attention to the Eleanor Bishop connection. It proves that Fisk’s reach extends into the highest levels of New York’s elite social circles. He isn’t just a criminal; he’s a partner to the city’s power brokers. Watch Episode 6, “So This Is Christmas?”—it’s the moment the Kingpin officially became a Big Game player in the Disney+ era.
Echo (2024)
🍅 70%
If Hawkeye was the physical return of the Kingpin, Echo was the psychological rebirth. The Marvel Spotlight series took Fisk away from the skyscrapers of Manhattan and dropped him into the dust of Oklahoma, forcing him to confront the one thing he can’t control: his own legacy. His appearance in Echo ultimately serves as the origin story of Mayor Fisk.
In Echo, we see a version of Fisk that is deeply unsettled. His obsession with Maya Lopez isn’t just about power; it’s about his desperate need for love and validation. When Maya uses her ancestral powers to force Fisk to relive his childhood trauma—the hammer, his father, the blood—it doesn’t cure him. Instead, it strips away the last of his hesitation. He leaves Oklahoma with a singular focus: if he cannot be loved as a father, he will be feared as a ruler. While Fisk was away chasing Maya, New York was falling apart…at least that’s what he took away from the news. The series subtly establishes that the city is exhausted. The street-level heroes are scattered, and the public is tired of the collateral damage. Fisk realizes that the city doesn’t need a savior; it needs a manager. The real catalyst for Fisk’s political career happens in the back half of a private jet. After a brutal psychic and physical confrontation with Maya Lopez in Oklahoma, a battered Fisk is seen watching NY1. The anchors are discussing the lack of a “fighter” in the upcoming New York City mayoral race—someone who isn’t a career politician, someone who understands the pain of the people.
Runtime: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: Do not skip the Episode 5 post-credits scene. It is a true prologue to Born Again. It turns a series about Maya Lopez into the definitive launchpad for the next five years of the MCU’s New York. It’s the moment Wilson Fisk decides that instead of breaking the law, he’s going to BE the law.
Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1 (2025)
🍅 87%
Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again wasn’t just a revival; it was a total restructuring of the power balance in New York City. The second half of the season serves as the immediate prologue to the chaos of Season 2; it’s where the Cold War between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk finally went hot and the series turned back to its Netflix roots.
The most shocking element of Season 1 was the dismantling of Matt Murdock’s support system. The loss of Foggy didn’t just break Matt’s heart; it broke his faith in the legal system and became the reason behind the more aggressive stance Matt seems poised to take in Season 2. Without Foggy to act as his moral North Star, the Devil is less interested in courtrooms and more interested in the rooftops.
Runtime: 7 hours and 6 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: Fisk returns to New York with a refined strategy. He leans into his history not as a criminal, but as a survivor and a builder. His platform is simple and terrifying: Anti-Vigilantism. He frames heroes like Daredevil and the Punisher as the source of New York’s chaos. Fisk isn’t just making local laws; he’s trying to set a national precedent. If he can prove that New York is safer without vigilantes, he becomes a candidate for the White House, though it’s clear his rise to political power will not go unchallenged. Watching Episode 9, “Straight to Hell”, may indeed be all you need to prepare for Season 2.
The Jessica Jones Primer
When a tragedy puts an the end to her short-lived career as a superhero, Jessica settles in NYC and opens her own detective agency, called Alias Investigations, which seems to be called into cases involving people who have special abilities. Suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, Jessica wants to do good, but her primary interest isn’t in saving the world, it’s saving her apartment and getting through each day. Based on a graphic novel intended for adults, this is not a superhero story for the kids.
-Official synopsis for Jessica Jones, via Disney Plus
Jessica Jones, Season 1 (2015)
🍅 94%
In Season 1, Jessica wasn’t trying to save the world; she was trying to survive a predator. Her battle with Kilgrave was a masterclass in how power—specifically the power to control others—destroys lives. In Born Again Season 2, Wilson Fisk has the legislative power to ruin anyone who speaks out and his jackbooted group of Anti-Vigilante Task Force goons to enforce his law. Jessica understands the mental toll of fighting an untouchable monster, making her a perfect ally for Matt.
