History ComicBook / BornAgain

-> ''"'''Six hours '''. Spent '''sweating ''' and '''straining''', seeking the '''limits''' of his own inhuman strength. Seeking the place '''past''' the thought. There is no '''corpse'''. What is it '''about''' Murdock? He was a '''minor''' concern - - a promising '''talent''' to be '''observed''' and '''catalogued''' and even '''flattered'''- - and perhaps one day to be turned to the Kingpin’s way - - but he is '''more''' than this. Now he is much more than this. He always was. And I - - have '''shown''' him… that a man without '''hope'''…is a [[MythologyGag man without '''fear''']]. ''"

->''"My name is Matt Murdock. I was blinded by radiation. My remaining senses function with superhuman sharpness. I live in Hell's Kitchen and do my best to keep it clean. That's all you need to know."''

A live-action adaptation of ''Born Again'' --intended as a sequel to the 2003 ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' film-- was in development at one point but never made, while a later pitch for a (separate) film adapting the story was rejected by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in 2012. However, the third season of ''Series/Daredevil2015'', released in 2018, would ultimately borrow several elements from the story.

* RaisedCatholic: If you didn't already know Matt Murdock was, this story beats you over the head with it.

%%* RaisedCatholic: If you didn't already know Matt Murdock was, this story beats you over the head with it.

* SociopathicSoldier: Nuke. Genetically modified supersoilder -- who is also completely insane and needs a steady intake of drugs just to function.

* OrgyOfEvidence: Matt is deeply troubled by the way his life is unraveling around him and doesn't know if it's paranoid to think that maybe someone is out to get him. Then his home blows up.
-->'''Matt Murdock:''' It was a beautiful piece of work, Kingpin. You shouldn't have signed it.

* AxCrazy: Nuke, to a frightening degree. See PsychoForHire below.

* BerserkButton: For a crime lord, Fisk is actually a pretty reasonable guy. He listens to his subordinates and considers their advice. But ''don't'' mention his wife.[[note]]Years prior, near the beginning of Miller's DD run, Vanessa became collateral damage in a gang war (literally, that was the title) between Fisk and his rivals. Miller's contemporaneous GN ''Love and War'' details Fisk's efforts to rehabilitate her mind. It's implied that his failure to help her is still getting to him.[[/note]]
* {{BFG}}: Nuke's gun, "Betsy," which he uses to blow away a large portion of Hell's Kitchen.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Matt's been disbarred and still hasn't reconciled with Foggy, but he's recovered from the trauma inflicted on him throughout the story and is shown to be happy together with Karen. On the flip side, the Kingpin manages to escape legal consequences for his actions, but the Daily Bugle's exposé ruins his attempts at creating a legitimate public image for himself and undermines control of his criminal empire.]]
* BlessedWithSuck: Matt Murdock ''is'' this trope. During his rehabilitation in the Catholic mission, he relives the ''terrifyingly painful'' early days of acclimating to his new senses.

* {{Determinator}}: Murdock. Loses everything, including his right to practice law, becomes a paranoid wreck and is badly beaten and left to die by the Kingpin -- and he just keeps coming back.
* DeusExMachina: The sudden appearance of the Avengers (or at least, Cap, Thor and Iron Man) in the final issue may seem like this. [[invoked]][[FridgeBrilliance Or it's merely more evidence]] of the tightly-bound and frankly overlapping nature of the Marvel Universe's superhero community since a major attack on a New York neighborhood would logically trigger a response from the other superheroes in the city.
* DirtyCop: Subverted and played straight. NYPD Lieutenant Nick Manolis, who framed Murdock initially, needed money to [[spoiler:pay for an operation to save his son. He tries to set it right, but that didn't turn out well for him]]. Other dirty cops are willing to ''kill'' for the Kingpin.
* EasilyForgiven: Let's face it, Karen Page is. Sure, she deeply regrets it, but the fact still stands that she has sold DD's identity. He never whispers a single reproach at her for it.
* EmphasizeEverything: It's Frank Miller. Even at his best he falls for this.
* EvilIsPetty: Very, very, very petty. Kingpin goes above and beyond to try to ruin Murdock's life.

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Literally -- a genetically engineered character named ''Nuke'' is a major antagonist in the third act of the book.
* GoodShepherd: A female version in Sister Maggie (who may or may not be, to this day, Matt's real mother) who takes care of Murdock after he's injured.

* ManipulativeBastard: Guess who? Most blatant example is his manipulation of Nuke, pretending to be a loyal patriot struggling against a traitor named Daredevil.

* OrgyOfEvidence: Matt is deeply troubled by the way his life is unraveling around him and doesn't know if its paranoid to think that maybe someone is out to get him. Then his home blows up.

* PhoneyCall: A chilling moment in the second issue: Matt, at the end of his rope after having just attacked a cop, calls Foggy, begging for help because there's something wrong with his mind. On Matt's end of the conversation, we hear him being reluctantly persuaded that everyone really is working for the Kingpin, including the cop, and that Matt should go challenge the Kingpin right now. As he walks away from the phone, we hear the time recording coming from the speaker.

