Warning: SPOILERS for the Daredevil: Born Again episode “Sic Semper Systema”
It’s been 10 years since Vincent D’Onofrio began his tenure as Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While I know I’m not alone in considering him a great villain, it’s also safe to say that he doesn’t mesh well with humor. However, the latest episode of Daredevil: Born Again to air on the 2025 TV schedule delivered an exception to the rule, as it delivered the most hilarious moment yet from D’Onofrio’s Kingpin tenure. As the cherry on top of this proverbial sundae, it turns out the scene needed to be reshot for an amazing reason.
In addition to “Sic Semper Systema” featuring the return of Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, this episode also gifted us the glorious minutes of Disney+ subscription-exclusive television that were Mayor Fisk uncomfortably watching a children’s choir singing “We Built This City” off tune in front of him. I truly laughed out loud when I saw this, and my appreciation for the scene has only grown after hearing what Daredevil: Born Again director Jeffrey Nachmanoff told Brandon Davis about why the first version didn’t quite work:
The first time we recorded it and submitted it, they had to go and rerecord it because it was too in tune. They needed to add kids that were just out of tune because they hired singers… And the producers correctly said, ‘No, no, no, the whole point is it’s not perfect. This is painful to his ears.’
That’s fantastic. It surely would have been tough for anyone who remotely has an ear for music to sit through those kids belting out a poor rendition of Starship’s 1985 debut single. But for Wilson Fisk, a man with known anger issues and doesn’t like his time being wasted, you could practically feel the discomfort emanating from him. He tried to put on a good front once the performance was done by saying it was “wonderful” and that the children had “such talent,” but he couldn’t get out the door quick enough when the teacher said there’d be another song.
It was the right move to have some kids singing off tune added to the recording. Because like Nachmanoff, had they been singing well, Fisk might have still be uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t have been felt as strongly. Oh, and I failed to mention, things only got worse the New York mayor from there.
Immediately afterwards, Wilson Fisk learned about the article published by BB Urich calling him a “union buster” for his unorthodox plan to deal with the city’s garbage problem. He was understandably angered when Sheila Rivera told him about this, as he wouldn’t accept leaks in his administration. However, rather than going back to his office immediately to find the culprit (it was Daniel Blake, albeit accidentally), he had to go to the Latvian Cultural Center for an event celebrating Latvian Heritage Day. And what was the choir singing? That’s right, we got another round of “We Built This City,” but this time in the Latvian language.
There are still five episodes left in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, but I can confidently say this will stick as one of my favorite moments in the season. Hopefully there’s a way for Born Again Season 2 to deliver a similarly humorous moment, as I like seeing Kingpin put into these kinds of situations.
