This ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ villain’s power grab is exactly what the show needs
The villains in Daredevil, both the previous Netflix show and the current Daredevil: Born Again series, have been top-tier. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is the pinnacle of street-level antagonists, of course, and always has been, but we’ve also been blessed with Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye, Toby Leonard Moore’s James Wesley (I’m sorry, Born Again’s Buck Cashman, you will never be him), Hunter Doohan’s horrific Muse, and more.
I don’t want to talk about any of them right now, though. No, I want to discuss Ayelet Zurer’s Vanessa Fisk.
Vanessa Fisk has always been touched by darkness. How could she not be, willingly getting into a marriage bed with someone like Wilson? The third season of the original Daredevil series perfectly set her up as Fisk’s criminal queen, as she almost nonchalantly ordered a hit on someone who threatened her and her husband’s freedom. As she sat in front of Fisk’s secret monitoring equipment, coolly evaluating the pros and cons of killing a man, I remember thinking to myself, “Yes, I am here for the start of Vanessa’s villain era.”
Somehow, though, her arc in Daredevil: Born Again is even better than I’d hoped it would be.
The rise of a villainess
A part of me was worried that Vanessa would remain by Wilson’s side when we saw her next, content to hold on to what little power he gave her and become the proof of his “family values” as he pretends to be interested in honest politics. What Born Again’s showrunner Dario Scardapane has given us is so much more compelling (and thankfully, they brought the same actress back to reprise her role—this wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying otherwise).
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again episode 7.
Vanessa is pissed. She’s hurt. She’s discovered her value, her worth, and most importantly, her business acumen, and she’s not about to let a man like Wilson Fisk take it away from her. She went from being a devoted wife, one who begged Daredevil to spare her husband’s life while wearing a wedding dress, to a woman ordering a hit on that same man while he’s having a solo dinner, and it is utterly delicious. The hit may not have succeeded, but the consequences are about to be narrative gold.
What I most love about Vanessa’s dark turn, however, is that yes, she’s a woman scorned, but not for your everyday reasons. She’s not someone hell-bent on getting revenge because her man cheated on her, or even because he ignored her needs. Sure, she’s admitted to both her husband and their therapist that she was incurably lonely while the former was away in prison, so much so that she embarked on a relationship with another man during Fisk’s absence. It’s more than that, though.
He stole her work from her. Their illegitimate business was thriving when he returned, and yet his needs came first, without a care for all the planning she’d done to keep them afloat. He forced a political position on her when she didn’t want one, and is still keeping her in the dark concerning his ideas, despite his previous assurances that she was his equal. Born Again’s Vanessa knows better, though. If she wants to keep control, she has to assume it from the shadows, and she’ll use whatever means at her disposal to do so, including making deals with jumped-up mafiosos.
Things are about to get personal
One of the big draws of Daredevil and Daredevil: Born Again is the nature of the rivalry, as it were, between Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox). Their hatred of one another stems from their opposite viewpoints. While both parties claim to want what is best for their city, they have vastly different methodologies. Fisk wants to destroy anything he deems unworthy and rebuild the city with his interests in mind. Matt fundamentally believes that the city and the people within deserve kindness, respect, and safety. Oh, and there’s Matt’s no-killing policy. That’s a massive ideological difference between the two. Obviously.
While Matt and Fisk’s opposing arcs and developmental parallels have been wonderful to behold in Daredevil: Born Again, I might be even more curious about how Wilson’s and Vanessa’s rivalry will play out in the rest of season 1 and Born Again season 2. A personal relationship of this nature becoming increasingly toxic under the pressure of their respective desires and ambitions provides so much juicy character material. I’m desperate for more of it.
That’s not all, though. Being at odds with his wife will challenge Wilson Fisk like never before. His father beat his mother and bullied him, so he killed him. No regrets. The Russians in Daredevil season 1 disobeyed him, so they needed to go. Fisk had no qualms about that. Setting Bullseye lose in New York dressed as Daredevil, so what? At least they’d stop believing in Matt Murdock’s legacy. Fisk going so far as to imprison his wife’s lover? Who cares. The current mayor of New York is an undeniably violent man, but so far, he’s never really had to harm someone he truly cared about, unless you count going after his protégé, Echo. Then again, she did shoot him in the face. How much did he care about her after that?
Aside from his mother, Vanessa is the only person who truly and genuinely means anything to Fisk. How will he handle her betrayal? What will that do to him as a man, as a politician, as a violent murderer? Will he be able to control his instincts? What if he can’t?
Daredevil and Matt Murdock may have tested Wilson’s patience, his legal strategy, and even his fighting prowess. Vanessa will challenge his very soul, though, and that’s what makes the rest of Daredevil: Born Again such an exciting prospect.
New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again premiere Tuesdays exclusively on Disney+.
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