As a lawyer, Murdock looks for evidence in a courtroom; as a P.I., Jones looks for dirt in the gutters. Season 1 established Jessica as the ultimate investigator—someone who can find the unfindable skeletons in a powerful man’s closet. With Fisk running a clean administration in the public eye, Jessica’s ability to dig through the trash is exactly what the Resistance needs to expose the corruption behind the Mayor’s Safe Streets initiative.
One of Jessica’s greatest strengths in Season 1 was her refusal to play by the rules of heroism. As Fisk tightens the legal noose around vigilantes in Born Again, Jessica’s cynicism and ability to operate in the grey area, and in a city where being a hero is a crime, will be of use to Matt’s army.
Runtime: 11 hours and 10 minutes
Murphy’s Memo: If you only have time for one episode, make itEpisode 7, “AKA Top Shelf Perverts”. It perfectly illustrates Jessica’s no-nonsense approach to systemic corruption and her willingness to go to the darkest places to get the job done.
The Defenders (2017)
🍅 78%
While the individual seasons of th bNetflix series show us who these characters are, The Defenders is the only reason Born Again Season 2 works as a team-up. It’s the vibe check” for the Matt and Jessica partnership.
The chemistry between Ritter and Cox catalyzed the crossover series, providing most of the memorable moments, including the first meeting between Matt and Jessica in an interrogation room.
The Defenders took on the Hand which was an organization that owned the city’s boardrooms, police, and real estate—much like Wilson Fisk does now. The Defenders showed Matt and Jessica that they can’t beat a massive organization by playing by the rules. They had to go underground, use unconventional tactics, and rely on a found family of heroes. This playbook makes need to get pulled back out when Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force puts a target on their backs.
Murphy’s Memo: If you’re short on time, just watch Episode 3, “Worst Behavior.” The hallway fight is great, but the real gold is the banter between Matt and Jessica. It’s the definitive street-level dynamic. If Born Again Season 2 revisits that interrogation room energy, fans will find some favorite moments outside of the brutal fights sure to take place.
Runtime: 6 hours and 30 minutes
Jessica Jones Season 2 (2018)
🍅 82%
Season 2 pulled back the curtain on IGH, the shadowy organization that gave Jessica her powers through illicit medical experimentation.
Much of the second season of Jessica Jones focused on Jessica trying—and failing—to save her mother, Alisa. It was a season about the collateral damage that follows “super” people. This is a goldmine for Wilson Fisk’s propaganda machine in Born Again Season 2.
Fisk weaponized the narrative of “vigilantes causing more harm than good” to justify his crackdown at the end of Season 1. Jessica has lived that failure; she knows what it’s like when a “heroic” intervention ends in a body bag, making her a more grounded and cynical counterpoint to Murdock’s idealism.
Though it was certainly not the strongest installment in the Defenders-verse series, Season 2 tapped into Jessica’s fear that she was becoming a monster like her mother. In Born Again, Fisk will try to convince the world—and the heroes themselves—that they are the villains. Jessica’s struggle with her own identity makes her immune to Fisk’s gaslighting.
Murphy’s Memo: Take another look at Episode 11, “AKA Three Lives and Counting”. It captures Jessica’s internal struggle with the hero pabel better than almost anything else. Perhaps her appearance in Born Again isn’t so much joining Matt because she wants to save the city; she’s joining because she’s tired of people like Fisk deciding who the monsters are.
Runtime: 12 hours and 5 minutes
Jessica Jones Season 3 (2019)
🍅 73%
The final season of Jessica Jones was a masterclass in the gray areas of morality, centering on the question: “What does it actually mean to be a ‘hero’?” Though it seemed to give Jessica somewhat of a happy ending”, it could serve as connective tissue to Born Again Season 2 because it leaves Jessica at a crossroads—one that leads her straight back to the streets of New York just as Wilson Fisk is taking over.