* PsychoForHire: Kingpin hires two in his steadily more desperate attempts to kill off Matt; Nuke and the CostumeCopycat of Daredevil. Neither of them end up doing the job, and ends up exposing him to legal scrutiny.
* PsychoSerum: Nuke's pills. "GIVE ME A RED!"
* RaisedCatholic: If you didn't already know Matt Murdock was, this story beats you over the head with it. In a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools good]] way.

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Go back to the part where Maggie prays over Matt after you find out she might be his mother. Try not to get choked up. You will fail.]]
* RousingSpeech: Played with by Miller. After Ben Urich is intimidated into silence by the Kingpin's goons, J. Jonah Jameson (Yes, of Franchise/SpiderMan fame, displaying HiddenDepths) gives an incredible speech explaining how important it is that the Bugle expose the Kingpin for what he is despite the potential consequences. Urich is unmoved at first. He later decides to pursue the story, but the speech isn't portrayed as an important factor in his decision.

** Also Comicbook/CaptainAmerica. Nearly every character -- even the crazed Nuke -- practically salutes in his presence -- except Murdock, who's more annoyed that Cap is interfering in his private war against Fisk.

* TookALevelInBadass: Turk Barrett, a minor criminal introduced in Daredevil #69, manages to stab Matt Murdock. Admittedly, at the moment Matt had pneumonia and his mental health was in tatters.

* AxCrazy: Nuke, to a frighting degree. See PsychoForHire below.

* EvilIsPetty: Very, very, very petty. Kingpin goes above and beyond to try to ruin Murdok's life.

* RousingSpeech: Played with by Miller. After Ben Urich is intimidated into silence by the Kingpin's goons, J. Jonah Jameson (Yes, of Franchise/SpiderMan fame) gives an incredible speech explaining how important it is that the Bugle expose the Kingpin for what he is despite the potential consequences. Urich is unmoved at first. He later decides to pursue the story, but the speech isn't portrayed as an important factor in his decision.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daredevil_bornagain_911.jpg]]

* RousingSpeech: Played with by Miller. After Ben Urich is intimidated into silence by the Kingpin's goons, J. Jonah Jameson (Yes, of Franchise/SpiderMan fame) gives an incredible speech explaining how important it is that the Bugle expose the Kingpin for what he is despite the potential consequences. Urich is unmoved at first. He later decides to pursue the story, but the speech isn't portrayed as an important factor in his decision.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Deconstructed. Fisk is trying to expand into legitimate businesses and be a VillainWithGoodPublicity, but his vendetta against Daredevil is costing him money and putting that ambition in jeopardy. The first crony to try and point that out to him is "bought out" and later has both his legs broken off-panel; the second is murdered by Fisk then and there. Fisk is ''trying'' to turn his criminal genius to more acceptable enterprises, but his obsession with Daredevil and his violent instincts keep overriding his sense.

* PietaPlagiarism: The splash page where Maggie the nun is holding a badly injured Matt has them in a pietà pose. Unlike some other examples in superhero comics, the comparison to Jesus and Mary is well justified here, since Matt's "rebirth" has parallels to Jesus's resurrection, and we find out Maggie actually is his mother.

* PietaPlagiarism: The splash page where Maggie the nun is holding a badly injured Matt has them in a pietà pose, Unlike some other examples in comics, the comparison to Jesus and Mary is well justified here, since Matt's "rebirth" is juxtaposed with Jesus's resurrection, and we find out Maggie actually is his mother.

%%* AxCrazy: see PsychoForHire below.
%%* BattleaxeNurse: Lois.

%%* {{BFG}}: Nuke's gun "Betsy".

%%* PsychoSerum: "GIVE ME A RED!"

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Go back to the part where Maggie prays over Matt after you find out she's his mother. Try not to get choked up. You will fail.]]

%%* SociopathicSoldier: Nuke.

%%* DespairEventHorizon: Ben Urich crosses this thanks to Lois.
%%* {{Determinator}}: Murdock.

* DoNotGoGentle[=/=]RousingSpeech: Played with by Miller. After Ben Urich is intimidated into silence by the Kingpin's goons, J. Jonah Jameson (Yes, of Franchise/SpiderMan fame) gives an incredible speech explaining how important it is that the Bugle expose the Kingpin for what he is despite the potential consequences. Urich is unmoved at first. He later decides to pursue the story, but the speech isn't portrayed as an important factor in his decision.

%%* EvilIsPetty: Very, very, very petty.
%%* {{Frameup}}: The gist of the Kingpin's plan.
%%* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Literally.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Fisk destroys Matt's entire life in the ''very first issue'' of the story. Then Matt strolls into Fisk's office, gets his crap handed to him, and Fisk tries to kill him in the East River. When they don't find a body, Fisk realises Matt's alive, With nothing to lose, and [[OhCrap coming for him]]. After all, a man without ''hope'' is a man without ''fear''.

