Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 Reveals Epic Comic-Accurate Bearded Looks for Matt and Fisk

Marvel Studios has officially debuted new comic-accurate designs for Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk in Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, and both characters are sporting heavy beards. Charlie Cox's hero closed out Season 2 by exposing his secret identity in open court and walking into a prison cell, while Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin was forced out of New York. Now, with Matt locked up alongside the enemies he put away, Marvel is setting up a new visual identity that pulls directly from the page.

Marvel Studios shared an official promo video for the Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finale, which doubles as the debut of how Matt and Fisk will look in Season 3. Both characters appear with thick beards—Matt's brown and full, Fisk's white and grizzled—a break from the looks fans have known for over a decade of live-action stories. The promo confirms what set photos had hinted at, tying directly into the prison-set comic arc the third season is building toward.

Charlie Cox addressed the bearded Daredevil look in a finale interview with TheWrap, calling it a "very fun and different look." He added that Season 3 pays homage to an excellent Daredevil comic run and that he was excited when he learned where the writers were taking the story.

The Comic Roots of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk's New Designs

The bearded Daredevil look is pulled straight from two acclaimed prison stories. The first is The Devil in Cell Block D, the opening arc of Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark's run (Daredevil Vol. 2, issues 82-87). In that story, Matt Murdock is locked up in Ryker's Island after his identity is leaked, forced into uneasy alliances with Wilson Fisk and Frank Castle to survive.

The second touchstone is Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto's run from 2022 onward, which also features a longer, fuller beard for Matt during his return to Hell's Kitchen.

Zdarsky's run sent Matt to prison again in the Doing Time and Lockdown arcs after Daredevil was charged with manslaughter, and the bearded design is a close match to what Marvel just unveiled.

Showrunner Dario Scardapane has signaled plans to combine elements of both runs, making the visual choice a smart shorthand for fans who know the source material.

The New Comic-Accurate Look Will Make Daredevil Season 3 More Exciting

The bearded designs put Daredevil: Born Again in territory the live-action characters have never operated in. From the Netflix run to the first two Disney+ seasons, Matt has mostly appeared clean-shaven or with light stubble, and Fisk was clean-shaven in his white suit. Both looks depicted control: Matt was the disciplined attorney moonlighting as a vigilante, Fisk the empire-builder with a posh appearance. Marvel just stripped both of that, indicating Season 3 will not be a continuation of what came before.

Matt's design is the more dramatic change. His double life is over—everyone knows he is Daredevil, his law career is finished, and he is in prison. The full beard tells viewers that the version of Matt Murdock fans grew up with is gone. What Cox plays in Season 3 has to be a different Matt: harder, more isolated, more dangerous in close quarters. The design choice sells that well.

Fisk's redesign is also a big deal. D'Onofrio has played this character for eleven years, rarely seen without the suit and tie. The white beard, winter coat, and loss of the mayoral office strip all that away. What's left is a man who has lost his wife, his city, and his job, now living far from any of it. This opens the door for D'Onofrio to play something rawer than the calculating crime lord, giving the character somewhere genuinely new to go. These elements, including the assembling of Defenders era characters, will make Season 3 unique and exciting.