All licensed songs featured in Daredevil: Born Again’s episode 1 - Heaven's Half Hour - and their connections to the plot, explored

Music isn’t just a background element in Daredevil: Born Again. It shapes the story, carving into every scene with precision. The first episode, properly named "Heaven's Half Hour," is drenched in sound, each track chosen not just to enhance the atmosphere but to mirror Matt Murdock’s fractured psyche.

Nick Cave’s Into My Arms drowns a moment of raw grief, while The Kills’ Future Starts Slow underscores the inevitability of his return to the streets. Headliner by Tyrone Briggs fuels a brutal fight sequence, while I Looked All Over Town performed by The Magnetic Fields paints a picture of isolation. Caleb Elliott’s Makes Me Wonder lingers in doubt, and Staring at the Sun by TV on the Radio drives home the weight of fate. Each song is a thread in the unraveling of a man who thought he had left this life behind.

This soundtrack doesn’t just set the tone. It forces you to feel every moment.

"Into my arms" – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

This moment feels like a funeral for something Matt isn’t ready to bury. He stands in front of the window, the sky over New York stretching wide and blue, but the frame is blurred. A year has passed since Foggy Nelson’s death, but the grief still lingers. Then, Nick Cave’s voice cuts through:

"I don't believe in an interventionist God

But I know, darling, that you do

But if I did, I would kneel down and ask him

Not to intervene when it came to you"

This isn’t just a song. It’s a plea. Matt has always struggled with faith, but this moment strips it down to nothing. If God won’t intervene, what is left for him? The weight of that question is all over his face.

"Future starts slow" – The Kills

The beat kicks in, and suddenly, Matt isn’t walking away from anything. The song plays over a scene that proves what he refuses to admit. His fight was never over.

"You can holler, you can wail

You can swing, you can flail

You can thump like a broken sail

But I'll never give you up"

He can run. He can deny it. He can try to be something else. But Hell’s Kitchen never lets him go, and deep down, he never lets it go either.

"Headliner" – Tyrone Briggs

This track fuels the fight sequence, but it isn’t just about action. The lyrics speak of pushing forward, of refusing to stay down, and that’s exactly where Matt finds himself. Every hit thrown and taken isn’t just about survival. It’s proof that this is who he is.

He may not want the fight, but the fight wants him.

"I looked all over town" – The Magnetic Fields

A quiet kind of devastation seeps into this scene. Matt has been searching for something, but nothing ever feels within reach.

"Maybe somewhere I could be free

Somewhere they won't throw rocks at me

Somewhere this crazy hair could be my crown"

The melody almost feels lighthearted, but the lyrics hit differently. Matt isn’t just lost. He is untethered, moving through a world that no longer has a place for him.

"Makes me wonder" – Caleb Elliott

The adrenaline slows, leaving only silence and doubt. This song plays during a moment of self-reflection, where Matt is no longer sure of the answers he once believed in.

"Makes me wonder what I'm doing here"

The question hangs in the air. Is he fighting for justice or just circling the same drain? Every time he puts the mask back on, he is choosing a path he swore he would leave behind.

"Staring at the sun" – TV on the Radio

If one song captures Matt Murdock, it’s this. The title alone is enough. He keeps looking toward something, searching for meaning, even when it hurts.

"You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

Your mouth is open wide

You're trying hard to breathe"

The imagery is suffocating. He is drowning in his own choices, his own grief, and his own war. But he never turns away.

Music as a narrative tool

Nothing in Daredevil: Born Again is accidental. Every song reflects the emotional and psychological state of a man caught between who he wants to be and who he truly is. The music doesn’t just underscore the tension, it amplifies the wounds. It drags us deeper into Matt’s descent, making every choice, every hesitation, and every relapse feel inevitable.

Nick Cave’s sorrowful ballad wraps Matt’s grief in prayer, but no answer ever comes.

The Kills pound forward like a fate he can’t escape.

Tyrone Briggs pushes him into battle, a reminder that the fight is never over.

The Magnetic Fields fill the silence with the kind of loneliness that lingers.

Caleb Elliott’s aching refrain makes the doubt feel heavier than any wound, and TV on the Radio closes the episode with the kind of fatalism that comes when you know exactly where this path leads.

This isn’t just a soundtrack. It is the sound of a man standing on the edge, staring into the abyss, and knowing it’s already staring back.

And if Heaven’s half hour is any indication, there is no peace waiting for him. Only the fall.