Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After the collapse that followed The Defenders, Matt Murdock is found badly injured and hides at Clinton Church while Father Lantom and Sister Maggie help him recover. He is angry at God and unsure whether he wants to return to his life as a lawyer, but he puts on his old black suit and fights again. Wilson Fisk, still in prison, bargains with the FBI for protection and a transfer to a hotel safehouse. The FBI’s Ray Nadeem oversees the move, then gets pulled into Fisk’s growing influence inside the bureau.
Fisk turns Nadeem’s financial pressure into leverage and uses the FBI to take control of Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal groups. He spots the talented but unstable FBI operative Dex Poindexter and steers him into wearing Daredevil’s costume. Dex attacks the Bulletin and leaves the city believing Matt committed the killings. Karen and Foggy work to expose Fisk, while Karen’s past is revealed: she lost control of a car while driving her brother Kevin away from a violent boyfriend, and Kevin died in the crash. Matt learns that Maggie is his mother, a secret Lantom kept.
When Fisk sends Dex to kill Karen at Clinton Church, Father Lantom steps between them and is killed. Matt and Karen survive, and Matt turns from revenge to a plan to bring Fisk down in court with Nadeem’s testimony. After Nadeem’s murder, his recorded statement at Fisk and Vanessa’s wedding exposes their crimes to the guests. Dex tries to kill Vanessa, but Matt stops him; Fisk breaks Dex’s spine in the fight. Matt beats Fisk, then refuses to kill him. He forces Fisk back to prison by threatening to expose Vanessa’s part in Nadeem’s death, and reunites with Foggy and Karen to start a new law firm.