Articles
Daredevil: Born Again Brings Back Another Classic Netflix Character in the Best Possible Way
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 has been a much smoother blending of the Marvel Netflix Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe than we got in Season 1. With a firm and consistent creative vision in place, the showrunners of Born Again can be much more playful about past characters and storylines they reference, not just bringing fans big crossover moments like Matt Murdock/Daredevil reuniting with the likes of The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), but also much smaller moments of character reunions that offer much richer payoff for longtime fans.
Episode 7 of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 may be the best example yet of how the MCU can make good use of the lore that Marvel-Netflix invested in, without making it feel contrived or heavy-handed. In fact, going forward, more MCU TV shows and films need to take note of how to do this kind of thing right.
Daredevil Netflix Star Makes His Official MCU Debut
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 7, “The Hateful Darkness” opens with Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) being locked up in a jail cell at the 15th precinct, after being detained by Anti-Vigilante Task Force leader, Connor Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley). Karen’s first visitor is none other than Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), who tries to scare her and even physically intimidates her. However, Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and his allies make their own play to get to Karen.
Matt leans on his ex-cop buddy Cherry (Clark Johnson) to get word to a man inside the precinct who can provide them with access to Karen’s cell. As fan theorized, that man turns out to be none other than Chief of Detectives Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson). Mahoney allows Karen out of her cell and through the back door of the precinct for a meeting with Daredevil, before bringing her back in, with no one the wiser.
Brett Mahoney had one of the biggest supporting character arcs in the Marvel-Netflix Universe, outside of “Night Nurse” Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson). Mahoney was a beat cop whom Foggy Neslon (Elden Henson) had known since childhood. He fed Foggy and Matt tips on situations where someone was in dire need of legal representation, but didn’t have the resources to get it, allowing Nelson and Murdock to swoop in and assist.
Mahoney became a pivotal figure in the street war between “The Kingpin” of Crime and the “Devil of Hell’s Kitchen,” eventually accepting Daredevil’s vigilante efforts to the point that the Season 1 finale of Netflix Daredevil ended with the vigilante leaving Fisk gift-wrapped on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen for Mahoney to arrest.
As the years went on, Mahoney climbed through the ranks of the NYPD, becoming a detective and eventually Chief of Detectives; he also spent years helping other street-level vigilantes, including aiding Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) in her fight against the mind-stealing villain Kilgrave (David Tennant), and helping Frank Castle/The Punisher take down Billy Russo (Ben Barnes) when he ran amok as “Jigsaw.” In fact, last we saw, Mahoney had tried (and failed) to bring Jigsaw in the legal way, but the Punisher and his allies got to Russo first and killed him, leaving Mahoney disgruntled with the way vigilantes handled things.
Mahoney’s return in Daredevil: Born Again is a pitch-perfect example of how the MCU can reap the benefits of previous franchises. His presence is organic and logical (Cherry pulled strings to make sure Karen ended under Mahoney’s wing), and is a major signal boost for all the diehard fans of the Netflix Daredevil series, while never taking away any momentum from the episode, or making the crossover feel gratuitous or hollow. As stated, Mahoney is such a versatile character that he could pop up in any number of future MCU projects, starting with the upcoming Punisher special feature, One Last Kill. Like Claire, or street thug Turk Barrett (Rob Morgan), Mahoney is more than a recurring character: he’s a staple of the street-level universe that Marvel-Netflix built, and one of the unsung ambassadors of making the MCU Daredevil feel like it came from the Netflix world. Don’t make this a one-off.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is streaming on Disney+. What do you think about the new season? Let us know on the ComicBook Forum!
