Daredevil: Born Once more kicked off with a bang in a two-episode premiere that may depart followers speaking. The most recent entry within the Marvel Cinematic Universe sees Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprise their roles as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin, respectively, in a continuation of the unique Daredevil sequence. Whereas followers may need been frightened provided that Daredevil beforehand went by way of among the most iconic Daredevil tales, together with “The Elektra Saga” and even put its personal spin on the “Born Once more” sequence that the Disney+ sequence attracts its identify from, the creators pulled from numerous corners of the Daredevil universe to craft this newest season.
Daredevil: Born Once more options loads of callbacks and Easter eggs from each the unique Daredevil sequence and comics, but it surely additionally options some fascinating nods and references to the bigger MCU and the assorted heroes that occupy New York. From The Punisher, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Ant-Man, there are a lot extra references to point out that Daredevil operates in a a lot bigger sandbox than earlier than. Listed below are the largest Easter eggs and references within the Daredevil: Born Once more two-episode premiere.
Daredevil: Born Once more
- Launch Date
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March 4, 2025
- Franchise(s)
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Daredevil, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Callbacks and References to the Earlier ‘Daredevil’ Sequence and Different Marvel Titles
Daredevil: Born Once more is a continuation of the Daredevil sequence that initially aired on Netflix from 2015 to 2018, with most of the stars of the sequence calling the brand new sequence Season 4. This implies the sequence options many notable callbacks to the unique sequence, significantly within the opening episode prologue that kicks off the primary story. Matt Murdock, Karen Web page, and Foggy Nelson are seen hanging out at Josie’s Bar, the native Hells Kitchen Bar that was a frequent haunt spot within the authentic Daredevil sequence. Foggy Nelson’s time working at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz LLP can also be referenced. That was the regulation agency of Jessica Jones’s supporting character, Jeri Hogarth, and which Foggy Nelson labored at in The Defenders and Daredevil Season 3.
Kingpin speaks with Vanessa about “therapeutic” following his accident, a direct reference to Maya Lopez capturing him within the eye on the finish of Hawkeye, which was adopted up on in Echo. Within the first episode, Wilson Fisk even alludes to Maya Lopez because the protégée he was coaching earlier than she shot him. The Tracksuit Mafia, first launched in Hawkeye, returns in Daredevil: Born Once more as one of many many felony organizations Vanessa Fisk has been working in her husband’s absence. The Tracksuit Mafia made their Marvel Comics debut in Hawkeye Vol. 4 #1 in August 2012 and have been created by Matt Fraction and David Aja.
‘Daredevil: Born Once more’ New Supporting Characters Comics Historical past
Following the conclusion of Daredevil: Born Once more‘s prologue, the sequence jumps ahead to the primary motion of the sequence, which units up a brand new established order for Matt Murdock, together with a brand new enterprise associate and a brand new love curiosity. Since Foggy’s loss of life, he has began a brand new regulation agency titled Murdock and McDuffie alongside his new enterprise associate, Kirsten McDuffie, performed by Severence‘s Nikki M. James. McDuffie was created by author Mark Waid and artist Paolo Rivera and launched in Daredevil Vol. 3 #1 from July 2011. McDuffie herself is called after the later nice comedian e book author Dwayne McDuffie, who handed away in February 2011, 5 months earlier than Kirsten Duffie’s comedian debut.
Daredevil: Born Once more additionally launched a brand new love curiosity for Matt Murdock, Heather Glenn. Glenn is performed by Margarita Levieva, who beforehand appeared as Mom Koril on Disney+’s The Acolyte. Created by author Marv Wolfman and artist William Robert Brown and first showing in Daredevil #126 in July 1975, Glenn was one other temporary love curiosity for Daredevil. Whereas the MCU depiction reveals she is a therapist, within the comics, she began out as Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock’s new secretary.
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Whereas a variety of consideration has been paid to Michael Gandolfini, son of The Sopranos’ James Gandolfini, taking part in one of many Kingpin’s new right-hand males, it’s the one performed by Arty Froushan that ought to draw extra consideration. Froushan is taking part in Buck Cashman, who in Marvel Comics goes by the identify of Bullet. Created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr., Bullet first appeared in Daredevil #250 in January 1988. Very like the MCU model, the comedian e book Buck Cashman works carefully for The Kingpin, although the comedian model is a mercenary who sometimes wears a masks. Whereas it’s too early to inform, there’s a probability that Buck Cashman might be suiting up within the MCU.
