The Hollow of His Hand

The Hollow of His Hand
Season	1
Writer	Jill Blankenship
Director	Michael Cuesta
First Aired	March 11, 2025
Running Time	47 minutes
Marvel Cinematic Universe
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Next →	Sic Semper Systema

"Well then, here's to a man who cooks, a well-won case, and Foggy Nelson. May God hold them all in the hollow of his hand."

―Heather Glenn to Matt Murdock

The Hollow of His Hand is the third episode of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again.

Synopsis

The trial of Hector Ayala begins. Fisk's old business associates seek to claim his vacant mantle.

Plot

Matt Murdock visits Hector Ayala at his cell at Rikers Island and as the two talk about Ayala's memories of Puerto Rico, Murdock promises that Ayala will soon be free and reunited with his family.

The tension within the Five Families continue to rise, leading to a full gang war and culminating at the double murder at Red Hook Pier. Wilson Fisk and Vanessa Fisk talk about business at breakfast and while Fisk understand that his wife does not want to sit idly by, he reaches for higher goals. Sheila Rivera informs Fisk about the incident at the port and Vanessa says that Five Families keep going at each other because neither of them is present to maintain the order. Fisk is unbothered and would rather have them all kill each other, but Vanessa warns him that whoever is left standing will come after Fisk himself.

Before the trial, Murdock gets confronted by Connor Powell, who threatens to speak out about their past confrontation and Murdock interfering with the investigation. In response, Murdock points out that Powell was engaged in witness tampering, a more serious offense, so Powell is forced to back down. Benjamin Hochberg summons Powell to the stand and he testifies about Ayala attacking him and Kel Shanahan unprovoked, resulting in the latter's death. Murdock cross-examines him, inquiring about Nicky Torres being absent from Powell's testimony, while hearing the officers at court talking about not letting Torres to testify.

As Murdock openly accuses Powell, Cherry and Forrest Tam work on getting Torres to the courthouse, so he could testify in Ayala's favor. Powell stops Cherry by but finds no one in his van, as they anticipated it and Cherry acted as a ruse, while Tam successfully brings Torres in. Murdock takes a statement from Torres, however he suddenly goes back on his word and claims that he was not present at the station that night. Murdock lashes out and tries to pressure Torres into telling the truth about what happened but Hochberg and Jerry Cooper force him to stand down and Murdock withdraws Torres as a witness.

Buck Cashman meets with Five Families members and talks about settling the conflicts between them, paying out restitution for the truck hijacking. Luca refuses to listen to Cashman and demands Fisk to come out and talk to him personally, to which Cashman replies that he works for Fisk directly, not just as a mayor's aide. Fisk and Vanessa attend a therapy session and Fisk asks her to tell him about sending Cashman to settle business with Five Families. Fisk says that Vanessa trying to maintain the peace is admirable but chaos is also needed to build a stronger order, while Vanessa thinks that her husband is trying to punish her for her affair with Adam.

At the office, Murdock talks with Kirsten McDuffie and Cherry about Torres' stunt and Cherry suggests that the New York City Police Department must have pressured him somehow. McDuffie tries to think of anything they could use, but Murdock remarks that without Torres on their side, their whole defense goes down the drain. He then says that their only remaining option is to get Ayala to take a stand and testify in his own words, hoping it would be enough to reach out to the jury.

Ayala testifies to the court, claiming that he saw Torres being beaten up by Powell and Shanahan and he only wanted to help, with Shanahan's death being an accident. Murdock talks about Ayala being used to risk his life to help another and before McDuffie realizes his angle and stops him, Murdock reveals to the court that Ayala is White Tiger. Cooper adjourns the trial and summons both Murdock and Hochberg to his chambers, chewing up the former for his stunt, as previously got Cooper to keep Ayala's vigilantism off the record. Murdock claims that his witness was tampered with, so he had no choice, and Ayala being White Tiger shows the pattern of his good character. Cooper has no choice but to continue the proceedings and a frustrated Hochberg warns Murdock that the DA's office will not forget what he did.

Ayala tells Murdock that he should have talked to him first as White Tiger was not his secret to reveal. Murdock understands that but says that it was needed to keep Ayala out of prison, while saying that if he gets acquitted, he can no longer be a vigilante. Ayala replies that being White Tiger is something more to him than just wearing a suit, to which Murdock assures him that he would not miss it as much, speaking from personal experience.

With Ayala's secret out of the bag, Murdock and McDuffie present testimonies from civilians and even other police officers who received help from White Tiger. Hochberg tries to convince jury that just because Ayala did some good, it does not absolve him of killing the police officer. Eventually, the jury reaches the verdict and Ayala is deemed not guilty on all counts, to Ayala and Murdock's joy. Murdock invites Heather Glenn to his place to celebrate and recalls how he and Foggy Nelson used to keep a whiskey bottle for the cases they won, as a reminder that sometimes the system works.

Watching the news of Ayala being found not guilty, Fisk talks to Daniel Blake and orders to arrange him another meeting with BB Urich. Fisk gives Urich an interview, calling Ayala's acquittal a miscarriage of justice, despite Urich noting that it was a decision made by the judge and the jury. Fisk argues that he knows well that the justice system is flawed and the vigilantes are a threat that he takes seriously as the mayor.

Ayala puts on his White Tiger Suit and gets out in the city to help people, but he is ambushed by a gunman in a Punisher Vest. The gunman shoots Ayala in the head, killing him, and walks away.

