Netflix's Daredevil Season 4 & 5 Plans Revealed By Former Marvel Showrunner
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
In the halcyon days before Disney+, Marvel Television partnered with Netflix to make Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent television shows. That partnership lasted from 2015 to 2018, and the end of it meant all the Netflix-Marvel shows ended too — even "Daredevil," which ran for three seasons and concluded with the promise of more.
Of course, the new Disney+ series "Daredevil: Born Again" is essentially a fourth season, bringing back co-leads Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. But Daredevil only needed to be "Born Again" because the original show ended prematurely. Had it gotten a fourth season at Netflix, it'd look nothing like "Born Again."
Don't take my word for it; listen to former "Daredevil" showrunner Erik Oleson, who oversaw the series' third and best season. Oleson did not return for "Born Again," but in a recent interview with The Wrap, he said he's thrilled the show is back. He also shared that he'd had plans for a fourth and fifth season all his own; they won't be used now, so there's no harm in sharing them.
The last scene of the original "Daredevil" series was a stinger. Daredevil paralyzed the villain Benjamin Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) during their fight, so while in prison Dex volunteered for experimental spinal surgery. Clearly, he was aiming to get revenge on Daredevil and presumably would have done so with his classic persona: Bullseye. "Daredevil: Born Again" picks up this thread, reintroducing Bethel as Bullseye in the series' opening scene.
But Olseon said that in his "Daredevil" season 4, the show wouldn't have immediately returned to Bullseye — he would've been saved for season 5. Who would've been the "Daredevil" season 4 big bad?
Marvel Comics
That's right, pyromaniac assassin Mary Alice Walker, aka Typhoid Mary, aka Bloody Mary. Alice Eve played Mary in season 2 of "Iron Fist," which in hindsight, must have been setting her up to take on Daredevil in a never-made TV season.
Typhoid Mary would have been the big bad of Daredevil season 4 at Netflix
Mary debuted in 1988's "Daredevil" #254, created by writer Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr. Her name is taken from Mary Mallon, a late 19th/early 20th century Irish-American immigrant and a carrier for typhoid fever. Mary Walker's very first appearance, a body shot on page 1 of "Daredevil" #254, refers to her as an "invisible poison" like the disease her namesake carried.
Mary's debut storyline, "A Touch of Typhoid," runs until "Daredevil" #263. She's hired by the Kingpin to first seduce Matt Murdock and then kill him. Superheroes hooking up unbeknownst with super-villainesses is nothing new, but there's an extra layer to Mary's secret identity. She has dissociative identity disorder, with three alternate personas: the innocent Mary (who romances Matt), the thrill-seeking Typhoid (who prefers Wilson Fisk), and the murderous Bloody Mary.
In-costume, Mary paints one half of her face all-white, reflecting her split personality. Her different personalities also all have different heart rates, EEG patterns, etc. which means that Daredevil's enhanced senses literally read Mary as separate individuals depending on who's in control. The very reason Kingpin chose her for her assignment was for the poetry of another split soul destroying Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
Marvel Comics
Typhoid Mary fights with swords, but she has mind-over-matter superpowers too, including low-level telepathy, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis. Now, Mary is admittedly derivative of Elektra Natchios (who may yet return in "Daredevil: Born Again"). Like Elektra, she's a female assassin working for the Kingpin who has a relationship with Matt Murdock. But Mary is distinct enough from Elektra to work on her own, and the drama of Daredevil and Kingpin being involved with the same woman is delicious. (During Chip Zdarsky's 2019-2023 "Daredevil" run, Mary got hitched with the Kingpin and became Mary Fisk.)
I can't see how Mary and Fisk would become an item in Oleson's "Daredevil" season 4, though. D'Onofrio's Kingpin is ride or die for his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zuerer). Season 2 of "Iron Fist" ended with Mary (reimagined as a soldier who developed DID during torturous captivity) awakening her Bloody Mary side, who was spending her night as a vigilante. Presumably, Oleson's "Daredevil" season 4 would've picked up there.
It's a little surprising that Oleson planned to keep Bullseye benched, but then again, you can't have the same main villain twice in a row without being repetitive. "Daredevil" season 2 kept Fisk in a reduced role in between him being the big bad of seasons 1 and 3.
"Daredevil" seasons 1-3 are loosely based on Frank Miller's "Daredevil run. By season 4, it was time to move onto Nocenti's stories. Ultimately, almost every modern "Daredevil" story is a riff on or response to Miller, Nocenti, or Brian Michael Bendis, the TV series included.
"Daredevil: Born Again" is streaming on Disney+.