ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Daredevil: Born Again Episode 3 BREAKDOWN: Every Marvel Easter Egg You Missed!

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Daredevil Born Again Episode 3 breakdown! We analyze the cinematography of the episode, the hidden meaning of the frog, the legal system, and connections to the Marvel Comic Book!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I don't work for the bad. I work for the man. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie, and this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in Daredevil Born Again, Episode 3. Oh, you look quite dapper. Thanks. There is so much to cover in this episode, and we're going to go through all the little details in the cinematography, the hidden symbolism, and the connections to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. And if you love Daredevil as much as I do, check out these designs that we created at our merch store. We have the tribute to the hallway fight, no fear, the Fisk Will Fix It, shirt, and yard sign,

rabbit in a snowstorm shirt, poster, and fridge magnet, the Battle of New York headline, and our classic Nelson and Murdoch Law and Order and the Scales of Justice logo. And now, you can join our rewards program to get free stuff. And don't forget, you can listen to Screencrush on Spotify, Apple, and anywhere you get your podcast. So, last week, I missed an obvious Easter egg. The diner where Kingpin and Matt pretend to drink from empty cups of coffee is actually the same diner that Matt and a lecture went to in season two.

I actually mentioned that in our trailer video, but it slipped my mind last week. So the episode opens with Matt visiting Hector and Lockup. Now, I should note that this is all adapted from an arc in the comics called Trial of the Century, from the great Brian Michael Bendis run. Now, the character of the White Tiger has actually been around since the 1970s, but always as a supporting character. Just like in the show, the first white tiger was Hector Ayala, who gets his power from a magic amulet.

Now, in that Bindis story, Hector had promised his wife that he would stop being the white tiger because it was causing marital problems, just like in the show. But he breaks his promise to stop a robbery, and then it makes it look like he robbed the store and killed a cop. Now, while all of this was going on, Matt's secret identity leaked in the press. So the trial then became a referendum on Matt and Daredevil. Just like how, in this episode, it is framed as a public referendum on vigilantes. But in the comic books, the result was a little bit different.

The jury finds Hector guilty and he freaks out, steals a gun, and is shot on the courthouse steps. And the court in Great Chicago Morn, Hector steals a gun and dies on the barn and a guitar. Now, later on, I'll talk about why they changed it for the show and how the new version fits into the overall theme of this season. So we start with this beautifully filmed scene when Matt visits Hector in lockup, and he talks about a tree frog that's native to his home in Puerto Rico. Doesn't croak, sings its name. He specifically talks about how the frog annoys tourists, but the Puerto Ricans love it. What he's doing here is tying the frog into something personal about himself and his people. And during mating season, the sound of the frogs makes the beach come alive.

It's the music of the island. So put these two ideas together. For Hector, his home is a place that is rooted in love. And this is how he then sees the world. The reason he became a vigilantee was out of love for his fellow man. And the reason he was on the platform that night to begin with was to buy flowers because of his love for his wife. So the wider view here is that superheroes put on a mask and help people as a gesture of love. And more often than not, they end up suffering for their actions.

Peter Parker, Matt Murdoch, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, they all suffer for the sense of mankind. Just as Hector's career as the White Tiger was costing him what he values most in life, the love of his wife and family. And sacrificing your own happiness and well-being for others is symbolic of Matt Murdoch's devout Catholic beliefs, which I'll dive into a little later in the video. Hey, how come you're all dressed up today? Oh, because I have a court date at the end of the video. Why, did you park in the handicapped space? Oh, no, I said nice things about the Rise of Skywalker, so I'm on trial for being a Disney Shill. to give me good luck in court, I'm actually wearing a Daredevil tie.

