Spoilers ahead for Episode 8 of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, called “Isle of Joy” and available streaming now with a Disney+ subscription.
Just one episode of Daredevil: Born Again’s first season is left amid the 2025 TV schedule, and the penultimate episode was a game-changer in many ways. Matt’s worlds are finally overlapping to the point that something major has got to give, with “Isle of Joy” ending with him bleeding on the floor of Fisk’s gala. Pointdexter broke out of prison, Vanessa killed Adam, Matt figured out that Vanessa ordered Foggy’s death, Fisk is throwing his weight around New York’s elite, the Task Force wasted no time in getting out of hand, Daniel was somewhat inexplicably promoted, and nobody is telling Heather anything.
I’m particularly nervous on that last count since Heather is in the thick of danger on all sides without even knowing the extent of it, and I have more questions than answers about the rest. Other than Daredevil, of course, coming back from his gunshot wound in a series called Daredevil: Born Again, there's one thing I’m confident of based on a particular trailer: the upcoming Season 1 finale is going to pack in plenty of Jon Bernthal as the Punisher opposite Charlie Cox as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
With Frank Castle MIA from the penultimate episode, we know that everything new featuring the Punisher from this Disney+ trailer has to be in the finale. There's a LOT, so take a look:
Hello, Frank Castle! While we’ve already seen a lot of the shots from this particular trailer, there are some standouts that are evidently being saved for the finale. Vanessa and a bloody Fisk still wearing their outfits from the gala is one particularly striking shot, and I’d initially assumed the blood was from Fisk attacking somebody. Now, “Isle of Joy” has proved that at least some of that blood is from Matt getting shot and… well, splattering all over the mayor.
But there’s also a whole lot of Jon Bernthal back in the Punisher vest and sporting the shorter hair of his days on Netflix’s Daredevil and most of his Punisher series. It looks like Matt and Frank will be teaming up during a fight at Matt’s apartment, since we’ve seen that set throughout the season. Considering that Matt was shot at the end of the penultimate episode, I think it’s a safe bet that he could use all the help he can get in going hand-to-hand with bad guys.
And I’ve been looking forward to more scenes between Matt and Frank ever since Charlie Cox opened up about how Jon Bernthal “pulls me closer to a Daredevil that I'm frightened of and excited by” in their shared scenes. While I've seen some fans understandably missing the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen suited up and pummeling criminals in Born Again so far, Cox’s performance of Matt slowly but surely unraveling has been great. With that, I’m intrigued by the idea of seeing this version of Matt interacting with a Frank who – clearly, based on the trailer – is definitely still on board with killing.
Admittedly, it’s always possible that cuts are made between when a trailer is edited together and the finished product begins streaming. After all, Matt’s comment about Frank’s hatchet from the first trailer wasn’t part of the episode that eventually arrived on Disney+. But with Jon Bernthal’s future as the Punisher guaranteed and Daredevil: Born Again moving ahead on Season 2, we don’t have to worry that the finale will be the end either of either character’s story.
It does seem like Born Again has a lot to fit into the last episode of the season, though, and my fingers are crossed to get Karen back for a scene or two with Frank after their bond in The Punisher and Matt after everything they've gone through on his show. See what’s in store with the Season 1 finale of Daredevil: Born Again when it debuts on Disney+ on Tuesday, April 15 at 9 p.m. ET.
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