This morning, Marvel gave us our first, long-awaited look at Daredevil: Born Again, its revival/continuation of Netflix’s beloved series as a new chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s full of rage and brutality, but it’s also full of intriguing hints as to who’s coming back from the original show, who’s being added to the MCU this time around, and what comic arcs are inspiring Matt Murdock’s return to vigilante action. Let’s take a look at who’s who, shall we?
The Dream Team Returns
Early on in the trailer, framed around a tense (but a not entirely unpleasant) reunion between Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock, we get an acknowledgement that it’s been a while since the events of the Netflix Daredevil, series, and a long-awaited confirmation that, for now at least, things seem to be good between that show’s returning lead trio: Matt, his partner-in-not-crime Foggy Nelson, and of course, Karen Page. In early versions of the show’s return, neither Deborah Ann Woll nor Elden Henson were set to make an an appearance. We’re glad that they’re finally back, but they’re also not in this trailer that much… and that might tease some bad things to come, especially as we’re grappling with a Matt Murdock who’s retired from the world of vigilantism when the series begins.
Mayor Fisk
A lot’s changed for Matt, but a lot’s changed for Fisk too, as we get to see him embrace a big new role as New York’s mayor. This has also been a long time coming: the MCU started setting up this arc for Fisk after his return to the MCU in Hawkeye during the post-credits of Echo, and now we’re going to get to see it flourish in Born Again. The plot twist to put Fisk at the top of the political chain comes from recent Marvel Comics history—Fisk became mayor during Charles Soule and Stefano Landini’s run on Daredevil in late 2017, after the events of Secret Empire saw him play a major role in protecting the citizens of New York after Hydra sealed off Manhattan in a bubble of Darkforce energy during its plot to take over America.
In the comics Fisk ran as an independent (and fixed the vote even with his popular support running on an anti-vigilante platform), and eventually even tapped Matt himself to act as Deputy Mayor, who used the position in an attempt to undermine Fisk and eventually confront him as Daredevil, hoping to catch him in the criminal act and strip him of his newfound power. Fisk actually stayed mayor of New York for quite a while—only being laid low during the climax of the 2022 event series Devil’s Reign, after he attempted to outright ban vigilantes in New York and work with the Purple Man to try coerce the city into re-electing him as mayor, and also re-discover his lost knowledge of Daredevil’s alter ego. After he was stopped by both Matt and Elektra (both operating as Daredevil at the time), Fisk was briefly incarcerated, allowing Luke Cage to win the mayoral election by default.
A Familiar Foe…
We get a brief and intriguing shot during the middle trailer of at least one returning villain from the Netflix series beyond Fisk himself: Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye. Seen here being led by armed guards through a prison, when we last saw him in the Netflix show Ben Poindexter was arrested after going rogue from his time as Fisk’s personal assassin, leading to him to attempt to kill Fisk and his wife Vanessa during their wedding. Incapacitated by Daredevil and Fisk working together, Poindexter was paralyzed during the attack, leading to him accepting a mysterious experimental spinal surgery that also seemingly gave him his enhanced marksman abilities from the comics. Considering he’s up and about walking here, it seems like the risky surgery paid off.
And a New One?
But we are also getting new villains making their debut, too. The handiwork of one in particular is glimpsed throughout the trailer, and we get to see him in action briefly too: this white, splotchy-masked mystery is Muse. Created by the aforementioned Soule and artist Ron Garney in 2016, Muse—whose identity is never actually uncovered—was a mutate serial killer who graphically murdered targets before displaying them in gruesome works of performance art. In the comics he escapes capture several times before eventually breaking out of jail during Fisk’s mayoral tenure, before ultimately being defeated by Daredevil and Blindspot (who Muse had previously blinded), leading to him committing suicide.
One thing that’s seemingly unclear here in terms of what will come over into Born Again is Muse’s powers. In the comics, he has superhuman strength and speed, as well as a strange sensory absorption effect: Muse’s body can effectively dampen the sensory information around it, making him near imperceptible even to Daredevil’s enhanced senses.
Frenemies Old and New
The trailer also gives us a few more shots of returning faces from the Netflix show in the form of Ayelet Zurer, playing Fisk’s now-wife Vanessa (Sandrine Holt was previously cast to take over the role, before Born Again‘s creative reboot), and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher literally burying the hatchet with Matt. Season two of Frank’s own spinoff series concluded with him having fully embraced the mantle of the Punisher, turning down a deal to work doing wetworks for the CIA to take his violent campaign against the criminal underworld in new directions. Where he and Matt reunite remains to be seen, but what’s become of the Punisher in a world where Daredevil temporarily retired?
A New Hero Rises
Another really interesting new character we get a glimpse of in the trailer is a man putting on a familiar white mask: this is Hector Ayala, also known of as the superhero White Tiger. Played by Kamar de los Reyes in his final role before his passing in 2023, Ayala is the first of several characters to have taken on the White Tiger mantle in Marvel’s comics, a legacy that has gone on to include his youngest sister, Ava. First appearing in 1975, White Tiger is granted superhuman power by the amulet he wears around his neck, summoning the powers of a great Tiger God, allowing him access to superhuman strength and agility, as well as accelerated healing and enhanced senses.
New Suit(s)
One of the last and most intriguing glimpses we see in the trailer is Matt looking across a whole swath of Daredevil masks. While we see him throughout the trailer wearing an updated version of his iconic red suit, the different cowls here suggest a litany of throwbacks to Daredevil’s comic history. Most obvious is the yellow mask from the suit we saw him wear in his appearance in She-Hulk, inspired by the very first costume Daredevil wears in the comics, but there are also two red cowls here, which seem to both be from his earlier versions of his current suit seen in throughout the Netflix series.
The black cowl could be a reference to one of two suits Daredevil has worn in the comics: his armored gear that he first wore after a battle with the Wild Pack, or his all-black “Shadowlands” suit, from when Matt took over the Hand ninja clan and found himself corrupted by its mysterious patron demon, the Beast. The most interesting addition here is the one on the left, a silver-white mask that has only one similar parallel in the comics: during the 2023 relaunch of Daredevil with creative team Saladin Ahmed and Aaron Kuder, Matt started working as a priest, and eventually teamed up with Doctor Strange to confront his inner demons. The end result was a “purified” all-white version of his regular suit.
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