One of many latest characters within the sequence has connections to the earlier Daredevil sequence. B.B. Urich, performed by Genneya Walton, is a younger reporter who runs her personal social media information group known as the bb Report. B.B. Urich is Ben Urich’s niece. Performed by Vondie Curtis-Corridor in Daredevil Season 1, Ben Urich was a reporter for the New York Bulletin who helped Karen Web page and Foggy Nelson examine the identification of The Kingpin, discovering it’s Wilson Fisk. Fisk later killed Urich, however it’s unclear if he was ever tried for this crime. This raises questions on whether or not B.B. is aware of that Fisk killed her uncle, but it surely looks as if a plot level that should come out. With Ben Urich being a serious supporting participant within the Daredevil comics, his legacy now lives on by way of his niece in Daredevil: Born Once more.
Comedian References in ‘Daredevil: Born Once more’
Within the first episode, Karen Web page has now moved to San Francisco following the occasions of the opening prologue. San Francisco has notably been a second house for Daredevil within the comics exterior of New York. The primary time the character moved there was in Daredevil #86 from 1972 by Gerry Conaway, the co-creator of The Punisher. Then, in 2014, throughout Mark Waid’s run on the Daredevil comedian, Matt Murdock as soon as once more moved to San Francisco and began a brand new life there.
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The plot round Wilson Fisk working for mayor, first hinted at within the post-credit scene of Echo, is taken from a plotline in Charles Soules’s Daredevil storyline. Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin was elected mayor of New York in Daredevil #28 in October 2017, following the devastation of the Secret Empire storyline. Fisk’s tenure because the mayor of Marvel Comics leads him to outlaw superpowered people from the town, which seemingly is the path the sequence goes, as Kingpin will doubtless attempt to outlaw vigilantes. Daredevil: Born Once more is adapting a comic book e book storyline that was created in the course of the center of the earlier sequence run on Netflix. Following Fisk’s tenure, Luke Cage really grew to become the mayor of New York Metropolis, probably organising how that character may return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
White Tiger in ‘Daredevil: Born Once more’
Within the first episode of Daredevil: Born Once more, it’s established that Daredevil is not the one notable vigilante working in New York. A brand new character on the scene is White Tiger. There have been many White Tigers in Marvel Comics through the years, however the one scene in Daredevil: Born Once more is Hector Ayala, the primary White Tiger launched in Marvel Comics again in Lethal Arms of Kung Fu #19 from December 1975 and was created by author Invoice Mantlo and the legendary artist George Pérez. The White Tiger will get his powers from a batch of mystical amulets that improve his energy, pace, agility, reflexes, and steadiness and has a connection to Daredevil’s former Defender, Iron Fist, because the amulets draw their energy from Okay’un-Lun. Nevertheless, none of that’s talked about in Daredevil: Born Once more.
Episode 2 introduces audiences to Hector Ayala in his civilian identification, breaking apart what seems to be a mugging earlier than an unintended loss of life reveals one of many assailants is an undercover cop. The viewers later discovers that Ayala is the vigilante within the episode alongside Matt Murdock. Hector Ayala’s introduction episode can also be devoted to Kamar de los Reyes, who performs Hector Ayala / White Tiger in Daredevil: Born Once more. The actor handed away from most cancers on December 24, 2023, after the primary batch of episodes of Daredevil: Born Once more have been shot, and shortly after, filming started on the remainder of the sequence.
‘Luke Cage,’ ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp,’ and ‘The Avengers’ References in Instances Sq.
Episode 2 begins at a New Yr’s celebration in Instances Sq., with the Kingpin addressing the residents of New York. Whereas the earlier use of Instances Sq. within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The First Avenger, was used to get a lot of the film’s product placement entrance and heart for the largely period-piece set movie, right here, Instances Sq. is stuffed with a couple of references to the broader MCU.
- There’s a billboard for Rogers: The Musical, the Hamilton-impressed Broadway musical that tells the story of Steve Rogers/Captain America, who beforehand appeared in Hawkeye and had a small background reference in Spider-Man: No Means Residence.
- Harlem’s Paradise is a nightclub featured in Luke Cage. Initially owned by felony Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes and later his cousin Mariah Dillard after she killed him. Following her loss of life, she left it to Luke Cage, who determined to run the enterprise as a approach to monitor and management the crime in Harlem. The final time audiences noticed Luke Cage in Jessica Jones Season 3, he was nonetheless working Harlem’s Paradise, and this advert probably units up the return of Luke Cage and different Defenders to the MCU.
