Two Beloved MCU Characters Return in Daredevil: Born Again — But a Major Fan Theory Gets Buried

Death and Marvel have a long, messy relationship. Characters die, characters get better, timelines bend, and we all nod along like this is normal. Daredevil: Born Again just leaned into that chaos in a way that is clever, frustrating, and very on brand for the MCU.

Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Episode 5.

The setup: Bullseye, Fogwell's Gym, and Vanessa

Episode 5 picks up after Bullseye's hit at Fogwell's Gym and the supposed death of Vanessa Fisk. Only, not so fast. She does not die right away. Vanessa rallies, and then she dies later, which feels engineered to spark the season's endgame. That brief window between life and death becomes the excuse to pull two ghosts from Daredevil lore back into focus: Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Wilson Fisk's right-hand man from the Netflix years, Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore).

Who comes back (and how)

Both returns are flashbacks. No multiverse door swings open; no magical retcon. The episode threads together stories from Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk's earlier days to reframe what Bullseye did to Vanessa and why it matters.

Wesley shows up as the series rewinds to the beginning of Wilson and Vanessa's relationship, tied to the sale of that stark, all-white canvas 'Rabbit in a Snowstorm' that Wilson got weirdly obsessed with. Wesley, of course, died back in Daredevil Season 1 at the hands of Karen Page, a death that massively shaped her. Seeing him again is a sharp reminder of how much was lost — even if, to be fair, Arty Froushan's Buck Cashman has turned into one of Born Again's best new pieces.

Foggy reappears too, and his presence quietly buries a fan theory. There was chatter that, like in the comics, Foggy's 'death' was a setup and the FBI stashed him in witness protection. The problem: Matt literally heard Foggy's life slip away. The MCU has pulled off stranger saves, but not this time. Instead, the flashback drops us into one of Nelson & Murdock's earliest cases, where Foggy had to defend a guy who used to torment him — not exactly the client you want, but the kind that forces you to pick a lane on what justice actually means.

The morality play (and why it lands)

The episode keeps circling the same thorny point from three angles: Foggy and Matt's early case, Fisk and Vanessa's origin, and Bullseye's attempt on Kingpin. On paper, taking a shot at Fisk could be read as a net good. In practice, it ends up proving Fisk's favorite argument about how vigilante justice spirals. The show makes that tension bite harder by pairing Wesley's return — the man Karen chose to kill — with Karen's absolute refusal to buy Bullseye's 'I had no choice' defense regarding Foggy. It's messy, and it should be. That moral gray is where Born Again has felt most alive this season.

MCU death math, updated

• Loki: faked it, then a variant took the baton
• Thanos and Gamora: time-travel do-overs
• Red Skull: cursed into a new gig instead of a coffin
• Bucky Barnes: didn't fully die, came back as the Winter Soldier
• Professor X: dies more than anyone, still shows up

Point is, Marvel treats death like a revolving door. Scarlet Witch will probably stroll through it sooner or later. Born Again flirts with that pattern here but sticks to flashbacks rather than full-on resurrections — at least for now.

Bottom line

Vanessa's staggered death sets off the season's chaos. Wesley and Foggy return only in memory, not body. The episode uses those callbacks to sharpen the show's central question about justice and consequence. Great storytelling choice; frustrating if you were holding out hope for Foggy's survival. At this point, it looks like the only way we see more of him is another flashback down the road — maybe in Season 3.

New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again drop Tuesday nights on Disney+.