Oh, wow, that's like the exact opposite of what Matt Murdoch would wear in real life. I know, right? I'm also wearing these Infinity Gauntlet Cufflings to remind me that I'm not my father. And all of this is from cufflinks.com. They're the sponsor of this video. Guys, cufflinks.com is one of my all-time favorite sponsors on this channel. This site is amazing. They have officially licensed merch from Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, and all your favorite sports ball teams. They're also a perfect place to shop for people who are hard to shop for because they just get cool geek merchandise. Like, for instance, right now, I'm also wearing this Captain America stainless steel cuff bracelet,

and my pocket square is even a reproduction of Cap Shield that we saw in Iron Man 2. I mean, I just love how creative their designs are. For instance, on the tie that I'm wearing now and on this tie, notice how the Marvel characters are hidden, like how this tie hides the Black Panther mask. Then they also have options like this one, but then this tie is a full-on comic strip. So cufflinks.com has a special discount for Screencrush fans. If you use the code Screencrush 20, you get 20% off discount site wide. Guys, that is a huge discount that you can get through my link below or by using my code Screencrush 20.

Hey, when you're in court, do you want me to be your lawyer? Great, I'm going to be your lawyer. Okay, well, and like I said, you can see my trial at the end of the video. And in the meantime, click my link below and use the code Screencrush 20 to get 20% off your purchase site wide. Now, back to Daredevil. So, as Hector is telling this story, notice that he is framed on the far right side of the frame. The emptiness on the left side of the frame emphasizes that Hector is alone. There is no one else in the frame with him.

And in the close-ups, Matt is always out of focus, further highlighting Hector's loneliness. Now, the majority of the light is hitting the left side of his face, while the rest of the frame is in darkness or shadow. This is because, in this scene, the light from the window represents Hector's memories of his freedom. His impending conviction is approaching, but he is clinging to a faint bit of light from his past. The lighting is also reminiscent of a confession booth where a small bit of light from the priest's side touches the confessor, who has otherwise kept in the dark. We have seen numerous scenes in the original show where Matt Murdoch confesses his sins, and now those roles are reversed, with Hector opening up his heart to Matt.

Now, in our last video, I talked about how the new opening title symbolized the institution that Matt believes in falling apart. But now I think there's a double meaning here. These institutions could also be collapsing because of general cynicism and decay, the same reason that Fisk was able to rise to power. But that decay is also why the city needs Daredevil and why he has to return. And then we go to a hijacking in Red Hook, the part of the city seen here. So it's pretty far from Manhattan. And remember, in episode one, Vanessa made it clear that this area was supposed to be off limits.

Red Hook is exempt from any taxes, tolls or other payments. You know that, Luke, huh? So what's so special about Red Hook? Is it the IKEA? Well, we just don't know yet, except that members of the five families are, as Wilson says, they're rats, rats at the bottom of the barrel. Let them kill each other. So I wonder if the Irish hijacker here could have been part of the Kitchen Irish gang, who the Punisher went to war with back in season two.

And then we go to BB's Woman on the Street Report. And every episode, this segment has been used to give us the flavor of the city. Now, in past episodes, we found out how the average person feels about Wilson Fisk and Daredevil. But in this episode, she's more focused on how the public feel about the concept of vigilante. The first guy made it through New York in the 70s, and he says, I have no problem taking my pace and putting it to their head. So this embrace of vigilante justice was practically celebrated in the 70s and 80s, with movie franchises like Death Wish and with vigilante cops like Dirty Harry and Popeye Doyle.

The next person talks about how morality in the city has become blurred. Good versus evil, evil versus evil, good versus good. Now, he's referring to this moral gray area the city lives within now. The villain is the mayor, the superhero is on trial, and all of the this is symbolized by the gray suits that Wilson Fisk wears and the stone gray institutions that we see in the opening credits. This theme gets revisited later in the episode, which I'll talk about later in the video. And then we go to Fisk and Vanessa having breakfast. Now notice Wilson is having his favorite breakfast, an omelette. In the first season, we would watch him prepare these omelets with great care

