Daredevil: Born Again Teases Iconic Spider-Man Villain Return

[Caution: The following discusses key events in Daredevil: Born Again episode 5.] In the opening scenes of Marvel’s Daredevil, Matt Murdock (portrayed by Charlie Cox) sought solace within a confessional booth. He reminisced about something his devoutly religious grandmother often said: “Watch out for the Murdocks, they carry the devil within them.” This warning held a different meaning for Matt’s father, boxer “Battlin’ Jack Murdock,” who would use it to describe his aggressive fighting style in the ring. For Matt, this phrase symbolized his ongoing struggle with his inner demons as the vigilante protector of Hell’s Kitchen.

As a die-hard film fan, I’ve been grappling with the aftermath of Bullseye’s (Wilson Bethel) lethal shot that claimed Foggy (Elden Henson)’s life. The wrath that overtook Daredevil (Matt Murdock) was palpable as he transgressed his own no-kill rule in retaliation. Miraculously, Bullseye survived, but it was the line he crossed that left Matt reeling, and a year later, he’s still hesitant to don the Daredevil suit again.

In the latest episode of “Daredevil: Born Again” aired on Tuesday, Matt sought to obtain a loan for his law firm, Murdock & McDuffie, but unfortunately, the assistant manager at New York Mutual Bank, Yusuf Khan (played by Mohan Kapur who also starred in “Ms. Marvel” and “The Marvels”), denied the request on St. Patrick’s Day.

In a bank heist situation, I find myself among five masked individuals, each donning a distinctly colored balaclava – Cillian O’Sullivan in green, John Ford-Dunker in red, John Anthony Gorman in yellow, Cameron Moir in blue, and Ryan Ward in purple. To blend in with the hostages, I pretend to be an ordinary blind man, earning myself the nickname ‘Devlin’ by Green, the leader of this group.

Luca’s men, played by Patrick Murney, are there for a diamond heist. The diamond is valued at $1.8 million, which Luca needs to pay off Viktor (Gino Anthony Pesi) as a way of making amends and maintaining peace among New York’s Five Families. It’s important to note that Devlin, the gunman responsible for a double homicide in a truck hijacking at Red Hook Port back in episode 3, is one of Luca’s men.

He Who Is Without Sin

Devlin’s appearance – donning a green balaclava and brandishing an assault rifle – echoes that of Sin-Eater, a brief antagonist who clashed with Daredevil and Spider-Man in the four-part tale “The Death of Jean DeWolff,” which appeared in issues #107 to #110 of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man in 1985.

Following the murder of Captain Jean DeWolff, a close associate of Spider-Man, by a double-barreled shotgun, our web-slinging hero teams up with Detective Stan Carter to unravel the mystery. However, it’s the blind lawyer Matt Murdock who comes face-to-face with the Sin-Eater for the first time in issue #107 of Spectacular Spider-Man. Matt’s heightened senses pick up on the assassin hidden in Judge Horace Rosenthal’s chambers.

Matt’s longtime companion meets an unfortunate fate as the second casualty at the hands of Sin-Eater. This event makes Matt a person of interest for both Daredevil and Spider-Man. The following victim of the masked assassin is a reverend inside a confessional booth, marking him as the third to fall to this killer on a mission to eradicate supposed sinners.

In this scenario, Spider-Man and Daredevil seek help from Wilson Fisk, the notorious crime boss known as Kingpin, to find out about the Sin-Eater, whose imminent target happens to be J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of The Daily Bugle. Subsequently, the Sin-Eater makes an appearance at the Bugle’s office armed with a shotgun and takes hostages. However, these hostages are safely rescued by editor Robbie Robertson and an unmasked Peter Parker, who is not in his Spider-Man costume at the time. Upon revealing his identity as Emil Gregg, Daredevil’s heightened senses confirm that this Emil is a copycat of some sort.

Guilty as Sin

In issue #109 of Spectacular, Spider-Man and Daredevil find out that Stan Carter is actually the Sin-Eater, as he sets his sights on the Jameson residence. However, upon finding Betty Brant from the Daily Bugle with Marla Jameson instead, Sin-Eater explains his motives for the killings: He killed the priest who was against capital punishment, the judge who was soft on criminals, and intended to kill Jameson due to his opposition towards masked vigilantes.

In the dramatic clash between Daredevil and Spider-Man, when Daredevil was trying to halt Spider-Man from mercilessly attacking Carter, their confrontation escalated into a physical fight. Moments before Carter could fall victim to mob justice, Spider-Man rescued him from the crowd. As the Sin-Eater’s true identity as a police sergeant was revealed and Carter was taken back into custody, Spectacular #110 concluded with another startling revelation: Daredevil figured out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, so he disclosed his own secret identity as Matt Murdock.

All My Sins Remembered

Eventually, Carter was discharged from a mental institution, and the voices he heard led him to resume his persona as the Sin-Eater, which he began to see as a distinct individual. In an attempt to rid himself of the Sin-Eater, he kidnapped a child in The Spectacular Spider-Man #136 (1987). However, it was later unveiled that Carter had never actually loaded the Sin-Eater’s shotgun before his confrontation with the police.

In contrast to other masked individuals who assumed the role of the Sin-Eater, Stan Carter lay lifeless until 2020’s Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude. It turned out that Carter had been in Hell due to his transgressions, but was brought back to life by Spider-Man’s demonic archvillain Kindred during the “Sins Rising” storyline written by Nick Spencer in Amazing Spider-Man issues #45-48. This revival transformed Carter into a supervillain with the power to absolve sins.

New episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again air Tuesday nights on Disney+.

2025-03-26 04:10

He Who Is Without Sin

Guilty as Sin

All My Sins Remembered

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