Raise Hell: How Wilson Fisk creates havoc through politics for Daredevil

The Disney Plus first look into Daredevil: Born Again has been seven years in the making. It's here and so worth the wait. Largely because (pun kinda intended) we've moved past Kingpin's reign in Hell's Kitchen and gone straight into the Mayor Wilson Fisk administration.

We already spelled out the many compelling aspects of the first trailer. With Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk playing mental chess over coffee and Frank Castle destroying a wall, there were a few more Easter Eggs in there, such as:

• Muse
• White Tiger
• Foggy and Karen
• Bullseye
• Some fun time in the shower for Matt that wasn't with Karen or Elektra

However, Mayor Wilson Fisk is the most compelling Cadbury Easter Egg of the entire trailer for comic book fans. We are five years in the future, and for hardcore Daredevil fans, Kingpin's entry into politics carries some serious appeal into what this Disney+ series could become.

King (pin) of the City: Wilson Fisk

Not for nothing, but original showrunner of the Netflix version, Steven DeKnight (Spartacus, Pacific Rim, Angel) would be proud of what Disney+ gave us in this first look. Hardcore fans of the Netflix series were concerned--and voicing it all over social media--that Mickey Mouse was definitely going to box up the blood loss.

Welp, suffice it to say, Mickey didn't make the production movies because we saw bones breaking, blood dripping, and people dying. Good times indeed.

Back to the political arena, choosing to place us amid Wilson Fisk and his new career is a perfect setting. In 2017, Charles Soule and Christos Gage wrote about the malevolent crime lord from what seems to be the natural order of things--ne'er-do-wells getting voted into office. (That's a universal statement, not just a reflection on last November).

With Ron Garney and Stefano Landini penciling a modernized aesthetic for Daredevil, the story puts on a current aesthetic. The one thing appealing about the comic heroes and villains who don't have cosmic or super human powers is that they can almost be in the real world. A bad guy in office. A masked vigilante taking on crime. And using the city landscape as their personal octagon is a tangible component most other comics can't offer.

Daredevil: Mayor Fisk is a riveting read. Beginning with "Daredevil #595," we are taken all over NYC. Outside of Hell's Kitchen, there is 38th Street and 5th Avenue, Chinatown, Midtown Manhattan, and Times Square (seen in the trailer). Immediately, we can see we have a man who knows the law and destroys anyone breaking it in one corner and the other guy who detests the law but ha sthe entire city's force under his thumb to do his biding.

What to know about Mayor Wilson Fisk

The guy is charming, wealthy, influential, and built like a freight liner with a cruel attitude. He has an agenda and a few dozen secrets to share with the city. So here's what we need to know before the first episode of the Marvel Television series hits Disney+ in March.

Daredevil is Public Enemy #1

What else do you expect? He hates Matt Murdock. He can't kill him, as we saw at the end of Season 3. He can destroy him behind City Hall, so one of his first acts in office is to ban all vigilantes. Of course, Daredevil is his muse (sorry, another pun), but this also connects his ire toward The Punisher, Luke Cage, and a certain web-headed individual.

In the comics, Kingpin is attached to all four superheroes/anti-heroes, but this could be the very path where he confronts Spider-Man for good. (Shout to Echo for the crossover tease there.)

Kingpin is totally power-hungry

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Vincent D'Onofrio shared his thoughts about his big bad character in Daredevil: Born Again. “Anything on our show is, nine out of 10 times, leading to something that's even bigger and crazier,” says D’Onofrio, talking carefully to avoid premature spoilers. “For Fisk, this journey is a path to more control.” 

Considering the diner chat between him and Murdock, there is a sinister focus in Kingpin that can only be connected to the comics. And it's going to be fire.

Theory: Hail Hydra?

In 2017, Marvel Comics blew the roof off what anyone thinks of Captain America and made Steve Rogers none other than "Captain Hydra" in a delightful comic series called Secret Wars. (Yes, this may come up on a quiz in 2027.) Under his legion, Hydra obliterated New York and attacked strategic points of the U.S. Government. And the tumult ended shortly before Wilson Fisk squeaked inside the Mayoral race.

The guy who is such a nefarious individual escapes public scrutiny for his criminal past. How? He fixed the election but also won considerable public sway by helping NYC citizens after the attack. And that brings us to the diner, which makes Daredevil: Born Again canon to the MCU. Hmmm. If that's what we have to thank for it, hail Hydra indeed.

Oil and Water becomes PB&J?

Something funny happens on the way to political superstardom for Wilson Fisk in the Marvel Comics. He ends up getting booted from office for talking to drug lords in NYC. Who snuffs him out? His deputy mayor named Matt Murdock! (Yes, it's all in the pages.) While that probably won't be in the Disney+ series, the two men discover a way to co-exist in the same universe--and office.

That seems to be an important note from the comics because it seems the two will play nice to beat MUSE, a psychopathic supervillain with an artistic flair in hemoglobin. Even Charles Soule bragged about the big bad in Born Again.

The moral of the story: It's clear that showrunner Dario Scardapane and series directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead know precisely what in the "hell" they are doing for Disney Plus!