Hell's Kitchen is one of the worst places in New York and home to some of the worst individuals one could meet. It does have a handful of kindhearted people, though, and Foggy Nelson is one of them. He's the kind of lawyer who works out of a cramped office and takes clients who cannot pay him. Played by Elden Henson across three seasons of Marvel's Netflix Daredevil and the opening minutes of Daredevil: Born Again, Franklin Percy Nelson stood for something the neighborhood rarely got: a defender who believed the system could still work for the people it usually failed. His murder at Bullseye's hands in the Born Again series premiere gutted fans, and for more than a year, it seemed the show had closed the book on him for good.
However, the release of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Episode 5, titled "The Grand Design," brings Henson back through a set of flashbacks that walk Matt Murdock through one of Nelson & Murdock's earliest cases. Streaming now on Disney+, the episode marks the first time Marvel Studios has resurrected a killed-off Netflix hero for a substantial role in one of its own MCU projects. It is a historic moment, one that formally brings the Netflix era into the Marvel Studios canon and hints at how much more of that history the studio is willing to revisit.
Despite the character being dead, Marvel Studios still found a way to put Henson back on screen and give him a role that is essential to the present-day story. Marvel hasn’t done this for any other dead Netflix era character, which makes this historic Born Again episode special.
The episode splits its time between the present, where Matt tries to decide what to do with a gravely wounded Bullseye after the assassin's attack on Vanessa Fisk, and flashbacks to Matt and Foggy's earliest days as legal interns at Landman and Zack. The case spotlighted in those flashbacks involves Lionel "Ray" McCoy, a small-time criminal facing a decade or more in prison. Foggy recognizes Ray from his old neighborhood. Ray was a bully who made his childhood miserable, and he is also the brother of one of Foggy's oldest friends.
Rather than let Ray take the fall, Foggy spots a flawed warrant, gets the charges thrown out, and then empties the firm's entire $1,700 savings to help Ray disappear from Hell's Kitchen for good. He does it not because Ray deserves it, but because Foggy refuses to let the system grind another person down. This act of mercy is what Matt returns to in the present as he stares at a bleeding Bullseye, the man who killed his best friend. In the end, Matt saves Dex's life, a choice he makes because of the example Foggy once set for him.
Foggy Nelson Is One of Hell’s Kitchen’s Biggest Heroes
Henson's return, while limited to flashback form, is the closest the show has come to fully honoring what was lost in the premiere. It also resolves a long-running fan theory that Foggy had secretly survived and was hiding in witness protection, a storyline pulled directly from the comics. Showrunner Dario Scardapane and director Justin Benson instead chose to give the character a eulogy that the season could carry forward, using memory rather than an unexpected twist that could cheapen his death.
Foggy was a hero in Hell's Kitchen long before anyone in a mask showed up. He and Matt founded Nelson and Murdock after walking away from a cushy internship at a corporate firm, and they set up shop in one of the few buildings left standing after the Battle of New York.
Their rent was low, and their clients mostly could not afford to pay. Foggy took on pro bono work as a matter of principle, defending tenants being pushed out of their homes, a framed young woman trying to clear her name, and, eventually, a vigilante the tabloids had labeled a terrorist. After Wilson Fisk's second stint in prison, Foggy proposed to Matt and Karen Page to rebuild the firm as Nelson, Murdock & Page, keeping its pro bono roots intact. The great things he did for his community are why his death at Jossie's Bar was so painful.
MCU Netflix Era Characters Making Their Marvel Studios Debut Soon
Jessica Jones
Krysten Ritter's return as the hard-drinking, super-strong private investigator is the most significant Netflix revival this season. She was announced at Disney's 2025 upfront presentation, walking on stage alongside Cox. Marvel has held her first appearance back, but a recent midseason trailer already spoiled one of the biggest reveals: Jessica now has a daughter, a turning point in her life that is likely to reshape her even more than the events of her titular Netflix series did. Her return sets up a much larger role in Season 3 and a long-teased reunion with Luke Cage.
Brett Mahoney
Royce Johnson is back as Brett Mahoney, the NYPD detective who has known Foggy since they were kids, and one of the few officers in Hell's Kitchen the firm ever trusted. Mahoney's absence from Season 1 was one of the show's most glaring misses.
His return for Season 2 is part of the creative course correction that saw the show reconceived as a direct sequel to the Netflix series. Johnson confirmed his involvement by sharing photos from set on Instagram.
The Hand
The red-clad ninja clan that tormented Daredevil, Iron Fist, and the Defenders is officially crossing into the Spider-Man films. The first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day shows Tom Holland's Peter Parker battling a small army of Hand operatives in at least two major sequences, including a prison fight and a rooftop leap into a crowd of masked fighters.
The Hand's motivation in the film is still unconfirmed, with online chatter linking them to Jon Bernthal's returning Frank Castle. Either way, their presence marks the first time the organization has appeared in a theatrical Marvel Studios release.
Claire Temple
Rosario Dawson is reportedly set to reprise her role as Claire Temple, the Harlem nurse who became the connective tissue of the entire Netflix era in Brand New Day. The scoop originated from insider Daniel Richtman.
Marvel has not officially confirmed her casting, but if accurate, her return would mark Claire's first big-screen appearance. It's unclear what role Claire will play in the film, but given the street-level tone and all the deadly villains set to appear, it's likely Claire will be tending to the wounds of the film's heroes.
Luke Cage
Mike Colter has been photographed on location in New York wearing a yellow suit and black overcoat that closely resembles the Mayor Cage look from the comics, suggesting his arc may pick up politically as Wilson Fisk's mayoral reign ends. Colter himself posted and quickly deleted an on-set photo alongside Cox and Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page, with Matt in an orange prison jumpsuit.
Danny Rand
Finn Jones was spotted alongside Colter and Ritter on the Born Again Season 3 set, officially completing the Defenders reunion nearly a decade after the 2017 miniseries ended. Neither Marvel nor Jones has formally confirmed the return, but Colter's eventual Instagram post featuring the three actors together ended any real doubt. Many fans have expressed cautious optimism, with the majority hoping the Born Again creative team can give Danny the character work his own Netflix series never quite delivered.
Curtis Hoyle
Jason R. Moore is confirmed to reprise his role as Curtis Hoyle, Frank Castle's close friend, former Navy SARC, and the moral conscience of the original Netflix Punisher series. The recently released trailer shows Hoyle appearing as a hallucination haunting Frank's fractured psyche. However, set photos from last year show the two actors together in person.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