and loneliness. And later, when he cooks for Vanessa, it was treated as an act of love. But now, this table is used to show the distance they have from one another. Someone else is now preparing the meal, showing how money has interfered with their intimacy. And the physical distance of the table might remind you of this scene from Batman 89. You don't know the truth, I don't think I've ever been in this room before. But I also think it's likely an homage to the breakfast montage in Citizen Kane, which begins with the couple at a small table when they were young and happy. But as they grow older and wealthier, they become more distant

until their wealth has created this giant gulf between them. Even the wallpaper in this scene, depicting a country vista. seems like an homage to this famous scene in Citizen Kane. Vanessa mentions a painting that's now up for auction. I hear Bacon's Freud Chiptick is coming up for auction again. Now, at first, we think she's talking about this because art is a mutual love that brought the two of them together. But then, kind of tragically, she adds,

I could wash 200 million through that sale. So now, for her, art is just another part of the wealth that separates her from her husband, literally at the table and figuratively in their lives. Now, the painting she's referring to is called The Three Studies of Lucien Freud by Francis Bacon. And the writers chose this painting, I think, for a few reasons. One, it was, at the time it was sold, the most expensive painting ever sold at auction for $143 million. But also, Francis Bacon was an abstract artist who was able to capture the inner ugliness of people.

And his portrait subject, Lucian Freud, was a painter who drew people as these grotesque characters that, frankly, could have inspired the works of Arkrum or the Garbage Pail kits. But the triptych shows Freud from multiple angles, like it's showing different facets of his inner mind. Now, Bacon favored triptics because he was fascinated by Byzantine triptych art that depicted holy images in reference to the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, I bring this up because Matt Murdoch and Daredevil are also a kind of marriage of the profane to the pious. At least, that's how I read Bacon's work. Wow, when you wear a suit, you look and sound smart. Thanks, Doug.

Now, all of this attention to art is going to pay off later in the season when the graffiti artist music, becomes a more important villain to the show. Now, during their conversation, Wilson says, But I'm reaching for higher goals. Now, in the comics, after he becomes mayor, the Kingpin really struggles with the transition. High society won't accept him, and the streets don't run as smoothly without him.

But here, it seems like this is all part of his plan, as we're going to talk about a little later on. And this is interesting. Why does Fisk have bruised knuckles? They make a point to cut away from his bloody knuckles to mats. And as I said in last week's breakdown, the show has always played up the similarities between these two men, from their Hell's Kitchen

childhoods, violent fathers, and their desire to serve the city in radically different ways. Both men also love violence, but they also hate that they love violence. One of our writers, Ethan Ink, also had a great observation about that last scene, that when Matt says this, don't die. Don't do this.

You don't want to do this. He's actually talking about himself. He has a second run-in with Officer Powell, who seems to think that he is faking blindness. You don't need those glasses and doors, right? Now, it actually wouldn't surprise me if, by the end of the season, Powell and the others put together that Matt is actually Daredevil, you know, as rumors about this fight start to circulate.

And then we see this Punisher graffiti that reads Triggered, which could be another mural made by Muse. Now, obviously, the use of the word triggered here is ironic, like they're mocking fragile TikTokers who go in the internet to meme their tweets. What did you say? I don't know. I think all of this is laying the groundwork to show how some members of the police force have now become vigilantes themselves.

Remember, last week, we saw a cop with a Punisher tattoo. And the guy at the end of this episode was almost certainly a cop posing as the Punisher. It could even be this cop in the gallery who has a Punisher tattoo on his neck. In the courtroom, the camera does a rack focus to move focus away from Hector to his wife as Matt detects his heartbeat rise. And this lets him know that now he has to calm Hector down. I love how the show is using all these visual techniques to show Matt's abilities without having to call too much attention to them. Now, in the comics, Hector's estrangement with his wife causes him to make. melt down on the stand, and this is why the jurors ended up delivering a guilty verdict.