- The Pym van Dyne Basis was launched in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. After the occasions of Avengers: Endgame, Hope Van Dyne retook management of Pym Applied sciences and renamed the corporate, utilizing Pym particles to assist reshape the world.
- An advert for the delicate drink Pingo Doce, first seen in The Unimaginable Hulk, could be seen. An commercial for Pingo Doce is also seen in Ant-Man, with a food plan model glimpsed in X-Males ’97. This delicate drink can also be accessible for buy at Avengers Campus in Disneyland.
Spider-Man and The Punisher in ‘Daredevil: Born Once more’
In the meantime, in Wilson Fisk’s speech to the residents of New York, he drops small hints at two of the MCU’s most well-known vigilantes in New York with robust ties to Daredevil: The Punisher and Spider-Man. The Punisher is already confirmed to seem in Daredevil: Born Once more, with Jon Bernthal reprising his position. Nevertheless, do not count on Spider-Man to seem, as Marvel Studios doesn’t have the live-action tv rights to the character, which blocks him from showing within the Disney+ sequence.
Kingpin calling out Spider-Man is becoming because the villain first appeared in The Superb Spider-Man #50 and was generally related as a Spider-Man villain till Frank Miller’s Daredevil run made him Daredevil’s arch-enemy. It’s also becoming that The Punisher and Spider-Man are linked collectively since The Punisher first debuted in The Superb Spider-Man #129. Whereas filming Pilgrimage, Jon Bernthal and Tom Holland recorded audition tapes collectively to land the components of The Punisher and Spider-Man, respectively, which finally paid off, additional connecting the 2 characters.
Unpacking the Controversy Round The Punisher in 2025
On the finish of Episode 2, a pair of corrupt cops could be seen sporting a Punisher emblem tattooed on their arms. It seems that Marvel is trying to deal with the controversial standing of The Punisher lately, significantly along with his cranium emblem. It grew to become a well-liked image amongst members of the USA Armed Service division in the course of the Iraq struggle to color the Punisher emblem on their uniforms, with one notable particular person being Chris Kyle, the topic of the Greatest Image nominee American Sniper. The emblem has turn out to be significantly standard amongst law enforcement officials within the Blue Lives Matter motion, together with making unofficial Punisher emblem gadgets with a skinny blue line by way of it.
Gerry Conway, the co-creator of The Punisher, commented on police gives utilizing the Punisher emblem, evaluating it to placing a Accomplice Flag on a authorities constructing, and acknowledged: “To me, it is disturbing at any time when I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography as a result of the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. … The vigilante anti-hero is basically a critique of the justice system, an instance of social failure, so when cops put the Punisher’s skulls on their vehicles or members of the navy put on Punisher’s cranium patches, they’re mainly siding with an enemy of the system.” In a separate interview, Conway stated, “They’re embracing an outlaw mentality. Whether or not you assume the Punisher is justified or not, whether or not you admire his code of ethics, he’s an outlaw. He’s a felony. Police shouldn’t be embracing a felony as their image.”
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In July 2019, author Matthew Rosenberg tackled the Punisher controversy head-on in Punisher Vol. 12 #13. Frank Fort comes throughout two law enforcement officials who’re followers of his as they proceed to take a selfie with him and present they’ve a sticker of his emblem on their automotive earlier than evaluating their work to his. The Punisher tears up the sticker, saying, “I am going to say this as soon as: we’re not the identical. You took an oath to uphold the regulation. You assist individuals. I gave that up a very long time in the past. You do not do what I do. No one does. You boys want a job mannequin? His identify’s Captain America, and he’d be comfortable to have you ever…. If I discover out you are attempting to do what I do, I am going to come for you subsequent.”
That is the stance that Marvel has taken on The Punisher emblem being utilized by police since 2020, significantly after members of the Detroit Police Division have been seen carrying the Punisher cranium in the course of the George Floyd protests in 2020. Round that point, Conway and others known as on Marvel and Disney to take authorized motion to stop regulation enforcement from utilizing the brand. With a bunch of corrupt law enforcement officials carrying Punisher tattoos and The Punisher himself set to seem, Daredevil: Born Once more seems to be like it’s going to deal with the controversy head-on. Whereas the unique Punisher comedian offered rather less than 20,000 copies when it was first revealed, Daredevil: Born Once more has an opportunity to succeed in a a lot wider viewers and permit Marvel to make their stance on sure people co-opting The Punisher emblem clearer. Daredevil: Born Once more is streaming now on Disney+.