Daredevil: Born Again finale leaves a massive Spider-Man problem

Daredevil: Born Again ends on a terrifying note for New York: vigilantes are officially outlawed, either executed or captured and locked away… so, what about Spider-Man?

In the closing minutes of Daredevil’s penultimate episode, Bullseye tried to assassinate Wilson Fisk, but Matt stepped in to save his life. If you expected Kingpin to have a change of heart about Matt or the heroes of NYC, you haven’t been paying attention.

Instead, he orders a hit on Matt (He says, “A dead hero is better than a live vigilante”) and sends his task force to crack down on the city’s heroes, whether it’s the Swordsman or The Punisher.

By the end, Matt decides to assemble an army to “take back the city”, which begs the question: what’s Spider-Man been doing this whole time?

Where is Spider-Man in Daredevil: Born Again?

Sony Pictures

Given Wilson Fisk’s war on vigilantes and the violence across NYC, you’d think Spider-Man would swing in to help Daredevil, but he’s nowhere to be seen in the first season of Born Again.

It’s especially baffling, considering we know he’s an active friendly neighborhood superhero by the end of No Way Home. Fisk also referenced him at the start of the series, mentioning a “man who dresses in a spider outfit.”

There is a chance the events of Avengers: Doomsday are already taking place at this point in the MCU timeline, and he may be involved, so that would explain his absence. Or, perhaps he’s already entangled in whatever will happen in Spider-Man 4 (which, at one point, was rumored to include Kingpin).

Sadly, it’s probably due to a far more boring reason: rights. According to Marvel’s TV chief Brad Winderbaum, Sony may have the exclusive live-action TV rights to Spider-Man, which would prevent him from showing up in the MCU’s programming on Disney Plus.

“You know I’m not sure exactly what the rules are, but I think [Sony] have long-form television rights, I don’t know if that means he can show up. You can do like 30-minute animation I think,” he said, referencing Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

That’s not to say Spider-Man will never appear; after all, Matt Murdock cameoed in No Way Home, so why shouldn’t Peter Parker show up in Born Again Season 2?

“I think, just for iconic purposes for both of us, there’s a lot of story to tell with Spider-Man. If you’ve become a fan of the comics, if you’ve grown up with the comics in any way, that’ll always be an itch that needs to be scratched in some capacity,” Charlie Cox told Rotten Tomatoes.

In the meantime, find out what we know about Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 and check out how its post-credits scene sets up Jon Bernthal’s Punisher special. You can also find out where Daredevil: Born Again sits on our ranking of every Marvel TV show.