What is a PopNerd? 

A nerd lacking the knowledge of original referenced material but also enjoys the newest trending worlds that are introduced to them. New to geekdom.

As we get ready for Daredevil’s return on March 18th, we thought we would recap the last season to get you caught up and ready.

The story begins with Matt Murdock, the son of boxer Battlin’ Jack Murdock, getting into an accident trying to save an old man. Once this happens, Matt Murdock sets off a chain of events. First and, most importantly, he gains heightened senses after losing his sight from the accident. From there forward, to be able to provide for his son, Jack Murdock takes bribes from Roscoe Sweeney to lose matches. But when given a task to lose to Carl “Crusher” Creel (aka Absorbing Man from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2) he botches the match by winning.  He uses the money to set up a trust fund for Matt Murdock, but is murdered by Roscoe Sweeney shortly after.

After being put in an orphanage, Matt Murdock meets Stick, a man with extraordinary abilities. Throughout the summer months, Stick trains Matt to hone his senses and become something greater. But once his emotions get the better of him, Stick leaves Matt.

Several years pass, and Matt Murdock joins Columbia University Law School and meets Foggy Nelson, both becoming friendly to the point where they often tease one another. After graduation, both worked for Landman and Zack Firm. Matt was given an opportunity to become partnered with the law firm, but the catch was that the offer was only for Matt and not Foggy. Matt and Foggy begin their own law firm.

The same night that they quit Landman and Zack, Matt is unable able to sleep due to his neighbor abusing his daughter. Matt then calls the police, but to no avail; no charges were ever pressed against the man because the wife would not testify against him. Murdock had to take it into his own power to do something about it, so he follows his neighbor to his job and beats him senseless.  Matt tells him that if he ever touches his daughter again, he would kill him.

A few years pass and once again Matt dons a make-shift outfit to stop Turk Barret’s sex trafficking operation. After the night is over, Foggy and Matt open their own law firm, meeting Karen Page the following day.

Why is the meeting with Karen Page important? Well, for two reasons. Karen Page has been framed for killing her coworker after a few drinks, and the ones framing her for murder were the law firm of William Fisk….this is when the amazing dynamic that makes this show great comes to be.

Unlike most shows, where the antagonist is immediately clear, we get to understand who Wilson Fisk is and see the evolution of how he came to be one of the most notorious villains of Marvel history: the Kingpin.  His origins are a little different from other iterations that we have seen in other media. Let’s take a quick look of what events have transpired to make Wilson Fisk the man he is.

Wilson Fisk was born to Marlene Vistain and Bill Fisk.  When Wilson was young, Fisk’s father, Bill, ran for the city council of Hell’s Kitchen believing it would make him and his family rich. Having lost his campaign, Wilson’s father’s drinking habit got more out of hand as the pressure of owing money to local mobsters got to him, and he began beating his wife. During these beatings he would order Wilson to sit and stare at a blank wall. Wilson decided to put an end to it, he grabbed a near-by hammer and repeatedly hit his father over the head with it, killing him. His mother then cut up the body and they began dumping it in the river every night for the next week. This was the first outbreak of violence Wilson ever had.

Many years later, Wilson Fisk returns to New York City and becomes a powerful criminal businessman developing a plan to rebuild Hell’s Kitchen after the events of “the battle of Manhattan” which occurred during the Avengers.  He recruits Russian, Japanese, and Chinese mobsters into his organization for this plan to come to fruition.

But this is Daredevil’s show, not the Kingpin’s. The reason Karen Page was framed for murder was because she worked as a secretary in Union Allied Construction. One day she was emailed a file which contained damning evidence of Union Allied’s money laundering schemes. Seeking to tell someone about what she had discovered, Page asked one of her co-workers from the legal department, to join her for drinks at a nearby bar. After a few drinks, she became dizzy and disoriented, waking up the next morning covered in her co-workers blood.

After being taken to prison, she is greeted by Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock of the new law firm Nelson and Murdock. Once they introduced themselves and explained their intentions to assist her; Page became suspicious of their experience and they confessed that they had only officially been operating as their own law firm for seven hours and she would be their first client. When she confessed that she had no money to pay them, Nelson attempted to leave the case, but Murdock convinced him to stay. Karen told them her side of the story and they came to an agreement that Foggy and Matt would defend her in a court of law.  After a few more incidents, Karen Page becomes the law firm’s secretary, which leads her and the gang into more crazy shenanigans.

Two more names you need to know: James Wesley and Ben Ulrich.  They are important because they become collateral damage in an ever-increasing feud between Daredevil and Kingpin. Don’t get me wrong a lot of people do die in this TV show, but Wesley was Wilson’s right hand man and the only person Wilson considered a friend. Wesley pretty much ran the organization knowing who’s who in the criminal world, setting up defense attorneys that would represent their underlings in a court.  Ben Ulrich was part of the Scooby gang trying to connect the mysterious Kingpin to the events occurring in Hell’s Kitchen which range from extortion, human trafficking, drug trafficking and murder.

Both of their deaths come after a culmination of events that get crazier and crazier from episode to episode such as the death of Elena Cardenas, a tenant of an apartment sought by Wilson Fisk and his associates, who turned to Nelson and Murdock for legal counseling.

With Fisk’s control due to the emotions chaos of the ill Vanessa, Daredevil takes a stance by saving Hoffman and uses all his evidence to take down The Kingpin using the law. The law was not enough as Wilson Fisk breaks out of his police escort to only get taken down by Daredevil and his new suit crafted by Melvin, the tinkerer of light reinforced mesh that has been used by the Kingpin himself.

And that’s it!

We now begin Season 2 with Fisk in jail, the devil of Hell’s Kitchen making a name for himself, and the more prominant Nelson and Murdock Law Firm.

Did we clue you in to some facts you may have forgot about? Do you feel caught up and ready for season 2? Comment below and let us know.

Writer:

Chris

Editors:

Haley

Dan

All images belong to Netflix.