Daredevil: Every Reference to 'Born Again' in Season 3's Trailer

Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil comic "Born Again" has been teased for Daredevil Season 3 since before Defenders aired. Bringing one of the most important Daredevil stories to the wildly popular Netflix show only makes sense, as Miller's arc effectively defined the Man Without Fear and most modern incarnations of the character. This is a sentiment seemingly shared by the show's cast and many of its dedicated fans.

Charlie Cox was raving about the iconic arc before last year's Defenders premiere, while fans have been speculating about its inclusion for years. A third trailer for the fast-approaching Marvel Netflix show's third installment dropped shortly before New York Comic Con, finally linking Season 3 to the much-referenced comic book miniseries.

The first full-length trailer for Daredevil Season 3 depicts a vengeful Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) finally leaving Rikers Island with only one goal in mind: To kill Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and thoroughly dismantle his life as both Matt Murdock and the costumed vigilante. The trailer didn't mention how Wilson Fisk ultimately comes across Daredevil's secret identity, but it's safe to assume the information probably won't come from any of Murdock's friends.

In this iteration of Daredevil's mythos, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) are both completely convinced that Murdock died in The Defenders when Midland Circle collapsed on him during an explosion. Betraying Matt's identity at this point would not have gotten them anywhere, and even if it would have, these versions of Foggy and Karen would never sully their best friend's memory by betraying him to Wilson Fisk.

In Frank Miller's "Born Again," Karen Page is a drugged out pornographic actress and nothing like Woll's depiction from the Netflix show. She betrays Murdock in exchange for a shot of heroin. Fisk then uses the valuable information taken from her to systematically destroy Matt Murdock's life.

Let The Devil Out

Cornered and taken completely by surprise, the Netflix version of Matt Murdock can be seen facing off against Wilson Fisk and several goons in civilian attire. As the Kingpin continues to degrade Murdock's private and public identities, the federal government sends the FBI after Daredevil.

This is not too different from the comic version, where Matt spends most of his time in winter wear. In "Born Again," Fisk bombs Murdock's apartment, scorching his costume and everything else with it. Suddenly homeless, the Man Without Fear is forced to navigate the streets of Hell's Kitchen in civilian attire. Broken and despairing from the successive misfortunes in his life, Matt Murdock brutally attacks would-be robbers in the New York City subway and is confronted by a local cop. Unhinged, and choosing to evade arrest to go after Fisk, Matt attacks the officer and steals his nightstick. He then infiltrates Fisk's headquarters as Matt Murdock and is beaten up, stuffed into a cab and thrown into the East River.

In the latest trailer for Season 3, Sister Maggie (Joanne Whalley), warns Matt to "just be careful" he doesn't become the monster in his quest to stop the Kingpin. This is a direct reference to Murdock's unprovoked violence in "Born Again." Daredevil will probably walk the same path in Season 3, tapping into his own personal darkness to fight the ultimate evil.

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Interestingly enough, Vincent D'Onofrio's Fisk treads a similar path. Fisk sees Daredevil as the ultimate evil and the one person standing between him and his vision for Hell's Kitchen. Matt Murdock is also the one person in the world Fisk believes is capable of thwarting him again, and so he feels desperate to end the cycle with Murdock's death.

But D'Onofrio's Fisk is patient and plans out his revenge slowly. Hoping to save Murdock's death for last, Fisk hires disgraced FBI agent -- and part-time mercenary -- Benjamin Poindexter, or Bullseye, to publicly discredit Daredevil by impersonating him and using that identity to terrorize civilians.

In "Born Again," the Kingpin has simpler goals. Hoping to provoke Matt Murdock into showing up, he pays a violent mental patient to wear Daredevil's costume (which Fisk blackmails Melvin Potter into making) and kill Murdock's friends Karen Page and Foggy Nelson. Matt arrives just in time to defeat and apprehend the patient and his nurse, donning his costume once again.

In the trailer, Bullseye as Daredevil can be seen attacking the offices of the New York Bulletin where Karen works. This is a subtle reference to Fisk's problems with Ben Urich and the Daily Bugle in "Born Again," where he constantly tries to silence Urich into keeping dangerous secrets to himself. Unfortunately, Urich already died in Season 1 and the Bugle may only appear in an MCU film. The Bulletin however, features heavily in Daredevil, and Karen has taken up Ben's post since he died, so the Netflix show has adapted accordingly.

Super Soldiers

There are two primary villains besides Fisk in "Born Again": The Daredevil impersonator and Nuke, a super soldier enhanced with the same serum used on Captain America. In a last-ditch effort to eliminate Daredevil for good, Fisk hires Nuke to attack civilians and draw out Daredevil. In an iconic battle that has come to shape Daredevil's comic book career, Murdock defeats Nuke, and Captain America and the Avengers arrive to clean up the mess. Murdock and Rogers then use Nuke to expose Fisk's illegal dealings to the general public, thereby winning the war and landing the Kingpin in jail.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Nuke is Will Simpson, a former IGH patient and New York City police officer who died in Jessica Jones Season 2. With Nuke out of the picture, Daredevil showrunner Erik Oleson had to find another big bad to serve as foil for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. In this case, Bullseye. Aside from Fisk and Agent Poindexter, there's no other villain announced for Season 3, so it's safe to assume Bullseye has a much bigger role in the show than simply pretending to be Daredevil. The Young and The Restless star Wilson Bethel has probably taken on two roles combined into one: Nuke and the mental patient.

If there is one comic book out there that has almost completely defined the Man Without Fear, it's Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's "Born Again." We've seen Charlie Cox's Daredevil face seemingly insurmountable odds and come out stronger. Every season always feels like his darkest yet, but when it comes to pushing Matt Murdock past the brink of reason and sanity, Season 3 looks just about ready to take the cake.

Written by Arrow's Erik Oleson, the third season of Marvel's Daredevil stars Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel, Joanne Whalley and Vincent D'Onofrio. It hits Netflix on Oct. 19.