Daredevil Season 3 had set up The Man Without Fear's return in Daredevil: Born Again. Here's how

Daredevil: Born Again's sixth episode, "Excessive Force," finally gave us The Man Without Fear in full costume. Matt Murdock hung up the Daredevil cowl after the opening prologue of the first episode that saw Bullseye kill Foggy. Matt tries to kill Bullseye, and this is why he retires as Daredevil. But the sixth episode finally focused on Muse and the threat he poses.

When the muralist serial killer abducts Angela del Toro, Hector Ayala's young niece, and begins draining her blood. That's where Daredevil returns, fights off Muse, and is about to kill the muralist when he hears Angela's heartbeat. He loosens the Billy Club on Muse and saves Angela's life. But the serial killer is nowhere to be found.

While fans celebrated the hero's return in the latest Daredevil: Born Again episode, his return isn't surprising just because the trailer showed more footage featuring the character but also because Daredevil Season 3 set up the character's return after a similar "retirement" in that season through a specific quote.

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How did Season 3 set up The Man Without Fear's return in Daredevil: Born Again?

Daredevil Season 3, released in 2018, begins from the moment The Defenders ended. Released in 2017, The Defenders brought together all the Netflix Marvel characters. In the finale of that series, Matt Murdock/Daredevil is presumed dead after the collapse of the Midland Circle (the Hand's corporate front) building collapses on him and a resurrected Elektra.

However, as Season 3 begins, we learn that Matt is alive but gravely injured. Thus, for the first few episodes of the season, Matt is recovering, and thus, he is not protecting the streets of Hell's Kitchen. As Matt is in recovery, Kingpin turns into an informant for the FBI and provides valuable intel on Albanian gangs.

This results in Fisk being attacked in prison, and he is transferred to a presidential suite in a hotel as a prisoner for safety reasons. However, throughout the season, it is revealed that the attack was already planned out, and Fisk has control of important FBI agents. The Kingpin's growing influence is what forces Daredevil to return.

In one of these episodes, Matt Murdock utters one of the coolest quotes referring to Wilson Fisk/Kingpin from the original series:

"You can suffocate evil. Starve it. Lock it behind bars. But it will find a way to come back even stronger. There's only one true way to end evil. To finish it for good. Let the Devil out."

However, despite expressing willingness to kill Fisk in the third season's finale, Matt ultimately didn't break his no-killing rule. Instead, he threatens Fisk with his power move, outing Vanessa's secret that she had ordered the assassination of FBI agent Rahul Ray Nadeem. As Vanessa is Fisk's only weakness, Wilson agrees to cease all attempts on Foggy and Karen's lives.

However, this quote, while explicitly directed at Fisk in Season 3, might be easily applied to the events unfolding in Daredevil: Born Again, too.

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How does Season 3 come into play in Daredevil: Born Again?

Right before the opening credits music starts playing in the first episode of Born Again, we lose Foggy. The person who killed him is none other than Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye, whom we meet for the first time in the third season. Poindexter is set to appear in an upcoming episode of Born Again, as confirmed by the midseason trailer. In that trailer, we see Bullseye without a tooth, smiling.

While it looks intimidating to a viewer, those who know the comics may have possibly guessed what may happen next. Bullseye will spit the broken tooth and use it as a projectile weapon and kill someone with it. This moment is taken right from the ages of Bullseye: Greatest Hits, published in 2004. Other than Bulseye, Daredevil has to fight off Muse, a muralist serial killer who drains his victims' blood to use it as a color for painting his art.

So, when Matt uttered that quote in Season 3, he had only one enemy, Kingpin. But in Daredevil: Born Again, Matt has to ward off Bullseye, Muse, and Wilson Fisk, who, after supposedly giving up a life of crime, has become the new mayor. Therefore, this season will see Matt battling out from three different fronts.

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Find out what happens next by catching Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+ every Tuesday.