Jessica faced Gregory Salinger, the Foolkiller, sort of, a villain who didn’t have powers but had a twisted, intellectual vendetta against gifted people. He viewed heroes as frauds who “cheat” at life…the same rhetoric used by Fisk uses in his Mayoral campaign. Salinger was the prototype for Fisk’s propaganda—proving that you don’t need a super-suit to dismantle a hero; you just need to prove they are unfair to the common man.
The series ended with Jessica at a train station, ready to leave the city behind, only to hear Kilgrave’s voice in her head telling her to give up. In an act of pure defiance, she turned back. She chose to stay and fight. By the time we see her in 2026, she has been operating in the shadows of Fisk’s New York for years, likely as one of the few unregistered P.I.s still digging for the truth.
Murphy’s Memo: Go back and watch the Series Finale (“AKA Everything”). That final shot of Jessica turning back toward the city lights is everything. It tells you that she isn’t coming back to Born Again because she’s a sidekick; she’s coming back because New York is her city, and she’ll be damned if a man like Wilson Fisk is the one who gets to save it.
Runtime: 11 hours and 50 minutes
MCU Connective Tissue
Once upon a time, Marvel Studios One-Above-All pushed Daredevil and Spidey as the MCU’s cornerstone street-level heroes. Incredibly, nearly four years later, the two vigilantes have yet to cross paths in a live-action project despite plenty of rumors that such a team-up was in the works. However, both Matt Murdock and his alter ego have popped up elsewhere since Charlie Cox recommitted to the role.
We’ve got the supernatural angles, we’ve got the street-level with our announcement of Daredevil, and of course, Spidey going into the street-level heroes.
-Kevin Feige, 2022
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
🍅 93%
Matt Murdock is a really good lawyer.
Just over five years ago, Murphy’s Multiverse broke the news that Charlie Cox was joining the MCU in Spider-Man: Far From Home. While it was only a cameo, it generated a lot of excitement and was the first step toward fully integrating Daredevil into the shared narrative.
Runtime: 2 hours and 28 minutes
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Episodes 8 and 9 (2022)
🍅 79%
I’ve made it no secret that I’m a huge fan of Tatiana’s and the fun we had on She-Hulk was some of the best fun I’ve had as that character. I thought she was amazing as Jennifer Walters and I would be a huge… certainly an advocate of her showing up in our show if she’s free and available and willing and all of those things. So I would love for that to happen. I have no idea if that is possible.
–Charlie Cox on the possibility of She-Hulk appearing in Daredevil: Born Again
While Matt Murdock appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Daredevil didn’t make his MCU debut until the final two episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. While some fans bristled at the more carefree vibe Cox brought to the role in his appearance, it certainly fit the tone of the series, though at this point, it seems as though Marvel has decided they’d rather have Matt suffer than find happiness in the warm embrace of Shulkie.
Runtime of Episodes 8 and 9: 1 hour and 11 minutes
The Fast Track
Today is February 10, 2026, and the clock is officially ticking. With the premiere of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 set for March 24, 2026, you have exactly 42 days to conquer your 98-hour watchlist.
To make this happen without losing your job or your mind, you need to average about 2.3 hours of Marvel per day. Here’s your Street-Level Resistance training schedule to hit that 98-hour goal by premiere night.
About Daredevil: Born Again Season 2
Season 2 of Marvel Television’s stars Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Wilson Bethel, Deborah Ann Woll, Margarita Levieva, Krysten Ritter, Matthew Lillard and Ayelet Zurer.
Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. But, beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.
-Official synopsis for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2
The second season was created by Dario Scardapane, Chris Ord and Matt Corman. Episodes were written by Dario Scardapane (201, 202); Heather Bellson (203, 207); Chantelle M. Wells (204); Jesse Wigutow (205); Devon Kliger and Jesse Wigutow (206); Dario Scardapane and Jesse Wigutow (208) and directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (201, 202); Solvan “Slick” Naim (203, 204); Angela Barnes (205, 206); Iain B. MacDonald (207, 208).
David Chambers is producing with Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, Dario Scardapane, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Iain B. MacDonald, Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio executive producing.
