Speaking for the collective Marvel fandom, it is our duty to never be unanimously in favor of a live-action costume adaptation. But evidently, Marvel was not happy with causing the usual discord — it chose to give us mini heart attacks the second we lay eyes on Bullseye aka Benjamin Poindextor’s suit in Daredevil: Born Again.
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again and the heartbreak it seems primed to bestow.
See, so far, the revival of the stellar show we had on Netflix is sailing smoothly, courtesy of the cast members it is bringing back, because if we dare to focus on the flying rumors about its plot, or the fact that its creation just began from scratch after months were spent on it, our faith in Charlie Cox — and the team giving Marvel the legs it currently lacks — will start to shake.
Not that the studio is doing a whole lot to save that crumbling belief.
We have added a few 2+2s, and they have all been pointing toward a tragedy that will only earn Netflix all the brownie points. We are, of course, talking about Karen Page’s death in the comics — and scarringly, the show’s title shares the name of this specifically tragic arc — and the fact that both Deborah Ann Woll and Wilson Bethel, whose Bullseye kills Karen in the comic books, are in the show for just three episodes. The same three episodes? We don’t know, but this all is rapidly feeling less like a coincidence and more like a cruel move by the studio, especially since we have laid eyes on Bullseye’s new suit.
Do you see that almost comic-book-accurate suit? Without dissing whether or not it makes Bethel look like a human condom, riddle me this — what is missing from his costume? Yep, the logo on his head. And you remember how he got that logo in the comics? Yep, dear Matt carved it on his forehead after Bullseye killed Karen.
Based on the evidence we already had, and now Bullseye’s MCU debut with a costume that is missing its logo, we are honestly very afraid for Karen’s future. Apart from shamelessly indulging in the practice of killing female characters to give the male leads’ story a boast, Marvel has been dipping its toes in creating a shock factor where it just dumps a big end result out of nowhere to give a lackluster story some stakes; witness killing Maria Hills and Talos, or just dumping every single power on the MCU —some of which need active usage to be employed — on G’iah, who somehow knows how to summon and use all of them. I can go and on, but you get the gist of it.
Initially, when the show was first announced, the character of Karen didn’t even have a presence in the Marvel series. The studio did get in everyone’s good graces when it was decided to bring back Karen along with Foggy Nelson, but if it was all done just so she could be killed because Marvel just can’t fathom how to create a legal-crime drama… well, Deadpool 3 might not have an MCU to “save.”
Our patience and will to forgive have limits, Mr. Feige.