‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Will Continue Where ‘Echo’ Leaves Off

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

IN THE NEW nonfiction book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, readers slowly come to realize that through the years, Marvel Studios developed a frequently-lucrative strategy for new characters: introduce a new superhero in a supporting role to familiarize audiences, and then let that superhero lead their own adventure once audiences became familiar with them.

It worked to perfection with Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), who was introduced in 2016's Captain America: Civil War before leading 2018's Black Panther to its future as both a box office smash and nominee for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The same strategy worked wonders with Spider-Man, who also made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Civil War before leading the hit Spider-Man: Homecoming the following year.

While Marvel Studios isn't quite on the same hot streak it was on back in 2016-2018, its hoping to recapture a bit of that Russian Nesting Doll nature on the TV side with Daredevil: Born Again. Two years and change after Hawkeye—which focused on Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop—introduced both Echo (Alaqua Cox) and brought back the Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio), those characters are returning once again in Echo, which focuses' on the story of Cox's character's anti-heroic ambition.

Echo isn't the end of this story, though; D'Onofrio once again plays a key villainous role, and we also get to see Charlie Cox as Daredevil (who previously appeared in the MCU in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk). Both of the latter actors have played those roles before, in three seasons of Netflix's Daredevil series (which now streams on Disney+ due to a transfer of rights)—and both will return for their headlining MCU turn in the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again. While the show has already seen a bit of production turmoil, the show approaches with high hopes from Marvel fans after both fan-favorite actors were brought back into the fold.

We don't know a ton about Daredevil: Born Again just yet—but we can be sure that the events of Echo are planned to give us a bit of the runway so we know what to expect. Here's what else we know for now.

When is Daredevil: Born Again coming out?

We don't know exactly when Daredevil: Born Again will be released, but it's planned to be part of Phase Five of the MCU—which is the current phase of films and movies. While some of the series was shot in 2023, Marvel decided to revamp the show after the conclusion of the 2023 WGA strike; the original showrunners and directors were taken off the project, and the footage shot was scrapped.

The new directors are Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (who worked on Moon Knight and Loki Season 2 in addition to directing films like Synchronic with Anthony Mackie), while the new showrunner is Dario Scardapane (previously a writer on Netflix's The Punisher series). Vincent D'Onofrio said in late 2023 that filming was planned to commence on the new iteration of the show "in a few weeks."

Which is all to say: we'd have to make an estimated guess, but it's possible that Daredevil: Born Again, if there aren't any more snags in production, could be set for release either in late 2024 or early 2025.

What will Daredevil: Born Again be about?

Production documents suggest that Born Again could be about Daredevil and Kingpin putting their past rivalry aside in order to help New York City, only for their past lives to catch up for them. However, that could be inaccurate or a description of the scrapped version of the show.

Daredevil: Born Again is also the name of a famous run of Daredevil Marvel Comics that was written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli. In that run, Karen Page trades Daredevil's identity as Matt Murdock in exchange for a drug fix, leading to one of the most tense showdowns between Kingpin and Daredevil ever. It's an incredibly dark and mature story that touches on things like alcoholism and addiction.

If Born Again were to follow that storyline—or even take just a bit of inspiration from it—it would be far and away the most mature themes to hit Disney+ to this date. We've seen a willingness to do TV-MA with Echo, so keeping those ideas around could be a distinct possibility. But it's also possible that the "Born Again"in the title is just referring to the character's past on TV as part of Netflix's Marvel universe.

How is Echo related to Daredevil: Born Again?

While Echo has been billed as the first entry under the MCU's new "Marvel Spotlight" banner—indicating a largely standalone story—that's pretty clearly not actually the case in this scenario.

Echo features both a brief appearance from Matt Murdock/Daredevil (the blind vigilante who protects Hell's Kitchen by night and practices law by day) and a major role for Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (the oversized and super strong crime lord fueled by passion who occasionally tries to put up a legitimate front for his criminal empire).

By the end of Echo, both Kingpin (who also previously appeared as the villain of Hawkeye) and Daredevil (who appeared in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) have been fully integrated into the MCU, and seem ready to face off in Born Again—whenever that may come out.

The future Daredevil: Born Again landscape (and the future of all Marvel street-level heroes, including potentially Spider-Man, Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel, and more) is set up by the end of Echo, when Kingpin is seemingly inspired to run for mayor of New York City by a news broadcast he overhears while aboard his private plane.

This invokes the recent and heralded Devil's Reign storyline, written by Chip Zdarsky, which features Mayor Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in a twisty-turny battle with many of Marvel's greatest street-level heroes.

Who will star in Daredevil: Born Again?

The only stars officially confirmed—by Marvel Studios itself—for Daredevil: Born Again are Charlie Cox (as Daredevil) and Vincent D'Onofrio (as Kingpin), because both were brought out during the MCU's presentation at San Diego Comic Con back in 2022. Both are integral to the show, and despite what changes may have been made, will be the core cast for this project.

Having said that, there are a number of actors who have been unofficially confirmed to be part of the cast as well, including Jon Bernthal (supposedly returning to once again play Frank Castle/The Punisher), along with Sandrine Holt (House of Cards) supposedly now playing Kingpin's wife, Vanessa. Other reported cast members include Margarita Levieva (Adventureland, The Deuce) and Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark, Beau is Afraid).

Is Daredevil: Born Again connected to the Daredevil Netflix series (now on Disney+)?

One major point of confusion comes with the question of whether the events of Netflix's Daredevil series—and the greater Netflix Marvel universe, for that matter—are MCU canon. While Cox and D'Onofrio have returned to their roles, it was always possible that their MCU versions were simply a "soft reboot" of the characters, and, with the Multiverse well in play, the Netflix shows simply being some kind of "variant" story. (There's also the fact that Mahershala Ali, who is set to play Blade in the MCU, played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in Season 1 of Netflix's Luke Cage)

Stream Daredevil Here

But in a recent interview with Screen Rant, MCU producer Brad Winderbaum—while still playing a little cagey and careful with his wording—seemed to declare the old Daredevil series as officially MCU canon. He used the phrasing "Sacred Timeline," which comes from Loki and essentially means stuff that happened in our main, primary Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Now that some time has passed; now that we see actually how well integrated the stories are, I think that I personally, Brad Winderbaum, would be confident in saying it is part of the Sacred Timeline," he said, after detailing part of the difficulties in balancing what MCU was doing on the movie side and what the TV arm of Marvel (at the time) was doing with the Daredevil show. A recent trailer for Echo also featured footage from the Netflix show when teasing Kingpin's return.

So—there you have it. While the MCU will likely give an easy on-ramp for those who haven't seen the Netflix Marvel productions, it does seem like (for now), the universe is being written as if everything that happened in the three seasons of Daredevil indeed actually happened.

We'll see if any of that changes as we move forward, because, as we know with a franchise this expansive and with this many moving pieces, things can, and will, always change.

You Might Also Like

• The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now

• 25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein