In “Trial of the Century”, Matt represents Hector with his longtime partner Foggy Nelson. This is not possible after the first shocking of “Born Again”, so Matt’s partner is rather Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James).
Then there is the prosecutor. In “Born again”, it is the district prosecutor Benjamin Hochberg (John Benjamin Hickey). He is quite ruthless, and nicknamed “The Hawk”, but he has no agenda beyond winning his case in the way all lawyers want. In “Trial of the Century”, the prosecutor was named Paul Delacourt, and he made Hawk look like a sparrow.
Delacourt was there to condemn Hector in order to delegitimize vigilants and superheroes; The trial was aimed at sending a message (and stimulating Delacourt’s political career). If in doubt that you are not supposed to love Delacourt, Gutierrez draws it like an ogre, with soulless shades for the eyes. He ends up looking like The monstrous boss of the Herr Wallenquist crowd of “Sin City”.
And this is another major change. The trial of Hector Ayala is incendiary in the two versions, but in the comic strip, it was arrested as White tiger. Two young drug addicts stole an electronics store and a cop replied. Then White Tiger arrived and tried to help. Instead, the cop was shot down and the stolen television of the crooks landed in the hands of the white tiger, making it appear guilty when more police arrived.
The adjustment of Hector’s crime and emphasizing more how NYPD wants blood for blood, is part of a wider point in “Daredevil: Born Again”. The cops are intimidators with too many weapons and much too little regulation, terrified and violent against the people that their motto claims protects and serve. This is why so many cops, in the real world and in the Marvel cinematographic universe, love the Punisher. They consider themselves Frank Castle, that is to say a “hard to cook” which does not listen to the law and violently kills the “bin” which deserves it.
“Trial of the Century” also leaves “out” when Matt’s identity was disclosed by the FBI and ran on the first page of the Daily Globe. Matt, the self-flirting martyr he is, decides that the case of Hector was doomed by him on board; It looked like superheroes to defend yourself. The sad thing is that Matt’s Catholic guilt has a certain weight this time.
Then, the final change at the trial: Hector is found guilty in comics, which leads him to burst from the courtroom and choose to die by suicide in the hands of a cop. “Born again” releases him but gives him even less agency than comics. THE The show definitively makes a point by unjustly targeting the police and harming a Latino innocent manHowever, saying that Hector was condemned anyway means that this “new” episode “ends with a discouraging note. Again, it may be a note that some still needed to hear.
“Daredevil: Born again” is streaming on Disney +.
