Daredevil: Born Again's Brutal Opening Scene Kills Off A Major Marvel Character

This article contains major spoilers for the premiere episode of "Daredevil: Born Again."

Well, the first episode of "Daredevil: Born Again" might go down as an all-timer example of being careful what you wish for. Even with all the discourse and controversy surrounding the behind-the-scenes shakeup of the series, fans were hoping to hang their hat on a reunion between Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and his close friends Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), both of whom were glaringly absent from the original conception of this new show. The various reshoots restored these fan-favorite characters back at Matt's side where they belong ... but nobody could've predicted that this trio would immediately find themselves torn apart not even 20 minutes into the premiere.

Yes, "Born Again" shocked the world by killing off Foggy in the very first action set piece of the new series, and fans are likely still reeling from this abrupt series of events. It's not exactly a secret that this rejiggered storyline is a far, far cry from what season 4 of the Netflix series would've turned out to be, but it certainly adds much more dramatic heft than it otherwise would've. Foggy's murder at the hands of the sociopathic Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) looms large during the premiere, forcing Matt Murdock to retire as Daredevil (again) out of grief and putting an end to the law firm of Nelson, Murdock & Page. More than any other creative choice made in the Marvel Cinematic Universe recently, this is truly a point of no return.

The season-opening death is surprising, devastating, and utterly tragic — and it might be exactly the shot in the arm "Daredevil: Born Again" needed to hit the ground running.

Rest in peace, Foggy: "Daredevil: Born Again" hardly even knew you. After loyally staying by Matt's side through (most of) the Netflix universe of shows, the fellow avocado at law punched his last ticket early on in the premiere of the new series, and nothing feels like it'll be the same again. Where so many mobsters and henchmen and outright villains failed to destroy those closest to Matt, an unlikely figure managed to succeed where everyone else could not: Bullseye, a holdover from season 3 of the Netflix "Daredevil" who was brought back to wreak some more havoc. Foggy ended up being the one to pay the ultimate price, but we can definitely see how this was a necessary twist to make these first two episodes (along with the rest of the season to come) hit as hard as they do.

For one thing, the writing was on the wall almost as soon as the premiere begins. The nostalgic opening scene of our trio walking out of Nelson, Murdock & Page certainly feels like it has an air of doomed inevitability to it, in retrospect. All three protagonists seem as happy as they ever have been and, well, everyone knows that the world of "Daredevil" simply cannot abide these sort of conflict-free circumstances for very long. Matt might be the most tortured and self-loathing superhero this side of Batman and nothing could possibly bring that out of him more than watching helplessly as his best friend in the world is shot in the streets of Hell's Kitchen. Beyond compelling him to give up the Daredevil mask, Foggy's death also results in Karen moving out of New York City and across the entire country to San Francisco, leaving her once-promising relationship with Matt in tatters.

More than anything else, however, killing off Foggy so early helps give "Born Again" its own identity. Without Karen and Foggy around, the series introduces several new supporting players into the mix (Nikki M. James' Kirsten McDuffie and Clark Johnson's private investigator Cherry chief among them) to make this feel like its own story separate from the Netflix series. The loss of such an established character reverberates throughout the early season, but we're as invested as we ever were.

New episodes of "Daredevil: Born Again" stream on Disney+ every Tuesday.