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Spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again follow.

Greetings Popversians, and welcome to Lore Corner! Each week, video producer Ashley V. Robinson and staff writer Grant DeArmitt are going to take you deep into the pre-existing lore behind some of pop culture's most exciting adaptations, such as Marvel's return to the streets of Hell's Kitchen in Daredevil: Born Again. Enjoy! 

Very, very quickly into Daredevil: Born Again season 1, things start going poorly for our heroes. Poor Foggy is killed by Bullseye (we warned you about spoilers), the law offices of Nelson, Murdock, & Page are shuttered, and New York City descends into the grip of a maniacal felon. And as though all of that isn't enough, it appears that, in the months after their friend dies, Karen Page and Matt Murdock have cut off contact.

But will their estrangement continue? That's something that fans of the original Netflix series are certainly wondering, and due to their tense and emotional confrontation at Bullseye's sentencing, it seems to be a major plot point in at least this season of Daredevil: Born Again. On this week's Lore Corner, we dive into the history of the complicated pair, both onscreen and in the comics, to come up with a possible answer.

What happened to Karen Page in the comics?

Looking back on the comic book history of Karen Page is not only a complicated task (she was first introduced all the way back in 1964's Daredevil #1 by Stan Lee & Bill Everett), it's also a bit of a depressing one. Just like Foggy Nelson, Karen's proximity to Daredevil has brought her a lot of strife. In fact, the trials of Foggy look pretty tame in comparison. 

Originally just the oft-kidnapped girlfriend of Matt Murdock (a role a lot of women in 60's comics were playing, unfortunately), Karen Page's life started getting a lot more difficult when she learned of her boyfriend's alter ego. The daughter of a supervillain, Karen's relationship with Matt changed significantly when she found out she was in love with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, so much so that she decided to leave her career in law behind and move to LA to pursue acting.

Things get progressively worse for Karen after this. In the famous Daredevil run written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzucchelli, Karen finds herself hopelessly addicted to drugs and, in a moment of desperation, sells out Daredevil's secret identity for a fix. Eventually, Karen recovers and reunites with Matt, who forgives her, but her tragedy isn't quite over. In the '90s Daredevil comic run by Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, and Jimmy Palmiotti, the Spider-Man villain Mysterio hires Bullseye to kill people close to Daredevil and, despite her progress since returning to LA, Karen is caught in the crossfire. She dies in Daredevil's arms.

Does Daredevil marry Karen?

In their thirty-some years together on the comic book page, Matt Murdock and Karen never actually tie the knot, and it's not just heroine or a bi-coastal relationship that keeps them apart. Just like in the Daredevil: Born Agin TV show, Matt Murdock's lovelife is almost as complicated as his vigilante activities, and women like Elektra and Black Widow are always popping in and out of it. And while Death currently still has its grip on poor Karen, both Natasha and Elektra have been, in classic comic book style, a little more immune.

That said, we should take the time to mention that, even though Marvel Comics has never featured a wedding between Murdock & Page, they did get close. In Daredevil #86 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, Karen and Matt are very briefly engaged after Karen breaks off a different engagement to a guy named Phil Hichok. This stint didn't last more than a couple panels, however, and Karen was back to pursuing her acting career in no time.

What happened to Karen Page before Born Again?

Alright, so that's what happened to Karen in Marvel Comics (we told you it would be depressing), so what's going on with her before the opening of Daredevil: Born Again? A lot, is the answer, and much of it not much happier than her comic book counterpart's exploits. We won't regale you with Karen's journey from being framed for killing someone to actually killing someone to getting her own license to practice law (the classic journey of a New York transplant), but we will tell you that, like in the comics, her relationship with Matt has been complex.

Remember, Matt Murdock has been hopping from girlfriend to girlfriend during his MCU stint, from Elektra to Jennifer Walters and now on to Dr. Heather Glenn, a romantic interest of Matt's from the comics and currently the therapist to Vanessa and Wilson Fisk. In all that time, Matt and Karen have become something like friends with romantic undertones, a dynamic that was brought up (and even joked about) in the beginning of Daredevil: Born Again. However, for all the relationships that Matt has found himself in, Karen hasn't been in the dating game hardly at all.

Even if the internet would have you believe otherwise.

What is the relationship between Karen Page and Frank Castle?

Yes, for every five KareDevil stans out there, there is at least one person shipping Pagenisher. But let us tell you right now; as of this writing, there's nothing going on between Karen Page and Frank Castle. Well, nothing romantic at least. We know that Karen deeply sympathizes with the tragic figure of Frank Castle, and even appeared in both seasons of his Netflix spinoff. But their relationship begins and ends with the wary trust Karen puts in Frank, both challenged and supported by her firm sense of justice. 

If we were placing bets, we wouldn't gamble on seeing Karen shacking up with The Punisher anytime soon, despite how fantastic that video of Deborah Ann Woll teaching Jon Bernthal Dungeons & Dragons was.  

Will Karen and Matt get back together?

Now we come to the question we've been seeking an answer to since this article began: Will Karen Page and Matt Murdock get back together? Let's begin this answer by saying that we, your humble Popverse staff, have no insider knowledge of the goings-on in the hallowed halls of Marvel Television. So no matter how much research we do, this answer is still only our opinion. An educated one, maybe, but nothing more than speculation.

That said, we do not believe that Karen Page and Matt Murdock will get back together in Daredevil: Born Again. So much history has passed between them, and it seems that Karen is taking that tragedy and building a new life despite it. We certainly believe that the pair's paths will cross again (Deborah Ann Woll confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that she would be back in Daredevil: Born Again season 2), we believe the moment for their romance has passed. Then again, maybe that's just hoping for Karen's sake.

After all, if the comics are any indication, the closer Karen Page is to being Daredevil's girlfriend, the worse things are for her.

Daredevil: Born Again is streaming on Disney+ now. 

Fear not, we have the essentials when it comes to Marvel's Daredevil - especially with Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again. Check out:

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• That time we caught Daredevil actor Charlie Cox sneaking into New York Comic Con as Bluey