Who she is: Karen Page
Her power: No superpowers, but she’s a reasonably competent journalist despite having absolutely no training in that field. She also possesses the steely determination needed to commit murder, at least when her life is in danger.
Her story: Karen Page made her debut in the first season of Marvel’s Daredevil, and she was originally an employee of Union Allied Construction—one of Wilson Fisk’s many criminal fronts. When she discovered evidence that the company was laundering money, she was framed for a murder. That’s when she met Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock, who believed that she was innocent and decided to help her. They hired her to be their secretary, and thanks to the evidence she had uncovered, Union Allied was dismantled. Fisk and his goons weren’t happy about this, so they tried to attack Page, but they were continuously thwarted by a mysterious masked man (a pre-costume Daredevil). Karen and Foggy worked to bring down Fisk with the law while Matt tried to do it with his fists, which eventually brought Karen to the attention of James Wesley, Fisk’s right-hand man. Wesley kidnapped Karen and tried to convince her to back off, but she was able to steal his gun and shoot him multiple times. Fisk later murdered newspaper reporter Ben Urich, who had been helping Karen expose him, but rather than being scared off, she fought harder and used some previously unseen journalism skills to bring Fisk’s criminal dealings into the light. Though a last-minute Daredevil beating is what really stopped Fisk, Karen was still instrumental in his downfall.
In season two, Karen, Foggy, and Matt were sought out by a mobster named Grotto who was the sole survivor of a massive shootout. The man behind that shooting—eventually revealed to be Frank Castle, The Punisher—later killed Grotto in a botched Witness Protection Program handoff, which drove Karen to look into this new vigilante a little further. She uncovered some of Castle’s tragic backstory, which convinced her that he deserved a fair trial at the very least. The trial doesn’t go as planned, but thanks to some scheming from an incarcerated Wilson Fisk, Castle gets out and resumes his quest for vengeance. He and Karen discover that his old commanding officer from the military is a villain called the Blacksmith, and despite Karen’s protests, Castle murders him. Daredevil later reveals his secret identity to Karen.
Played by: Deborah Ann Woll
Currently, Karen Page is: Hanging out in New York, dealing with her complicated emotions regarding vigilante superheroes.
Where will we see her next? Karen will return in both The Punisher and The Defenders.