The wait is finally over. After more than six years of waiting, the Devil is back and with even more blood on its hands. The double-episode premiere of Daredevil: Born Again is out on Disney Plus for the world to see and it brings Matt Murdock, Karen Page, and Foggy Nelson into the Marvel Cinematic Universe at long last.
It's a very welcome reunion, but one that's quick to be interrupted by an incredibly tragic event. Misfortune always follows the Man Without Fear wherever he goes, and this time wasn't the exception.
But before we continue: Be warned. There will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again ahead. If you don't want any surprises ruined, it's best to bookmark this page, watch the premiere, and then come back for a big conspiracy theory surrounding a hidden Easter Egg.
Still here? Well, that probably means that you already know Foggy Nelson is shot in the opening moments of the series. Just when it seemed we'd see the gang back together, our hopes and dreams were quickly shattered by Bullseye himself. The worst part? We actually see Foggy die. We see him take his last breath, and hear as his heart stops beating. It's impossible to deny that he's gone for good.... isn't it? Well, even if there's proof to suggest that's what really happened, and the court has already come to a verdict, there's a new piece of evidence that might discredit this whole case. That's right: We're talking about a rather small Easter Egg.
The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson is referenced in Daredevil: Born Again
Moments before the tragic event, at the 1:14 mark in the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again, we see Matt, Karen, and Foggy coming out of their own law firm. If you look at the building next door, you'll see it has the number "468" on the entrance. This number might not appear to hold any special meaning at first glance, but Marvel loves to hide little Easter Eggs in almost everything they do — oftentimes referencing a specific issue in a character's comic book run.
If you were to look for Daredevil No. 468, you'd find such an issue technically doesn't exist. However, that's only because issues No. 1 through 380 were part of the first volume of comics, and then the second volume came in and restarted the numbering from scratch (meaning issue No. 381 officially became No. 1 of the second volume). Marvel itself realized this situation was a little bit confusing and started identifying comic books of the second volume with a dual-numbering. The first one represented the "restarted" count, while the second one referenced the correlative number taking into account the first volume as well.
That's when we arrive at Daredevil Vol 2, issue No. 88 / 468, better known as The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson. During this particular story, it's revealed what truly happened to Foggy after being stabbed and presumably killed by a prison inmate. Turns out, he joined an FBI witness protection program which forced him to move to a secure location and adopt a new identity along the way. While Matt truly believed his best friend was gone for a very long time (along with comic book readers), that ultimately wasn't the case. Foggy was simply secluded by the authorities.
With that in mind, the 468 building number on Daredevil: Born Again feels less like a random combination of digits and more like a reference to The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson, especially as it appears just moments before tragedy strikes. Besides, it was also confirmed that Elden Henson will return for season 2 of the Disney Plus series. So even if there was speculation that we'd just see his character in the form of flashbacks, the evidence might suggest otherwise.
Hopefully, audiences will get a better idea of Foggy's true fate before the end of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, and with a little bit of luck it will be similar to his comic book counterpart.
New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again air every Tuesday in Disney Plus.