How Marvel Comics Brought Daredevil's Best Friend, Foggy Nelson, Back From The Dead

Superhero comics have a long history of memorable sidekicks. Batman has Robin. The Green Hornet has Kato. And in the world of Marvel Comics, few sidekicks are as memorable as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, the right-hand man to Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil. Foggy is Matt's partner at their law firm, in addition to being his most trusted confidant.

2003's "Daredevil" movie (which fell victim to its own ambitions) featured Jon Favreau as Foggy Nelson, with Favreau, of course, later going on to direct "Iron Man" and kick off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since then, Elden Henson has played Foggy Nelson in live-action in the MCU dating back to the "Daredevil" series on Netflix. Unfortunately, his run was cut a little short.

"Daredevil: Born Again" brutally killed off Foggy in the opening scene of Season 1, leaving fans downright shocked, given how important he had been on the Netflix "Daredevil" series. Well into Season 2, Foggy remains dead. But as many comic book readers and enjoyers of superhero cinema well know, death is rarely, truly permanent when Marvel is involved. Indeed, Foggy has been killed in the pages of Marvel Comics as well, and yet, he lives on.

So, how exactly did Foggy cheat death in the comics? How was he brought back from the dead? Could Marvel Studios do something similar in "Born Again" Season 3 or elsewhere in the MCU? It's worth asking. But it's also worth understanding that Foggy's revival in the comics is very comic book-y, for better or worse.

Foggy Nelson made his Marvel Comics debut in the pages of "Daredevil" #1 in 1964, created by the late, great Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett. He remained a staple of the comic for years. However, in 1998, Matt Murdock was in prison following some shenanigans involving Kingpin. All the while, Foggy stood by his side. Sadly, that led to his passing. Except, it didn't.

In "Daredevil" #82 (which was written by Winter Soldier co-creator Ed Brubaker and features art by Michael Lark), Foggy was seemingly stabbed to death while visiting Matt in prison. However, looks can be deceiving. It was revealed before long that Vanessa Fisk, a character MCU fans will be familiar with, actually placed him in the witness protection program as part of a plan to get revenge on both Kingpin and Daredevil.

While the specifics of that tangled web aren't terribly important, the whole "it looks like Foggy is dead, but he actually isn't" of it all is. For what it's worth, big deaths in comics happen all the time, only to be reversed later on. For example, "Civil War II" saw the death of Hulk on the page. But, to no one's surprise, Hulk came back later and has enjoyed several healthy runs in various comics since then.

Foggy's demise was no different. This also isn't the only time he cheated death. It was later revealed that Foggy had cancer. After Daredevil revealed his identity to the world, it put Foggy in danger. A lesser-known villain named Leap-Frog then attacked them in 2014's "Daredevil" comic series. During the scrum, Matt used an explosion to once again fake Foggy's death, as was revealed in issue #5 of the series. Foggy lived on.

This sort of fake-out death or revival after one's death is nothing new in the world of superhero comics. Superman famously died for real in "The Death of Superman," but he didn't stay that way. In the same way, Henry Cavill's Superman met his maker in the DC Extended Universe movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," only to return in its sequel, "Justice League." It's just the nature of the beast.

Marvel has given many of its heroes and villains the same treatment on screen over the years, so much so that it can make one wonder: Does death even matter in the MCU? Few of them ever stick, so the stakes never entirely feel real. As it relates to Foggy Nelson, no matter how real his death felt in "Daredevil: Born Again," there's almost nothing that Marvel Studios couldn't undo, assuming it felt compelled to do so.

That begs the question: Will we see Elden Henson as Foggy again in the MCU in anything other than a flashback? "Dardevil: Born Again" is promising a Defenders reunion in Season 3 with a lot on the table. Adding Foggy back into the mix would only make it feel all the more important to fans of this corner of the MCU. Would it also negate some of what's transpired in the time since Foggy's on-screen death? That's more of a matter of personal opinion, but Marvel's comics have provided a rough roadmap for Marvel Studios Kevin Feige and Co. to follow, if they so choose.

"Daredevil: Born Again" is streaming now on Disney+.