Defenders Reveals Major Daredevil Character Ahead of Season 3

Major spoilers for The Defenders.

The Defenders — the long awaited crossover between the Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist series — is now streaming on Netflix, and it introduced a character likely to have a big impact on the upcoming third season of Daredevil: Matt Murdock's (Charlie Cox) mother, Margaret Murdock.

At the end of The Defenders, Daredevil had seemingly gone out by way of heroic sacrifice, caught in the implosion of Midland Circle. Thought dead by close friends and confidants Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), as well as newfound ally Danny Rand (Finn Jones), it was revealed Matt actually survived — albeit laid up in bed, badly bruised and in the care of a nunnery. Matt wakes to a surprised nun, who says, "Get Maggie — tell her he's awake." To be continued.

In the Marvel comics, Sister Maggie, aka Margaret Murdock, was the wife of Jack Murdock and mother of Matthew Murdock. After attempting to harm baby Matt during a struggle with postpartum depression, Maggie fled and was given solace by the Catholic church. Feeling she was a "dark cloud" over both her husband and her son, Maggie would never return home.

Matt wouldn't meet his mother again until years later as an adult, when he was operating as Hell's Kitchen vigilante Daredevil and having his life systematically ruined by his arch nemesis, the Kingpin. Maggie herself would be caught up in Matt's superhero life, as the costumed assassin Bullseye launched an attack on her mission shelter in an attempt to retrieve a baby girl accused of being the Antichrist. (Comics.) Taking a note from her superhero son, Maggie stood up to the hired murderer and survived her encounter with the villain.

The premiere season of Daredevil tackled Matt's relationship with his boxer father, "Battlin'" Jack Murdock, who was killed after refusing to throw a match. Immediately before his murder, Jack reached out to his ex-wife, Matt's mother, asking her to look after the boy. Matt instead ended up in the care of Saint Agnes Orphanage, where he came under the tutelage of the blind martial arts master Stick (Scott Glenn).

With the story of Matt's father already told — and with Stick, Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho), and other members of the Hand apparently dead — The Defenders has set the stage for Matt to explore the relationship with his long lost mother in Daredevil season 3, which begins filming in October and will debut on Netflix sometime in 2018.