The chaos of the courtroom meets the idea of vigilantism.

Following the shocking end of Episode 3, Daredevil: Born Again has struck gold with yet another solid episode. Continuing Hector’s trial, a majority of the episode revolved around Matt and his team fighting for justice, even in a clearly unjust circumstance. Then with the final moments of the episode, the bigger topic of whether vigilantes are good comes to fruition with the reveal of The Punisher possibly being the one to have shot White Tiger.

Hector Found Not Guilty

Shockingly, Hector’s trial wrapped up in this episode, with Hector being found not guilty and acquitted of the crimes he was accused of. I didn’t think the trial would end so quickly because as much as you want to root for the good guy, it wasn’t looking good. Yet, the not-guilty verdict confirmed a critical point in the wider Daredevil universe: everyone appreciates a good vigilante. While Matt exposing Hector as White Tiger was an unanticipated turn of events, even to his own team, it worked exactly the way Matt hoped it would. Bringing examples of not only New York residents but of police reports of White Tiger helping because as it was put, ‘it was the right thing to do’ proved the point that the vigilantes are relatively well received, hence the not guilty verdict.

Yet his acquittal opens a door that Kingpin brings attention to at the end of the episode: it shows that vigilantes, as long as they’re doing the right thing, can be seen in the eyes of the law as not guilty of their actions or above the law altogether. Now, obviously, in Hector’s case a crime truly was committed, though not on purpose, yet the larger implications now exist for vigilantes. The only other example of a vigilante type to truly go to court had been Frank, and even during his case, he had plenty of sympathy due to the groups of people he was killing. Hector’s case differentiates from Frank’s when it comes to the logistics, yet it is setting a precedent that Kingpin is desperate to undo.

White Tiger’s Fate

Due to the off-screen situation of Kamar de los Reyes passing away, it was assumed that his character in Daredevil was unlikely to make it through the season without either being killed or just generally written off. As it turned out, his version of the White Tiger did not even make it past Episode 3. When he was initially found not guilty of ‘killing’ a cop in a room full of NYPD, it was half expected that someone might put a bullet in him right in the courtroom. The fact he even got as far as putting on the White Tiger uniform was unexpected but as Matt tried to warn him, it would put an immediate target on his back. The death of White Tiger after he was acquitted theoretically should turn him almost into a martyr, but for reasons we will discuss a little further down, that seems unlikely to happen now.

What is important to focus on at the moment is the future of the White Tiger. The White Tiger is a mantle that Hector is only one of a few to wield in the comics. Hector’s sister and niece, who were both actually called out during the trial, take on the mantle of the White Tiger. It seems that if Marvel would like to use this character again in the future, either of these two women will end up wearing the mask. And it really isn’t straying far away from the plot, as it wouldn’t be surprising if one of them decides to continue their family member’s legacy by wearing the mask. In fact, the more interesting story could be if they wear the mask to execute their vengeance, turning more into a Punisher-type vigilante rather than the one Hector had been aiming to be. Hopefully, Marvel does decide to have one of the two take on the mantle as this character has ties to Daredevil, Spider-Man and Shang-Chi in the comics, to name a few. It would be cool to see White Tiger explore further, in whatever capacity that is.

Is that really the Punisher?

Last week, we discussed in our podcast how Daredevil: Born Again is imitating many things that we have seen and are seeing play out in real life, including the Punisher symbol being used in a negative way. Marvel themselves even altered the symbol and had a comic line that very directly reflected these events. This is critical to bring up as we already saw the dirty cop in Episode 2 display a tattoo of the Punisher symbol. With this, it isn’t a far leap to think that the man who shot White Tiger is not actually Frank Castle.

Thanks to the trailers, it has been made clear that Frank will be reprising his role in the Daredevil: Born Again but it seems highly unlikely that Frank would kill a vigilante like that. Not to mention, the symbol still appeared to be the original Punisher symbol and while we haven’t seen Frank wear the new one since the ‘rebrand’ happened post-Netflix series, it’s hard to imagine Disney wouldn’t want to bring him back with the new one on his chest. The more likely candidate for who shot White Tiger is simply the cop who tried to frame him, Officer Powell. He is clearly someone who has taken up the Punisher moniker in a negative manner and has already proven himself dirty. Fueled by the anger he already has at the not guilty decision or by possibly someone highly influential to him, it seems likely that he would wear the get up and deliver justice how he sees fit. Considering Punisher’s whole thing is killing ‘bad or guilty people’, a screwed idea of this from Officer Powell’s point of view wouldn’t be a far stretch.

Kingpin is still Playing the Game

No one is thrown off by the fact Kingpin is still getting his hands dirty, even in the midst of being Mayor of New York City. It may not have been confirmed, but it was clear that they were setting up the possible idea that Kingpin had a hand in White Tiger being killed. As mentioned before, maybe Officer Powell was just angry, but it seems more likely that Kingpin might have used him to progress his promise to end vigilantism. To his point, the trial verdict was a slap in the face to a mayor who ran on a platform dedicated to taking away the vigilantes. Even without the full backing of the police force, there are always dirty cops, something Kingpin specializes in.

On the other hand, Kingpin can now spin with ‘The Punisher’ being the one to off White Tiger into a very damning narrative. With his ongoing promise to do away with the vigilantes, he can now focus on how it’s obvious not all vigilantes can be trusted, making Frank an example. Sure, Frank had supporters, but he also angered a lot of people with how he went about taking bad men off the streets. Think about how one, it can be spun that Frank may have decided White Tiger was not a good man, as he was so eloquently painted to be or two, it can be spun the other way to show that no matter how good White Tiger might have been, other vigilantes might not have agreed. Either way, Kingpin can spin this narrative against vigilantism, exactly where he wants to put it, which is what makes it seem more likely that he had someone parade out there as the Punisher and kill Hector. You all think vigilantes are great? Are they just as great when they’re killing each other? When they’re unhinged?

Image: “Daredevil: Born Again Episode 3,” Daniel Chin, The Ringer