Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Finale Includes The Return Of A Beloved Marvel Hero
Contains spoilers for "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2, Episode 8 – "The Southern Cross"
The startling finale of the critically acclaimed second season of "Daredevil: Born Again" features the long-awaited return of a major Marvel hero: Luke Cage. Played by "Evil" actor Mike Colter, Cage was the superhuman star of his own self-titled Marvel Netflix television show that ran from 2016 to 2018, and in 2017 he co-starred in the tie-in miniseries "The Defenders" alongside Charlie Cox's Daredevil, Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist.
The "Luke Cage" series finale, "They Reminisce Over You," ended with the unbreakable hero inheriting the Harlem's Paradise nightclub and reigning as the new "sheriff" of Harlem. A year later, he made a brief appearance in the "Jessica Jones" series finale, "AKA Everything." He shows up at Jessica's apartment after seeing her on the news and advises her to take down her vigilante adoptive sister Hellcat.
Before the "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2 finale, Colter's character hadn't made an onscreen appearance in the MCU since that cameo in the final "Jessica Jones" episode, with Colter even telling fans that Luke Cage wasn't likely to return. But anything is possible in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Hero of Harlem is back. So, where does Luke Cage stand at the end of "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2?
Cage has been overseas doing government work
A lot has changed for Luke Cage between "Jessica Jones" and "Daredevil: Born Again." Jones also made her return in the latter show — Episode 6 revealed that she's now living in the suburbs with her young daughter Danielle, who longtime Marvel Comics fans immediately recognized as Jessica's child with Luke Cage. Cage's status was unknown until "Born Again" Season 2 Episode 7, in which Jones confronts CIA agent Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) and we learn that Power Man is doing work overseas for the government in exchange for Jessica and Danielle's protection.
Cage reunites with his family in the closing minutes of the season finale. Jones and their daughter are in the re-opened Alias Investigations office when Cage walks in. After he hugs Danielle, Jones asks if he is okay and if his work is done. Cage tells her, "Work was ... different over there," and that someone else has taken his place — the assassin Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). They then embrace in what is a well-deserved happy ending for the beleaguered heroes.
It's unknown if Luke Cage will return in future MCU projects, though there is certainly room to explore what he was up to in the years before "Born Again," what happened in Harlem, and how he and Jessica Jones rekindled their once-troubled romance. With Jones returning to work as a private investigator, the stage is set for a possible revival of the "Jessica Jones" series, which could potentially star the beloved Marvel couple.