⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This article contains major spoilers for season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. Reader discretion is advised.
Wilson Fisk has survived betrayal, imprisonment, and having to hear two different children’s choirs sing “We Built This City” off-key. More than once, he has rebuilt his empire from nothing.
But season 2 episode four of Daredevil: Born Again “Gloves Off” ends with something his power and money can’t fix: his wife Vanessa lying in a boxing ring with a shard of glass embedded in her temple. All while the most feared man in New York screams for help like a frightened child.
“Get an ambulance! Somebody, please!!”
That scream isn’t just his grief. It’s the last shred of Fisk’s humanity leaving his body.
Wilson’s Guilt is Going to Get the Better of Him
The way Vanessa meets her presumed end is almost Shakespearean.
Bullseye (Benjamin Poindexter) has launched his own campaign against the Fisks, specifically Vanessa. He hates how she took advantage of his mental instability to get him to kill Matt Murdock’s friend Foggy Nelson back in season 1. He wants to do “one good deed” which is to kill Fisk, in the hope of regaining what’s left of his sanity but to also “balance the scales.”
After Fisk wins his boxing match at Fogwell’s Gym, Bullseye launches his attack. He hurls a glass replica of New York City toward Vanessa. Fisk swings his championship belt to deflect it, shattering the model. Unfortunately for Fisk, Vanessa turns her head to reveal that a single shard embedded itself into her temple.
Vanessa Humanized the Monster Living Inside Fisk
Vanessa is more than just Wilson’s wife. She’s the velvet glove over the iron fist. Earlier in the episode, Vanessa steps in and smooths everything over with Governor McCaffrey, who fears Fisk’s growing influence. She assures the governor that she can reign in Fisk’s destructive tendencies. She secures the political backing he needs by making the monster look presentable.
Vincent D’Onofrio seemed to confirm Vanessa’s death in an interview, stating that “the repercussions of her death and what it’s done to him begins the third season.”
Showrunner Dario Scardapane had this to say about Vanessa’s fate: “There’s no checks and balances now. What humanized this lonely, scary man, at least in one way isn’t there anymore. So all bets are off.”
The Art of Blaming Someone Else
Let’s look at the chain of events that led us to this moment. Fisk chose Fogwell’s Gym as the location for his “Born Again” public campaign to set a trap for Bullseye and Daredevil (Matt’s father used to train there).
He sent his most brutal enforcer Buck away despite Buck’s warnings that the Anti-Vigilante Task Force wouldn’t be enough to handle Dex.
He smashed the glass model, the symbol of his power over New York City with his own belt. The figure symbolized his vision of the city he wanted to rule with himself at the center. And the shrapnel from that vision is what wounded his wife.
This tragedy was created by Fisk and Vanessa, who had Dex released in the first place to kill Foggy Nelson back in season 1. Every domino that fell into place was because of their own hubris. And deep down, Fisk will know this.
His violent past has finally caught up to his present in a way that will be impossible to ignore.
But Fisk will try.
He’ll write a story in his head that will shift the blame away from him just so he can be somewhat functional. In this story, Bullseye is the source of all of his pain. And Daredevil, who intervened and let Bullseye escape, is his accomplice.
Fisk could tell himself (and everyone in NYC) that if Matt Murdock had never put on a mask, Fisk wouldn’t need a task force. If there was no task force, there was no trap. No trap, no Bullseye, no Vanessa bleeding out in the ring.
It’s a narrative that ignores every decision Fisk made that endangered himself and Vanessa. It’s enough that Fisk can half-believe it, and that’s all he needs. His pursuit of Daredevil will become ritualistic in nature. Every day Matt Murdock is still standing is another day Fisk has to feel the guilt and grief pressing against the walls he’s built inside his mind. Taking Daredevil down will be about silencing the noise inside his own head more than taking control of the city.
Bullseye is different. Dying won’t be enough for Fisk. He’ll want Dex to suffer slowly. He’ll want to tear down every part of Dex (literally, if Fisk ever gets his hands on Dex it’ll be gruesome). Whoever delivers Bullseye to Fisk should hope he never has to be in the room when it happens.
The Kingpin Without a Leash
In previous seasons, Vanessa was Matt’s greatest weapon against Fisk. She was the one thing Fisk wouldn’t risk. All Matt had to do was threaten to separate them or let Vanessa face justice for her crimes was enough to get Fisk to back down.
Now, that leverage is now gone.
If Vanessa dies, the “Wilson” part of Fisk, the part capable of beauty and restraint, dies with her. What remains is only the Kingpin who doesn’t negotiate. He doesn’t care about his public image or reassure nervous governors. He rules through fear, backed by the full force of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force, because fear is the only language he has left.
If she survives but is left in a coma or vegetative state, that may be even worse. A Vanessa who is present but unreachable makes him a man haunted by a ghost he can still see.
Whatever comes in the second half of season 2, one thing that’s clear is that the Kingpin will be back and more dangerous than ever before.
