Last night's episode of Daredevil: Born Again, "Gloves Off," ended with Vanessa Fisk caught in the crossfire between her husband, Wilson Fisk, and the assassin she manipulated into killing Foggy Nelson: Bullseye.
A shard of glass to the temple makes survival unlikely, even if her demise isn't yet 100% confirmed. We don't want to jump the gun here, but assuming Vanessa doesn't make it out of this encounter alive, what does that mean for the Kingpin moving forward?
Well, while his unbridled fury is likely to be felt in a big way over the coming weeks—which doesn't bode well for Daredevil or New York—this surprising move could shape plans for both Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 and the wider MCU.
In the comics, there were a couple of fake-outs with Vanessa's apparent demise; ultimately, she died due to an undisclosed terminal illness. In her final months, she orchestrated the faking of Foggy Nelson's murder and manipulated events in a way that ensured Daredevil and her husband would be pitted against each other. She hoped that the men who destroyed her would do the same to each other.
The Hand eventually resurrected Vanessa to test whether Fisk would be a worthy leader of The Hand. That ended poorly, and he was forced to put his beloved down. Later, the Kingpin conspired with Ben Reilly/The Jackal to bring his wife back as a clone, only to kill her again when he realised she was being used to manipulate him.
Eventually, Fisk decided to use the Tablets of Life & Destiny and Death & Entropy to restore the real Vanessa, only to realise he was doing the wrong thing. To honour her, the villain instead chose to restore their son, Richard Fisk, a.k.a. The Rose.
We're sure you'll also recall that the premise of 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was Fisk's desire to scour the Multiverse for a version of his wife (and son) who were still alive.
So, there's a pattern here of Vanessa, while dead, coming close to being back among the land of the living. In the case of Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, Fisk allying with The Hand seems a logical next step, particularly as we've already seen that the ninja clan is set to make their official MCU return—now in comic-accurate garb—in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
It's no secret that the Mayor Fisk storyline is ending in Season 2, so regardless of whether he ends up behind bars or flees New York, it makes all the sense in the world for the Kingpin to seek out the Hand and beg them to bring back the only person he's ever truly cared about. For better or worse, Daredevil: Born Again has gone all in on Matt Murdock battling Fisk, and the Defenders reuniting to take on him and the Hand would fit the bill for the supposed event movie that features them and Spider-Man.
We'll see on that front, but if Vanessa is Bullseye's latest victim (and it's hard to argue that she doesn't deserve to be), then don't necessarily expect her story to end here. Even if a full-blown resurrection isn't on the table, Fisk setting out to bring her back by any means necessary is guaranteed to send shockwaves throughout the street-level MCU.
Shadowland, anyone?