SPOILER ALERT: This text accommodates spoilers for Episode 3 of “Daredevil: Born Again,” now streaming on Disney+.
After killing off Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) in the primary 10 minutes of the premiere last week, “Daredevil: Born Again” has again upped the body count.
Episode 3 followed the high-profile trial of Hector Ayala (played by the late Kamar de los Reyes), a.k.a. the vigilante White Tiger, who was accused of killing an NYPD officer the show’s second episode. As we saw, Hector was actually attempting to stop two crooked cops from harassing a person near the subway and unintentionally pushed certainly one of them into the train. The cops then tried to rough up the person in his apartment, but Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) was there to guard him and dole out some brutal, bone-snapping justice.
Now, Matt is representing Ayala in his trial, which is crammed with cops who wish to see Hector in jail for killing certainly one of their very own. The trial gets off to a tense start, and when Matt calls his first witness — the person whom Hector saved — he barely arrives to the court in time. The cops, including the corrupt Officer Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley), had already gotten to the witness, who changes his tune and throws Hector’s fate into jeopardy.
Matt decides to go on the offensive to get Hector free. He grills the remaining police witnesses as they provide their testimonies, then Hector takes the stand. Matt paints him as Samaritan who was looking for a victim in need and shockingly pulls out Hector’s White Tiger mask in front of your entire courtroom, revealing the vigilante’s true identity. The White Tiger moment works (but Hector is just a little annoyed Matt didn’t tell him about it beforehand), and the jury finds him not guilty.
Hector walks free — but sadly not for long. In the ultimate moments of the episode, he suits up as White Tiger to go on patrol, but an unknown assailant guns him down on the street. We don’t see the shooter’s face, but he’s wearing a black outfit with the Punisher’s white skull logo on his shirt. This often is the end of Hector’s story, but White Tiger could survive. Within the comics, Hector has a niece, Angela, and sister, Ava, who each take up the hero’s mantle after his death. Their family passes down a magical jade amulet that imbues the wearer with enhanced strength, so it’s possible “Daredevil: Born Again” may introduce one other iteration of White Tiger.
Could this tragic moment also mark the return of Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, from the two-season Netflix series? Without seeing his face it’s hard to inform, but this isn’t the primary time the Punisher logo has appeared in “Daredevil: Born Again.” Officer Powell also has a tattoo of the brand on his wrist, which was briefly seen in Episode 2 when he was getting beat up by Matt. We also know there’s a serial killer named Muse on the loose within the series — or it might be certainly one of Mayor Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) goons cracking down on vigilante crime-fighting.
“Daredevil: Born Again” streams Tuesdays on Disney+.