Cast

Main Cast:

• Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock
• Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk
• Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn
• Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera
• Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie
• Genneya Walton as BB Urich
• Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman
• Clark Johnson as Cherry
• Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake
• Kamar de los Reyes as Hector Ayala/White Tiger
  • Dan Domingues as Hector Ayala/White Tiger (footage; uncredited)
• Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk

Guest Stars:

• John Benjamin Hickey as District Attorney Benjamin Hochberg
• Andrew Polk as Judge Jerry Cooper
• Nick Jordan as Nicky Torres
• Johnny M. Wu as Forrest Tam
• John Squires as Courthouse Reporter #2
• Desi Waters as Court Officer
• Najat Arkadan Washington as Courthouse Reporter #3
• Hamish Allan-Headley as Connor Powell
• Ashley Marie Ortiz as Soledad Ayala
• Steven Staine Fernández as Officer #1
• Kyle Jacob as Michael Burgos
• Alex Michael Shafer as Jury Foreperson
• Alyssa Abreu as Gianna Moreno
• Jon Michael Martin as New Guy
• Giuseppe Ardizzone as Old Timer
• Jami Simon as New Yorker (credit only)
• Santos as New Yorker (credit only)
• Dan Domingues as Hector Ayala/White Tiger Photo Double
• Cillian O'Sullivan as Devlin
• Victor Verhaeghe as Carlo
• Gino Anthony Pesi as Viktor
• Patrick Murney as Luca
• Camila Rodriguez as Angela Del Toro (uncredited)
• Joe Apelian as New Yorker (uncredited)
• David Bonfim as New Yorker (uncredited)
• Iván Amaro Bullón as Plain Clothes Cop (uncredited)
• Will Fitz as Paralegal (uncredited)
• Jeremy Isaiah Earl as Cole North (uncredited)
• Unknown Actress as Cordero
• Unknown Actor as Jimenez
• Unknown Actor as Henderson
• Unknown Actor as Hubbard
• Unknown Actress as Trout
• Unknown Actor as Luxmoore

Appearances

Locations

• New York City, New York
  • Rikers Island
  • Gracie Mansion
  • Red Hook Pier
  • New York State Supreme Court Building
  • Murdock & McDuffie Law Office
  • New York City Hall
  • Heather Glenn's Office
  • Matt Murdock's Apartment
  • 15th Precinct Police Station (mentioned)
  • Times Square (mentioned)
  • 168th Street Station (mentioned)
  • Nicky Torres' Apartment (mentioned)
  • Columbia University (mentioned)
  • Washington Heights (mentioned)
    • Ayala Residence (mentioned)
  • 30 Rockefeller Plaza (mentioned)
• Luquillo, Puerto Rico (mentioned)

Events

• Red Hook Laundering Scheme
  • Hijacking at Red Hook Pier
• Anti-Vigilante Campaign
  • Assassination of Hector Ayala
• Burgos Family Car Crash (photo)
• Attack on Nicky Torres' Apartment (mentioned)
• Rescue of Nicky Torres (mentioned)

Items

• White Tiger Suit
• Amulet of Power
• The BB Report
• Punisher Vest
• O'Melveny's
• Pingo Doce (photo)
• Three Studies of Lucian Freud (mentioned)

Vehicles

To be added

Sentient Species

• Humans
• Ghosts (mentioned)

Creatures

• Doves
• Coquí (mentioned)
• Rats (mentioned)

Organizations

• Murdock & McDuffie
• New York City Police Department
• Five Families
• New York City Department of Correction
• NY1
• WLNY
• The New York Examiner (mentioned)
• New York Knicks (mentioned)
• The New York Times (mentioned)
• New York Mets (logo)

Mentioned

• Phil Gallo
• Kel Shanahan
• Adam
• Muse
• Nicky Torres' Child
• Awilda Ayala-Del Toro
• Lucas Barlow
• Reyes
• Wong
• Morales
• Grant
• Benjamin Hochberg's Wife
• Benjamin Hochberg's Children
• Benjamin Hochberg's Mother
• Mrs. Burgos
• Michael Burgos' Son
• Foggy Nelson
• Francis Bacon
• Lucian Freud

Music

Song title	Artist	Location(s)
Mi Canto	Salvi ft. Franklin Dam, Yuli & Sitofunk
Crionics	Slayer
Dreams Tonite	Alvvays
Una Palabra	Carlos Varela

Videos

Clips

To be added

Trivia

• The bulk of this episode retains material from the original shoot of Daredevil: Born Again, which resulted in original writer Jill Blankenship receiving the writing credit for this episode while original director Michael Cuesta received directorial credit.
  • Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who directed the original third and fourth episodes, footage of which was primarily used for the reworked fourth and fifth episodes, also had some of his directed footage featured in this episode.
  • Dario Scardapane also wrote additional scenes for the episode during the series' creative overhaul.

Behind the Scenes

• While the majority of this episode retains its original pre-overhaul footage, it also contains a few new scenes shot during the series' creative overhaul, which includes:
  • The scene of Wilson Fisk and Vanessa Fisk at Heather Glenn's Office. A version of the scene was shot for the original version, although it featured Sandrine Holt as Vanessa. The scenes were reshot with Ayelet Zurer during the creative overhaul under Jeffrey Nachmanoff's direction.
  • The BB Report scenes.
  • Matt Murdock and Heather Glenn at Matt Murdock's Apartment, talking about Foggy Nelson and the O'Melveny's tradition.
  • White Tiger being executed at the end of the episode. A version of White Tiger's murder on the streets of Washington Heights was filmed in the original shoot, directed by Michael Cuesta with Kamar de los Reyes in the White Tiger Suit. However, the scene was reshot in February 2024 during the creative overhaul, with Dan Domingues in the White Tiger suit as de los Reyes had since passed away. The reshot scene was directed by Nachmanoff, with the filming time cut short as the neighbors did not like them filming there and the crew felt unsafe.

External Links

• The Hollow of His Hand on IMDb
• The Hollow of His Hand on Marvel Database
• The Hollow of His Hand on Disney+