I actually feel like they should have played up their relationship with his wife a lot more in this episode because, as it is, Hector almost feels like he's a secondary character in Matt's journey and not his own man. So when he cross-examines pal, Matt says, You know, there's this thing they say in boxing, the best cure for a black guy's fast hands. Now he's taunting, pal for being slower than him in a fight, but this little jab is also Matt using a little boxing expression that he would have learned from his pop, Badlin Jack Murdoch. So in this episode, Matt is really up against a police conspiracy, which is showing him that the system of justice that he has sworn to uphold simply doesn't work, and that the city needs vigilantes like Daredevil who are not beholden to the structures of government. When Matt cannot trust the system to work, he has to instead trust himself.

Then Vanessa sends Buck Cashman to mediate a dispute between these two warring gangs. As we saw in episode one, she likes to keep the peace. But later, in therapy, Wilson tells her that that's actually the opposite of what he wants. Sometimes peace needs to be broken. So now it's clear what his strategy is, to let crime spin out of control, maybe even let a gang war happen, and then he can blame the vigilantes for not doing enough and show that only he can fix it.

I think then Wilson wants to get all that money for the new Academy class, but he'll replace the police force with men that he owns and controls. Back at the trial, Matt puts Hector on the stand. Now he mentions his sister and niece, both of whom also become White Tiger in the comics after he dies. How? Well, the magic amulet only works with certain members of his family. Ah, cool. Yeah. So then Matt plays the vigilante card and outs the white tiger. Now, this enters into some very dicey legal territory. So to clear all this up, I had to talk with our friend, attorney, and comedian Mike Mazzella, who had this to say. So in the last video, I correctly predicted that Hector's identity as the white tiger would find its way into this trial, but I never thought it would happen like this. True to his name, Daredevil takes a gargantuan risk and somehow emerges unscathed. But let's talk about what exactly he did wrong. One, he violated his client's best interest.

and wishes by revealing that he was the white tiger. Now, Hector could potentially be charged by the DA for past acts of vigilanteism. And keep in mind, this trial is public. It's being reported on. So any enemies of the white tiger that are out there might now choose to go after Hector or his family. Two, Matt publishes the mask to the jury before it's in evidence. Generally, in order to get something into evidence, it first has to be offered as an exhibit. The other side has an opportunity to object. The judge rules on the objection. And then and only then can it be entered into evidence and shown to or published to the jury. Matt skipped all those steps here and just held up the mask. Three, the one that the judge is most upset about. Matt materially misled the court. Now, this is a

violation of ADA Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3, which requires lawyers to show candor before the tribunal. And what that means in layman's terms is, you cannot lie to a judge, like ever. Matt tells the judge once he gets pulled into chambers that he didn't lie. He intended to keep this information out of trial, but he had to change his strategy halfway through. and that might be true. But Rule 3.3 also requires you to correct any past misrepresentations. So what Matt should have done here is asked for a recess or a sidebar, told the judge what he planned to do,

and then and only then moved forward with actually doing it. All in all, I think that what Matt did here doesn't raise to the level of disbarment, but it certainly could get him called before the bar association to answer for lying to the judge. And had he lost this case, Hector could have potentially sued him for ineffective assistance of counsel. But all in all, I think that, that this is really out of character for Daredevil. This is a side of Daredevil that we haven't seen before, a kind of throwing caution to the wind when it comes to secret identities.

