By the time he appeared in The Punisher, Mahoney had made detective. Whatever reservations he had with Daredevil were only quadrupled when it came to the violent Punisher. Yet, Mahoney forged an uneasy alliance with Frank Castle, which eventually led to him getting credit for bringing the Punisher into custody. The credit gave Mahoney a promotion, but also left him with sleepless nights.
Mahoney’s absence was conspicuous in the first season of Born Again, which took a critical look at policing in general. Most of the cops were either untrustworthy or outright corrupt, especially the bullies who worshiped the Punisher as a type of figurehead. Cherry and Detective Kim were rare outliers. They’ll gain a third with Mahoney, but it will be interesting to see how he, a man already critical of masked avengers, deals with Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Force.
The more puzzling of the returns is that of Wesley. In the first season of the Netflix show, Wesley acted as a sort of harbinger. If Fisk needed something done (such as eliminate Karen Page), he sent Wesley to do the deed, allowing himself to stay in the shadows. In fact, Wesley prevented people from even saying the name “Wilson Fisk.”
Wesley added to the mystique of the Kingpin, helping to build the threat of Fisk. When Karen shot Wesley in self-defense, Fisk was forced to do more dirty work himself, as not even current lackeys Buck Cashman and Daniel Blake have quite the same presence.
But how can Wesley still be alive? We’re probably just seeing a flashback to an earlier time in Fisk’s life, before Wesley’s death. That would jibe with another big Netflix return happening this season, Elden Henson reprising the role of Foggy Nelson, who died in the premiere of Born Again. We know that Henson is in season two of Born Again, so it would follow that we’d see some scenes from the past, and that’s probably where Wesley comes in.
Still, Foggy fans are hoping that Attorney Nelson can cheat death in the show like he has so often in the comics. Who’s to say that James Wesley can’t do the same?