%%* PsychoForHire: Nuke and [[spoiler:the CostumeCopycat of Daredevil.]]

1986 was a big year for Creator/FrankMiller. In between the [[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns other]] [[ComicBook/BatmanYearOne stuff]], he also happened to write this: an overlooked classic and swan-song to his hugely influential 1979-83 stint on the character. The story goes like this: Karen Page, the love of Matt Murdock's life, now a [[BrokenPedestal washed-up and coked-out adult film star]], sells his secret identity for a fix. Said information, as good as gold, makes its way to no less than the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk. Who proceeds to "test" the information -- by [[ForTheEvulz completely ruining Murdock's life.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: Fisk undergoes a subtle one over the course of the story after he learns that Murdock is still alive. It's very clear that he's becoming quite unhinged, culminating in Fisk sending the [[PsychoForHire psychotic]] Nuke to Hell's Kitchen and making him shoot up the place to draw Matt out.

%%* BigBad: Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin.

* DeusExMachina: The sudden appearance of the Avengers (or at least, Cap, Thor and Iron Man) in the final issue may seem like this. [[FridgeBrilliance Or it's merely more evidence]] of the tightly-bound and frankly overlapping nature of the Marvel Universe's superhero community since a major attack on a New York neighborhood would logically trigger a response from the other superheroes in the city.

* [[HesBack He's Back]]: When Nuke attacks on Fisk's orders, Matt Murdock, having regained his spiritual center, finally redons his Daredevil costume after so long to confront the lunatic.

** Early in the story Kingpin fights the temptation to land a finishing blow on Murdock as his manipulations tear down his life from afar. Finally he can't resist, and has a bomb set up in Murdock's house. This gives him the first and only clue he needs that Kingpin is behind everything.

* [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]]: [[spoiler:Go back to the part where Maggie prays over Matt after you find out she's his mother. Try not to get choked up. You will fail.]]

** Nuke is a genetically modified soldier ala Captain America. Unfortunately his super serum causes insanity.

* RaisedCatholic: If you didn't already know Matt Murdock was, this story beats you over the head with it. In a [[TropesAreNotBad good]] way.

->''"My name is Matt Murdock. I was blinded by radiation. My remaining senses function with superhuman sharpness. I live in Hell's Kitchen and do my best to keep it clean. That's all you need to know."''

* AxCrazy: see PsychoForHire below.
* BattleaxeNurse: Lois.

* {{BFG}}: Nuke's gun "Betsy".
* BigBad: Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin.

-->I '''myself''' gain admittment to the very same '''subway car''' as Murdock -- there to observe him to be in a state of extreme '''aggregation'''. We proceed without '''incitement''' to the '''Pennsylvania Station''' stop, whereat '''three youths''' board, brandishing nine-millimeter '''handguns''' of the '''street''' variety, loudly '''declaiming''' their intention of depraving the '''passengers''' of their personal '''effects'''.
* DespairEventHorizon: Ben Urich crosses this thanks to Lois.
* {{Determinator}}: Murdock.

* EvilIsPetty: Very, very, very petty.
* {{Frameup}}: The gist of the Kingpin's plan.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Literally.

-->"There is no corpse. ''There is no corpse.''"
* OhCrap: Fisk's reaction to the above. He realizes that destroying Matt's life but not ensuring his death has given him a foe with nothing to lose.
-->"And I--I have ''shown'' him that a man without hope is a man without ''fear.''"

--> '''Matt Murdock''': It was a beautiful piece of work, Kingpin. You shouldn't have signed it.

* PsychoForHire: Nuke and [[spoiler:the CostumeCopycat of Daredevil.]]
* PsychoSerum: "GIVE ME A RED!"

* [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]]: [[spoiler: Go back to the part where Maggie prays over Matt after you find out she's his mother. Try not to get choked up. You will fail.]]

* SociopathicSoldier: Nuke.

** Nuke.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Fisk gets called out on it, that his vendetta against Matt is a drain on resources and jeopardizing his plans to expand into more legitimate enterprises. [[TooDumbToLive This was not the time to point this out to him.]]
** Earlier in the story Kingpin fights the temptation to land a finishing blow on Murdock as his manipulations tear down his life from afar. Finally he can't resist, and has a bomb set up in Murdock's house. This gives him the first and only clue he needs that Kingpin is behind everything.

* SociopathicSoldier: Nuke

** Nuke
** Also Comicbook/CaptainAmerica. Nearly every character - even the crazed Nuke - practically salutes in his presence except Murdock, who's more annoyed that Cap is interfering in his private war against Fisk.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Daredevil normally adheres to the "no killing" code of most superheroes. In this story, when Nuke's pilot is shooting up New York in a military helicopter, [[spoiler:Matt picks up a rocket launcher, mutters, "Forgive me," and blows him up.]]