Keep in mind, the last time that we saw this Matt Murdoch in a courtroom actually arguing a case, it was in She-Hulk, where he was arguing on behalf of Luke Jacobs in order to keep his client list from going public so that he could protect the secret identities of all those masked vigilantes. And actually, we have a full interview with Mike about whether or not Matt's a bad lawyer who should be disbarred that's coming up later. in this week. So afterwards, Matt and the DA have to go to the judge's timbers, just like they did in the comics, when the judge warned Matt that superheroes better not come crashing in his courtroom

or he would have him disbarred. Then we check in with BB on the street, which gives us both a sense of how people feel about the trial. Give him a fair try, which I don't think he's going to get it. But also, this is crucial for the episode's structure because it implies a passage of time that's long enough for Matt together more witnesses. He has a conversation with Hector, whose testimony when he reminds Matt why he can't ever stop being Daredevil. Being the White Tiger is more than just putting on a suit. It's a lamb. Now, this is a clever narrative strategy by the writers,

because it forces Matt to hear all of the reasons he should keep being Daredevil, and it makes us wonder if he's ever going to take his own advice. But then again, Matt says, I think you might be surprised at how much you don't miss being him. So maybe he feels like becoming Daredevil is a form of self-torture, which, again, On top of that, he can take an unbelievable amount of punishment without one damn complaint. Well, that's part of Catholicism.

Watching this episode, it occurred to me how Daredevil wearing a mask is also similar to an anonymous confession booth in Catholicism. By wearing a mask, he is essentially wearing his sins on his flesh and expressing his guilt to the world. Except for Matt, his guilt is rooted in not wearing a mask when he stands by and lets people suffer. After all, that's why he put on the mask to begin with. I heard it, little girl, crying in her bed in a building down the block. Well, I couldn't do anything to help that little girl, but I could. So this is followed by testimony from people who the White Tiger has saved, and there is a similar sequence in the comics where various superheroes are called to the stand.

And I just got to say this is one area where I would have liked to have seen just a little bit more connection to the MCU. I think that Matt Murdoch in this universe would have attempted to get some other MCU heroes on the stand, like especially Sam Wilson. But because of like timing and budget limitations, I guess we would have been lucky to get Madison. Madison is with two ends. one Y, but it's not where you think. Now, when Kirsten McDuffie talks about the police reports praising white tiger, Matt mentions an Officer Morales, who could be Jeff Morales, the father of Miles Morales.

He also mentions Officer Reyes, who could be related to district attorney Reyes from Daredevil season two. That was the DA who used Grotto as bait against the Punisher. But then again, those are two pretty common names, so it could just be a coincidence. I loved how the testimony was intercut with people on the street. We're hearing what people think of vigilantes while we're also waiting to hear what the jury thinks of this particular vigilante. Although, Spider-Man did man on the street better. Guy with eight hands. Sounds hot. In his closing argument, the DA talks about the gray areas of life. Good people can do bad things. Bad people can do good things. Now, like we talked about earlier,

this goes back to the gray suits that Wilson Fisk wears, because Fisk thrives in a morally gray world. If people believe that the kingpin of crime could also be a good mayor, well, then there's no limit to the power that people can hand over to him. And this was all set up in this interview at the top of the episode. Long dark nights out here, man. Good versus evil. Evil versus evil. Good versus good. Now, the DA was smart to interrogate the concept of a mask. He raises a good point. If Hector wanted to serve his community, why couldn't he do it as a police officer? Other heroes in the MCU, like Iron Man and Captain America, have publicly known identities. Hell, they're even celebrated for being superheroes. Tony Stark is a celebrity. Captain America is a Smithsonian exhibit.

Even Bruce Banner is on this wall in Peter Parker's science classroom. But when vigilantes like Hector, Daredevil, or Spider-Man hide behind a mask, it implies that they're hiding something, not just their identities, but their motives. A mask also gives vigilantes the feeling of free reign. They can break any laws they want in the name of justice because they can never be held accountable or arrested. And I just want to shout out how well these courtroom scenes are filmed. Nearly every shot is handheld, like we're a spectator or a news reporter.

