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At the beginning of Daredevil: Born Again‘s first episode, the assassin Bullseye kills Foggy Nelson. We see Foggy get shot, we watch him fall to the ground, we listen to Matt Murdock’s super-hearing confirm that Foggy’s heart has stopped. We even witness Foggy’s funeral. Charlie Cox has insisted time and again that Matt Murdock’s best pal is dead and buried. And yet, fans hope against hope that Elden Henson will be back as Franklin “Foggy” Nelson in season 2 of Born Again.
Believe it or not, they have good reason to hope, because Foggy is a comic book character. And if there’s one thing that comic book characters do best, it’s die and then come back to life. So, as we watch season 2 of Born Again to unfold, and as we wait to see if Henson’s confirmed billing in season 2 is a resurrection or just a flashback, we look back at the comic book stories that keep fans believing that Foggy will walk among us again.
The First Life of Franklin Nelson
Foggy debuts in 1964’s Daredevil #1, by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, as part of Matt Murdock’s supporting cast, alongside Karen Page. Foggy is initially a typical superhero’s best friend stock character, like Superman‘s Jimmy Olsen or Wonder Woman‘s Etta Candy. He’s a portly doofus, good-hearted and deeply worried about his pal Matt, but far less adept than the main character.
Daredevil #6, illustrated by Wally Wood and written by Lee, illustrates this dynamic, as Foggy takes it upon himself to investigate the doings of some supervillains because he doesn’t think his blind pal Matt is up to it. The supervillains easily send Foggy into a deadly coma, and only Matt’s actions as Daredevil prevent him from being harmed further. After he recovers, Foggy admits that he wouldn’t have put himself in danger if he knew that Daredevil was around, reminding us who the real hero of the story is.
Over the years, however, Foggy was further developed into a more complex, three-dimensional character. By the time of the excellent back-to-back runs by Brian Michael Bendis and then Ed Brubaker in the 2000s, Foggy is much closer to the compelling figure that Henson plays in the TV show. Which makes it all the more tragic when Foggy dies at the end of Daredevil #82 (2006), written by Brubaker and penciled by Michael Lark.
Not only has Matt’s identity as Daredevil been leaked to the public, but Matt has also been sentenced to prison, leaving Foggy to both keep the law firm running and get his best friend out of prison before a bad guy can exact revenge. Unfortunately, he’s too late, as a thug shivs Foggy in the stomach after he visits Matt in prison. Stuck in his cell and powerless to help, Matt has to listen to his friend bleed out.
Or so he thought. Turns out, Foggy was just injured and placed into witness protection as he recovered. Then, there was a whole lot of stuff involving gangsters and ninjas and Wilson Fisk’s wife Vanessa, but eventually Matt learned that Foggy lives and the two were back to running Nelson & Murdock together. For a while.
The Second and Third Deaths of Franklin Nelson
Over the years, Matt and Foggy have various reunions and fallings out, with the former continuing to live as recklessly as possible and the former just trying to move on with his life. So when 2013’s Daredevil #22, written by Mark Waid and penciled by Chris Samnee, ends with Matt bringing a giant, stinky pizza to Foggy by way of apology, we expect the conversation to be little more than the latest bump in their tumultuous friendship. However, after accepting the apology, Foggy reveals that they have little time to rebuild their law practice because he has cancer.
Foggy battled cancer bravely, and Matt tried to help. But Matt couldn’t shake the feeling that his friendship made Foggy a target. 2014’s Daredevil #5 by Waid and Samnee seems to prove the point, as a dangerous new version of the villain Leap Frog attacks Matt while he’s visiting a weakened Foggy. Matt defeats the baddie (obviously—it’s Leap Frog), but the suit explodes, seemingly killing Foggy.
To Waid and Samnee’s credit, the issue doesn’t really let the audience think that Foggy’s really dead. With the help of Ant-Man‘s Pym particles, Matt used the explosion to fake Foggy’s death so he can continue his cancer battle in peace… which isn’t much, because this is a Marvel comic.
Thus, when the Hand ninjas lay siege to New York City in the Red Fist Saga that ran across Daredevil comics written by Chip Zdarsky in 2022 and 2023, Foggy gets roped in. Foggy works with Matt as Daredevil frees the city from the Hand’s demonic control. Yet, when Daredevil defeats the Hand and expels them from his city, his victory is undercut when he turns to see his best friend crumbling into dust. Unbeknownst to Matt, Foggy (as well as Matt’s tutor Stick) were both killed by the Hand and resurrected as spies, secret agents in their employ. When Matt destroyed the Hand’s magic, he also destroyed the magic that kept him in the land of the living.
Faced with the actual real death of his best friend, Matt goes to extremes, sacrificing himself to descend to Hell and face off against a demon known as the Beast. Matt successfully frees Foggy from Hell, allowing him to return to life, but seemingly gets lost in the process. When Matt leaves Hell, he resurrects as a priest, with no connection to his past life. For an issue or two, anyway.
Hope in Hell
As this brief survey shows, there’s very good reason for people who loved Elden Henson’s take to expect that Foggy Nelson may be back in Daredevil: Born Again. He has been just as dead in the comics as he is on the TV show and made it back to work with Matt again.
Furthermore, both Born Again and the Netflix series that proceeded it have borrowed heavily from some of the runs mentioned here, which means that showrunner Dario Scardapane is aware of these story beats. Does that mean Foggy’s definitely coming back? Well, we don’t know for sure, but there’s always hope… even when dealing with the Devil.
Daredevil: Born Again season 2 streams new episodes every Tuesday on Disney+.
The post Daredevil: The Many Times Foggy Nelson Has Come Back from the Dead appeared first on Den of Geek.
