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Time for the main event, people. In this corner, wearing the smart black suit and overcoat, Wilson Fisk.

And in this corner, wearing the red and black body armor with horns on it, Daredevil.

Two men enter. And surprisingly, two men leave. It’s just that they each go someplace very different when they do…

“Daredevil,” the 13th and final episode of the eponymous Netflix/Marvel original’s excellent first season, naturally builds to a one-on-one battle between its two main characters. But it takes a good long time to get there, and by the time it does, the results are all but inevitable. Believe it or not, this is a damn good thing.

By the time Fisk and DD lock horns (no pun intended), Wilson’s a man without a country. He killed his closest ally, Leland Owlsley, for betraying him, which triggered the domino effect that brought him down. Working within the system, Matt, Foggy, Karen, and their allies enabled the FBI to round up pretty much everyone in the man’s organization the legal way — including Fisk himself.

Sure, he gets out again, but he has to unleash a squad of machine-gun-toting mercenaries to mow down dozens of cops and FBI agents to do it. Before that, maybe there was a chance he could buy off the legal system, like the character’s done countless times in the comics. But there’s no coming back when you’ve publicly escaped imprisonment by turning a bridge into something out of a Grand Theft Auto game.

Fittingly, the final fight between hero and villain is a battle between brutes. Fisk has the advantages of size and rage, Murdock has the edge on speed and training, but the choreography makes it quite clear that they’re both just trying to hit the other person so hard and so often that they can’t get up again.

I’ve seen a few complaints that their alley-way throwdown was anticlimactic, but that’s almost the point. Daredevil was ultimately just one footsoldier in a small army of people who destroyed Wilson Fisk’s empire. The bulk of the work was done by two lawyers, their legal secretary, an attorney at a rival firm, a reporter, an honest cop — a statement on the series’ part about the place of extralegal violence in its moral universe. Even by Fisk’s own associates could be said to have had more of a hand in his downfall. And note that when Gao and Leland turned on Fisk because they felt he’d gotten too emotional, it wasn’t even Daredevil they blamed for distracting him. The vigilante’s role was important, don’t get me wrong. But when Fisk squares off against him in that alley, blaming him for all his woes, it’s primarily because there’s no one else around to punch.

What Fisk and Murdock say during their confrontation is at least as important, and revealing, as what they do. “You took it away from me!” the Kingpin bellows before attacking. “You took everything! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” No more restraint, no more subtlety, no more pretense — he’s a toddler throwing a tantrum because someone took away his toys. Once again, enormous credit goes to Vincent D’Onofrio, who throughout the episode effortlessly shifts his physical demeanor. He can be as monumental and imposing as Brando in Apocalypse Now in one scene, as vulnerable and pathetic as a big angry baby in the next, all with the same basic physical framework of a bulky body and bald head.

Matt’s responses provide equal insight. Now that he’s lost his chance at running the city, Fisk has turned on it. “It deserves to drown in its filth!” After enduring this whining, and getting clocked with his own baton, for as long as he can, Murdock says “This is my city. My family.” This takes the series’ long-standing subtext — that it’s the story of a war between two classic urban surrogate families — and not only makes it explicit, but expands it as well. The whole city is a family, and Fisk’s attempt to improve the place by pushing out undesirables is not just evil but oxymoronic. We’re all in this together.

Matt stays mum on one key point, however. After he’s basically beaten Fisk, the loser laughs. “You really think that this will change anything? You think one man in a silly little costume will make a difference?” This is how said silly little man responds:

The question basically goes unanswered, except with a punch. Can a random vigilante change the system? No. Can he do some damage to one asshole who embodies it? You bet your bald ass, Wilson. This is the basic logical substitution that all superhero stories ask us to make in exchange for the enjoyment they provide, but few, if any, cinematic examples of the genre have ever examined it more thoughtfully, morally, or, frankly, beautifully. Fantastic fight scenes, luscious cinematography, a host of very human performances, a refreshingly honest take on the violence that underpins it all: Daredevil Season One is the best live-action superhero story since Tim Burton’s first Batman movie. That’s a pretty heroic achievement.

Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) is a freelance writer who lives with Diet Coke and his daughter, not necessarily in that order, on Long Island.

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