There are even over-the-shoulder shots from the gallery that place us in the courtroom with everyday civilians. The only time the camera isn't a little shaky is when Matt visits the empty court, one of my favorite scenes in the episode. See, Matt stands before the bench with reverence, like he's just entered a church and he's facing the pulpits. The choir underscores this feeling. He sits down on the bench like he's just sat in a pew to attend mass, and then it hits us. For Matt, the law is an aspect of his church. He believes in God, and he believes in the structures of society. Now, going back to that Christian triptic art that I mentioned earlier, Matt really does live in three places. The church,

the court, and the rooftop. And as he holds that broken horn in his hands, you know he's longing for that rooftop. So the jury finds Hector, not guilty. And afterwards, Matt and Heather celebrate, and he tells her that he and Foggy used to celebrate their wins by drinking an expensive bottle of whiskey called L. Milvenny's. Now, Foggy is on his mind because this is exactly the kind of case that Nelson, Murdoch, and Page would have taken. So it's like he won this case for Foggy. But also, back in episode one, Foggy said, You know Josie keeps a bottle of 20-year-old, oh, Melvin, he's behind the bar. Now, he knew Josie had this bottle behind the bar because he and Matt kept it there

to celebrate whenever they would win a case. Now, Fisk hates this verdict because he has built his entire platform around anti-vigilantism. He wants people to put all of their trust into the government, into him. So, he decides to use B.B. Eurek instead of a more seasoned member of the press pool, probably because she knows that she's less experienced and will be hungry for a viral moment. Or maybe he feels like he owes her after doing this. And then he has the balls to tell her. Courts fail, juries get it wrong. I should know. So this is telling us exactly how he is addressing his multiple convictions that we've

seen him arrested on in seasons one and three. He was always the victim of a conspiracy, a victim of the institution that he so badly wants to fix. Now as he talks, we intercut with the white tiger suiting up, as his words contradict what we're actually seeing. As he says, A man who wears a mask to cover his face is a coward. We see Hector being brave. And as he says he will keep order, Hector is assassinated.

So, Hector suits up to a song called Una Palabra. Now, the song is about how both the joys and pain in life are fleeting, because we will all die. We're so dark, the Ejana from the DC universe. And then the song ends when the singer drowns. Sadly, this is essentially Hector's fate. His good news is quickly undone by his death. And it's even more poignant knowing that the actor, Camar de Las Reyes,

passed away from cancer two years ago. And going back to Matt's beliefs in Catholicism as the structure for this show, I think there's something Christ-like in the behavior of Hector and all vigilantes. They put on the mask and caused pain in their own lives simply to serve others. Now, he is killed by somebody wearing the Punisher logo. Now, we have a video coming out soon about this, but the Punisher is another vigilante, but unlike Matt, he kills. His family was murdered by gangsters, and it drove him off the deep end.

Now, in the Netflix series, Frank Castle was presented as kind of the polar opposite of Matt, who is a vigilante who refuses to kill. And like I said earlier, it seems like in this show that the police have started to idolize Frank Castle's methods. And we're also seeing this broader shift toward fascism in the election of Fisk himself, a strong man who cuts through the red tape. But it definitely seems like Fisk was the one who ordered this hit. And remember, the last time Frank saw Fisk, he made him a promise. Next time I see you, only one of us was away.

So I seriously doubt that the Kingpin was able to hire the Punisher to kill this guy. This fake Punisher could actually be Joe Garrison. In the comics, he was a former shield agent that took up the Punisher mantle when Frank disappeared. Now, there is no music under the credits, only the sound of the Kokee, the tree frog that symbolized all that was good in Hector's brief, tragic life. Court is now in session. Mr. Erie, you stand accused of being a Disney Shill. Your Honor, that's simply not fair. All I said is that technically Rise of Skywalker is a well-made movie.

If I'm a shill for anyone, it's cufflinks.com, as I legally disclosed in the description of this video. There, you see, he's saying it again. This man is nothing more than a living, breathing ad. Your Honor, I moved to convict the defendant right away. He just confessed. I did not. Your Honor, may I approach the bench, please? Proceed.

Do you have any treats? Guilty! All right. Cheez.