Mayor Kingpin is no more.
After two seasons of Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) ruling New York City with an iron fist, the Daredevil: Born Again season 2 finale concluded in a monumental courtroom episode. With Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) on trial for aiding Daredevil’s vigilante efforts, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) decides that the best way to help her is to reveal himself as Daredevil. He is soon arrested for the crimes of his superhero alter ego, but not before he and an angry mob of New Yorkers successfully demand Fisk’s resignation.
With all that — and from what we’ve seen of set photos of season 3 — Daredevil: Born Again is looking to be a very different show when it returns in March 2027.
Given Murdock’s arrest, the most obvious direction for next season seems to be the five-issue 2006 storyline “The Devil in Cell-Block D,” written by Ed Brubaker with art by Michael Lark. In it, Matt is arrested for Daredevil’s crimes and enters the general population of Ryker’s Island, free to be targeted by criminals, some of which he even had locked up.
While I would expect this same basic premise for next season of Daredevil: Born Again, a lot of the specifics from the comic book story likely won’t work in the series. For example, while Matt is in prison, his friend Foggy Nelson is killed, which already happened in the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again, although it’s entirely possible that Karen could take Foggy’s place as a vulnerable person on the outside who no longer has Matt’s protection.
Also, one of Daredevil’s fellow inmates in “The Devil in Cell-Block D” is Kingpin, who he eventually teams up with along with Bullseye and Punisher to incite a prison riot allowing them to escape. While it’s certainly possible Bullseye and/or Punisher may factor into the story, we already saw a lot of Kingpin in prison during season 2 of the original Netflix series and the finale of Daredevil: Born Again season 2 sees Kingpin on a beach having gotten away with his misdeeds as mayor. So don’t expect that team-up to happen in season 3.
As for Kingpin’s fate, it’s harder to say where it’s leading. Daredevil: Born Again season 2’s Mayor Kingpin story followed the comic book story Devil’s Reign, and the two have similar endings, though instead of being on a beach alone, Kingpin sails off into the sunset with his wife, the supervillain Typhoid Mary. After that, Kingpin’s next major comic book story with Daredevil saw him possessed by a demon and Daredevil (then a priest) performs an exorcism to free him, which hardly seems like it’d fit within the tone of the Disney Plus show.
What we do know about Kingpin in season 3, thanks to Daredevil: Born Again set photos, is that Kingpin has a long white Santa-like beard, which maybe suggests he’s in hiding. Set photos also confirmed what has been set up throughout Daredevil: Born Again season 2, that Dr. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), will take on the mantle of the villain Muse after killing the original Muse, Bastian Cooper (Hunter Doohan), in the first season.
The most exciting set photos from the third season of Daredevil: Born Again, however, were the ones confirming the return of Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones) and Luke Cage (Mike Colter). Pictured along with Kristyn Ritter as Jessica Jones, this could suggest a re-teaming of the Defenders after the one-season Netflix event series from 2017.
Or it could be that Marvel Studios is setting up a Heroes for Hire series. Heroes for Hire is a superhero partnership that generally just includes Iron Fist and Luke Cage, but Daredevil: Born Again season 2 established that Luke Cage and Jessica Jones now have a daughter together and, in the finale, he returns home from some shady employment by Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles. With Jessica and Luke seemingly back together, a potential Heroes for Hire series may very well include her too. This, I would think, is a good deal more likely as you can’t have the Defenders while Daredevil is still in prison.