This article contains spoilers for “Daredevil: Born Again” season 1, episode 3.
Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) has always been a complex guy, as befits a devil who’s playing for the side of the angels. The character’s first headliner gig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to lean heavily into this characterization, depicting his charm, smarts, guilt, and determination with equal gusto. However, when Matt deals with the Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes, who passed away in 2023) murder case with the best intentions at heart, one particular call he makes ends up becoming one of the most stellar MCU examples of sheer moral ambiguity.
In the second episode of “Daredevil: Born Again” (read our review), Hector attempts to stop two men (who, unbeknownst to him, are plain-clothes police officers) roughing up someone and the ensuing fracas causes one to stumble in front of an oncoming train. Matt chances upon the case when his super-senses notice the arrested Hector’s peril. The lawyer is quick to realize that the man is not only innocent, but NYPD officers are also convinced that he’s a cop killer and treat him as such.
Matt’s investigator, Cherry (Clark Johnson), soon manages to unveil two major clues: That Hector is secretly the notorious vigilante White Tiger, and that the guy the two undercover officers were beating, Nicky Torres (Nick Jordan), was an informant. Unfortunately for the case in general and Hector in particular, Torres the star witness is too scared to tell the truth at the witness stand, leaving Matt without anything to go by. Because of this, he chooses to start building two cases simultaneously: a new defense where he outs Hector as the White Tiger without warning, and a case of himself as a deeply untrustworthy guy who can ruin a good man’s life with a single strategy change.
Matt’s decision would have doomed Hector no matter what
Desperate to win the case, Matt surprisingly exposes Hector as the White Tiger after Nicky backs out. Granted, this improvised strategy allows the defense lawyer to paint a (correct) picture of a strong-hearted defender of the weak who’s helped the NYPD before and who would never knowingly attack two police officers, especially without his power amulet. However, Daredevil of all people should understand that revealing a vigilante’s identity during a high-profile court case is going to doom Hector, no matter what.
Matt argues that Hector can deal with the situation by simply dropping his crimefighter persona after he’s found innocent, but really, what good would that do even if Hector could do so (which he can’t)? The White Tiger is easily famous enough for New Yorkers to discuss him in the same way Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio, back again after “Hawkeye” and “Echo”) can casually allude to Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and trust his audience to get the reference. This means the White Tiger — and now Hector — has dozens, if not hundreds, of vengeful enemies. It’s also specifically stated during the proceedings that Hector lives in a regular rental place with his family, and that he’s just as vulnerable as the next guy when he’s not wearing his amulet. The criminal world now knows that the man behind the White Tiger mask has several helpless loved ones and no real defensive resources, and he’s suddenly very easy to find.
As such, whether Hector ever wears the costume again or not after the verdict, he and his family will always have a target on their backs. Predictably enough, the White Tiger gets shot by an unseen assailant wearing the Punisher’s (Jon Bernthal) skull logo the very next time he hits the streets.
For a lawyer, Matt has little regard for the process
The dual paths of a lawyer and a vigilante are difficult to walk at the best of times, but Matt’s antics with his star witness and the sudden White Tiger revelation show such contempt of the court that Judge Cooper (Andrew Polk) orders a brief break, during which both he and District Attorney Ben Hochberg (John Benjamin Hickey) take some time to chew Matt up and spit him back out. Both men are absolutely livid at Matt’s decision to play the White Tiger card without warning, making clear that they consider the move outrageously unprofessional. The judge doesn’t appreciate Matt effectively forcing his hand in allowing the White Tiger line of questioning to continue, while Hochberg outright threatens the rogue defense attorney with some wholesale repercussions from the entirety of New York’s law enforcement. Hector isn’t thrilled, either. He specifically states that the secret was never the lawyer’s to tell, and really, Matt should at the very least have attempted to consult his client about the situation before opening his mouth and dooming the man.
Yet, despite the frankly questionable move to put Hector in a place of peril that ultimately kills him, it’s clear that Matt’s intentions are pure. He spotted an innocent guy in life-changing trouble, offered to represent him pro bono, and put in a back-breaking amount of work to get that “not guilty” verdict. Though comparatively small in scale, this combination of good intentions and deeply misinformed, backfiring tactics is on par with the sort of stuff Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) got up to in films like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” … and with Tony gone, Daredevil now has the pole position in the race for the “most morally ambiguous MCU hero” trophy.
New episodes of “Daredevil: Born Again” premiere Tuesdays on Disney+.