In the season premiere of Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have a tense exchange about their respective darker halves. It's a fantastic scene, albeit one of the only times we'll see those characters cross paths during season 1.
That's not a spoiler; it's something we've been hearing for a while, presumably to temper expectations for a season-long clash between Daredevil and the Kingpin of Crime New York's new Mayor.
Slash Film recently caught up with actors Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio and asked for their thoughts on the decision to show restraint and, as a result, leave us wanting more of them.
"I think that, on a personal level, we love working together," Cox started. "It's such fun, and those days...I long for them. Bringing these two iconic characters together and the fun we have as actors portraying them is the best. I think that you're right insofar as — you have to think of these characters as when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."
"When they collide, it is explosive. And we have to maintain those stakes," he continued. "So if you bring them together too often where nothing happens, other than just a conversation, then you start to lose those stakes that we talked about."
D'Onofrio echoed those thoughts and opened up on taking a new approach to The Kingpin in Daredevil: Born Again. No longer a criminal (at least not to the outside world), the villain is forced to suppress his rage while performing his Mayoral duties.
"In my execution of the character, it's part of the execution to have something simmering underneath — a strong emotion of some kind — that I'm suppressing," he explained. "It's usually...I wouldn't exactly call it 'rage,' but it's reactionary to events that have happened before in my life, so that is all simmering underneath, it's true."
"That character, when he speaks and when he does things, I think it's vital that there is that kind of ... his foundation is broken, and that can be turned dangerous," D'Onofrio concluded.
When these two do eventually reunite, even if it's in season 2, you just know it's going to be explosive. Making us wait for that is no bad thing, especially as we've already seen them clash plenty of times in Netflix's Daredevil.
Daredevil: Born Again showrunner recently said season 2 is "not shackled by any previously shot footage" and teased, "the place that Kingpin and Daredevil wind up at the end of Season 2 is unfathomable, given where they've been."
Check out a new poster and promo for Daredevil: Born Again in the social posts below.
In Marvel Television's Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with heightened abilities is fighting for justice through his bustling law firm, while former mob boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) pursues his own political endeavors in New York. When their past identities begin to emerge, both men find themselves on an inevitable collision course.
The series also stars Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, with Ayelet Zurer and Jon Bernthal. Dario Scardapane is showrunner.
Episodes are directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Michael Cuesta, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and David Boyd; and executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, Chris Gary, Dario Scardapane, Christopher Ord & Matthew Corman, and Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead.
"A masterpiece of epic proportions, Daredevil: Born Again delivers a powerful, unmissable take on the Man Without Fear," we said in our review. "Putting street-level heroics on the map in a way that promises to change the MCU forever, the show is sublime superhero storytelling on a whole new level."
Daredevil: Born Again's first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+.