Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Finale Delivers the Kingpin Ending the MCU Needs

I loved how Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 pulled the show out of its early wobble and stuck a landing hard enough to knock the dust off Disney+. By some ratings, that finale is the best any Marvel Disney+ series has managed. Naturally, the rumor mill has been doing laps since, and those strategic little production leaks are already hyping Season 3 to the moon. Mild spoilers ahead: Matt Murdock is stuck in a cell for his vigilante hobby, and the old Netflix crew is circling the wagons. But the big swing everyone is arguing about? Kingpin is back. Again. With a new look. And I have thoughts.

Season 2 fixed the landing (and pointed straight at a jailhouse Season 3)

Season 1 of Born Again felt like the show didn’t quite know what MCU version of Daredevil it wanted to be, punting the Matt vs. Fisk showdown into the future. Season 2 cashed that check with interest and gave us a finale that played like the classic Netflix run finally clicked back into place. Now we’re heading into Season 3 with Matt (Charlie Cox) behind bars for his Daredevil crimes, while his old Defenders teammates — Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) — try to keep both him and the city from getting chewed up.

Daredevil vs. Kingpin already had a perfect three-round arc

If you zoom out, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have one of the cleanest hero-villain sagas Marvel has put on screen. It breaks down like this:

Round 1: Netflix’s Daredevil Season 1 ends with Matt finally embracing the Daredevil mantle and taking Fisk down the only way he can — in a brutal street fight after the legal route fails.

Round 2: Season 2 detours to The Hand (with Punisher and Elektra crashing the party), but Season 3 brings it back home: Daredevil vs. Kingpin, with Bullseye in the mix, culminating in a savage final brawl that felt like a proper curtain call for the Netflix era.

Round 3: Born Again held the showdown in Season 1 but delivered in Season 2 — and it smartly fought the war on both of Matt’s fronts. Lawyer vs. mayor in a courtroom chess match, while Daredevil and Kingpin literally punch their way, in parallel hallway fights, to the center of the courthouse. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio went full drama mode, and the emotional payoff was better than any CGI sky-beam could ever buy. Honestly, Fisk got as strong an ending as any MCU villain has had.

So… why are we rolling Fisk back out right now?

Here’s what’s confirmed: Vincent D'Onofrio is back on set for Born Again Season 3, and Kingpin’s got a noticeably different look — the kind of makeover that screams new direction, new phase, new something. Fans are split. Me? I’d have benched him.

I don’t need more Kingpin in Season 3. We just wrapped a great ending for him — let it breathe.

The MCU keeps forgetting how to make a great comeback

Born Again Season 2 gave us another Daredevil vs. Kingpin arc that was bigger in scope and at least on par with the best of the Netflix finales. That would have been the perfect time to dethrone Fisk, ship him out of New York, and let the character sit on ice for a few years. Zero downside. Comics do this all the time — disappear a villain, let anticipation build, then drop a crowd-pleasing return. The MCU, meanwhile, swings between overusing a baddie or ghosting them after a movie or two.

• When Marvel sticks with a villain for a whole era: Winter Soldier, Thanos.
• When Marvel burns through or forgets them: Ronin, Zemo, Justin Hammer, Whiplash, Aldrich Killian, Hela, Ultron, Killmonger, Vulture, Red Skull.

There’s a middle path: rotate the big antagonists in and out, with real gaps between appearances so they feel like events when they resurface. Case in point, Kingpin popping up in Hawkeye (and to a lesser extent, Echo) was a genuine jolt that boosted those shows and stoked interest across Daredevil/Spider-Man/Punisher territory. That’s the sweet spot.

The new look isn’t helping

Set photos have Fisk roaming around in a getup that reads less ruthless king of crime, more midlife-crisis streetwear. Maybe it plays better in context. But after such a clean wrap-up in Season 2, it doesn’t land with the same electricity as his surprise returns did elsewhere.

Where I land

Born Again finally recaptured what made Daredevil sing — human stakes, nasty fights with purpose, and two lead performances that carry the whole thing. Season 3 already has a strong hook with Matt in jail and the Defenders rallying. Throwing Fisk right back into the mix risks stepping on a finale that felt, for once, like an ending.

Daredevil: Born Again is streaming on Disney+. If you’re in the bring-Fisk-back camp, I’m listening — but you’re going to have to sell me.