Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry Daredevil entry: Daredevil: Born Again — An Unexpected Connection to the Netflix Series Could Right a Decade-Old Wrong.
This column contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again through Episode 8.
Fans were aghast when Foggy Nelson took his last breath in the series premiere of Daredevil: Born Again. After all the outcry and fanfare to get Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll back as Foggy and Karen respectively, it felt like madness that the first thing the writers did was tragically kill off one of the Avocados at Law. But eagle-eyed fans immediately noticed an Easter egg that may give hope that Foggy could have another day in court. The fan theory gained traction once it was confirmed that Henson would be in Season 2 of the series — despite the likely possibility that he's in a flashback or a dream — and the end of Season 1’s penultimate episode offers one final tidbit that may confirm it all. Let’s go on a journey, shall we?
First, the Easter egg. The address for Nelson, Murdock and Page is 468. There have been 680 total issues of flagship Daredevil comics, but they’re not always numbered that way. The 468th issue of Daredevil is actually numbered Daredevil #88 (created by Ed Brubaker, David Aja, Frank D’Armata, and Cory Petit). In that issue? Foggy narrowly avoids death to go into witness protection. “The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson” has some differences from Daredevil: Born Again like, for instance, the fact that Foggy’s death in the previous issues “The Devil in Cell Block D” and “Heaven’s Half Hour” is way more ambiguous than Born Again’s version where Matt hears his friend’s heart stop beating while Karen screams on the street. But hey, the MCU has always been prone to take some liberties.
The question remains though: would they really bring Foggy Nelson back to life in Born Again after his death played such a pivotal role in the story arc so far? The official Daredevil account fueled the fan theory flames when they posted pages from Daredevil issues related to the arc of Foggy’s death being faked, but that could be as simple as a social media manager seeing an opportunity for engagement. What’s way more interesting now as we head into the last episode of Daredevil: Born Again is the revelation that Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) was behind Foggy’s murder. We learn in the last moments of this week’s episode that it was she, rather than Fisk, who contracted Bullseye to pull the job which, once again, adds to the chances that Foggy might be alive after all.
Like before, the comic run plays out a little bit differently than what we’re seeing unfold on screen, with Vanessa being terminally ill in the comic but what’s important here are the parallels of her being frustrated with both Daredevil and her husband and her being the one to facilitate the whole Foggy Nelson death scare situation.
The fact of the matter is that there are a whole lot of parallels between the comic and what we’ve seen play out on screen, even if they aren’t 1:1. In addition to the possibly coincidental number 468 and Vanessa Fisk orchestrating everything, “The Devil in Cell Block D” features Matt being persecuted for being a vigilante. In Daredevil: Born Again, it is Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) being punished for his role as White Tiger. So, once again different, but also once again close enough to make you wonder.
But the real question kind of boils down to why. Why would Foggy agree to such a thing? Some have theorized that it’s to get Matt back for choosing the cowl after all of their back and forth in Season 3, others have wondered if he thought his death would be the only way to show Matt how far he would go as Daredevil when pushed, but I’m not quite convinced Foggy could be so cruel.
Frankly, while I definitely see the signs and want all of them to be true, I don’t know that I’m on board with the theory that Foggy Nelson is alive to begin with. I think it would be poetic if it were true, but my skepticism is because of Bullseye. He’s not missing a shot on an unmoving target unless he was paid handsomely to miss on purpose. The end of this week’s episode made it abundantly clear that he and Vanessa are not on good terms and, given that he was rotting in a cell and then was moved to gen pop against his will, I can’t imagine that money would be a meaningful motivator. Add that to the fact that he had ample time and plenty of reason to tell Matt that Foggy was still alive while he was begging his lawyer to get him moved back into solitude, and it just doesn’t add up.
That being said, I want nothing more than to be wrong here. Long live Foggy Nelson.
