WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's Daredevil Season 3, streaming now on Netflix.
In the seminal comics storyline "Born Again," Wilson Fisk learns Matt Murdock's secret identity by chance after Karen Page, having hit rock bottom following a failed career in Hollywood, sells the information in exchange for a heroin fix. But in the third season of Marvel's Daredevil, Matt has no one to blame but himself.
REVIEW: Daredevil Season 3 Reaches a New High For Marvel's Netflix Dramas
Having mostly recovered from the injuries sustained in the implosion of Midland Circle, and regained his hearing, and thus, his "sight," Matt (Charlie Cox) learns that his archenemy Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) has not only turned FBI informant, but has also arranged for his release from prison and into a luxury safe house. Certain that Fisk is manipulating the government to serve his own goals, Matt becomes fixated on exposing his ruse, so much so that he begins to hear his rival's voice in his head, goading him and planting seeds of self-doubt. Although Matt had so far been careful not to reveal himself to his friends, he approaches Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) in a bar, on the pretense of warning him about Fisk. In reality, however, he was stealing his old friend's wallet, and his New York State Bar Association ID, in order to gain entry to prison.
There, he believes, he can learn why Fisk has been providing information about the Albanian crime syndicate to the FBI. However, he ends up with more than he bargained for.
Whether due to hubris or recklessness, it apparently didn't occur to Matt that, although no longer behind bars, Fisk still maintains significant control over the prison, its inmates and some of its guards. Struck by a former client who's determined to make it known he isn't giving up the Albanians, Matt (believed to be Foggy) is whisked away to the prison infirmary, purportedly to be examined -- you know, for insurance purposes. Once there, though, he's attacked by an attendant and injected with an unknown sedative before he can overpower his assailant, as Fisk watches through a security-camera feed. Although Fisk expected Foggy -- he says as much in a phone call to Matt in the infirmary -- he's undoubtedly delighted by what he's presented with instead.
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"It's quite something to see," he says. "For a blind man, you have very impressive reflexes, Mr. Murdock." He then reminds Matt that the last time they spoke, Matt threatened the love of his life, Vanessa, something he can never forgive. With that, the infirmary door unlocks, exposing Matt Murdock -- not the masked Daredevil -- to a hallway littered with inmates, and then guards, each targeting him for death. As the drug takes effect, Matt becomes embroiled in, arguably, the most brutal hallway fight scene of the entire series, saved only by the intervention of the Albanians, who are also intent on killing him, at least initially. Matt's fast talking convinces them otherwise, and provides him with a crucial piece of information, namely that Fisk orchestrated his own shanking, at the hand of an inmate named Jasper Evans. It's that event that convinced the FBI to move Fisk out of prison, for his own protection.
But that important detail comes at an unimaginably high price. with his newly acquired knowledge, Fisk expands his cooperation with the FBI to include information about a certain criminal he once employed to launder money, bribe law enforcement and court officials, secure perjured testimony and manufacture evidence: a lawyer, named Matthew Murdock. With that interpretation of their earliest interactions in Season 1, Fisk is able to begin turning the screws, not only on Matt, but only on Foggy and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), as the FBI raid his apartment and question his former associates.
In fact, virtually everything that occurs in Season 3, from Episode 5 on, stems from Matt's decision to swipe Foggy's ID and visit the prison. If that hadn't occurred, Fisk, in all likelihood, would never have discovered Daredevil's secret, and Matt wouldn't have learned that Evans was never placed in solitary confinement, but was instead secreted to freedom his his reward. It's those two pieces of information that result in Fisk manipulating troubled FBI agent Benjamin Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) to don a red Daredevil costume and attack the offices of the New York Bulletin, to not only prevent Evans from speaking to reporters and the FBI, but also to ruin the name of the Guardian of Hell's Kitchen.
Matt realizes finally realizes his mistake, admitting, "I was stupid to think I had Fisk cornered," but by then, events had already spiraled out of control.
Now available on Netflix, Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Joanne Whalley as Sister Maggie, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter, Jay Ali as Rahul "Ray" Nadeem and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.